A Guide To All-grain Brewing In A Bag

[RdeVjun]

Gold!

I'll say! I've always wanted my own gibbet though, looks like I'll have to build one...

Lots of 'purifying', hope it doesn't get confused with 'essential oil' craft and modded off!

Edit: And not a pillowcase to been seen anywhere. :blink:

 

[nikgr]

I found the pulley thing and the base for the pot on the attached links very interesting to try a set up if somebody have space to store it like a garage and for a small pot like 60 liters is gona be quite small.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Isn't the circle a wonderful thing .. I'm not sure if this is the first or the second time this thread has come back around to the Braumeister.

Those units - or ones very like them - were the reason that BIAB was invented in the first place.

Someone said something along the lines of "hey, do you think there might be a way to brew all in one vessel?? .. maybe you could do a bucket inside a bucket thing??" someone else said "hey, the Europeans have been brewing beer this way for ages link to brewmeister and think that all of us who brew in 3 vessel units are mad" - someone else said... "yeah, but those things are 5000 friggin euros... I reckon you could do it with a couple of buckets, a pump and an electric element..." conversation ensues... then PP goes "wait a second... what if you used a polyester bag instead of an interior bucket..." and things take off from there.

BIAB was a conscious effort to emulate, in a simple cheap and accessible way - those very units that people linked to.

Which is why the myriad of "BIAB can't possibly work" arguments never quite made sense to me... this wasn't even a new idea or a new way of brewing... it was only ever a very clever and imaginative variation on an existing brewing technique. It managed to take several thousand euros and several levels of complexity away from the brewmeister... and yet do exactly the same thing.

I know its 80 pages long people... but seriously, if you are contemplating investing hundreds and hundreds of dollars into a purpose built BIAB rig... you might get some serious benefit from reading the whole of this thread and the pre-cursor threads it links to in the first few posts.

NOT - that that doesn't mean I don't like the BIAB rigs I have seen posted recently, I do!! But they are coming closer and closer to simply closing the circle.. which is kinda cool really.

TB

 

[nikgr]

I agree with you but isn't the same thing happen when someboby brews with a 3 vessel system ? First you have the stuff lying arround and when you mastered the techniques you are looking to rig all the stuff to something more "shiny", "cool" looking thing... Eventually the braumaister 200liter is a Brew In A Can system so I believe that someone steal the idea of some Biab Rigs form this forum .

 

[troopa]

What are the 3 filter plates int eh basket and how do they help
is it just a matter of sperating the grain bill to allow more wliquid to flow around the grain?

Cant quite figure it out in my head

Tom

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I agree with you but isn't the same thing happen when someboby brews with a 3 vessel system ? First you have the stuff lying arround and when you mastered the techniques you are looking to rig all the stuff to something more "shiny", "cool" looking thing... Eventually the braumaister 200liter is a Brew In A Can system so I believe that someone steal the idea of some Biab Rigs form this forum .

Hey I'm not knocking anything that anyone is doing - just suggesting that a thorough read of this whole thread might save them some design headaches. A lot of this stuff has been tossed around in the past... and its fairly apparent that if you chuck enough stainless and other gadgets into BIAB.. you end up basically at the Braumeister. (witness chappo's suggestion about re-circulating BIAB systems) So if people are interested in traveling that road - well, the journey is a bit easier if you already have a good idea what the destination looks like.

A bit of patient searching of Euro home brewer forums will also turn up a bunch of home made versions of Braumeister type systems that could well spark an idea or two in the head of someone who was dedicated to the notion of making more (physically) solid and/or more "bling" the BIAB process.

Tryin' to help not hinder

My previous post was more introspection than anything else.

As for your last sentence - if you are suggesting that BIAB was an idea stolen from the Braumeister... well, it kinda was, sorta. If you are saying Braumeister pinched it from us... well nope, they were there first.

What are the 3 filter plates int eh basket and how do they help
is it just a matter of sperating the grain bill to allow more wliquid to flow around the grain?

I'm not sure if there are actually three plates - or if the diagram is just meant to illustrate that they are adjustable ... only two "arrows" point to filter plates, a top and bottom, and the smaller 20 & 50L versions only have two plates.

If there are three - I think your guess about separating the mash might well be a good one


TB

 

[nikgr]

Sory I it was'nt my intention to flame.I had no hard feelings for someone propably because my nature language is not English may be I became confused .My opinion is same as yours keep it simple but working.As for my last sentence I mean that the rig (pulley and base) used in braumeister 200liters maybe it is a copy from some people's rigs in this forum because braumeister 200liter is presented these days.

 

[argon]

Got the first BIAB AG done on Sunday... did a little LCPA Clone, bit of rip off from the recipe Brown Dog put up a while back, with a few changes in the hops department to keep things simple and a bit cheaper (used 90g of Chinook cause it comes in 90g batches)

Batch Size 23L
Mash at 66C for 60mins
Boil 60mins

3.75 kg Pale Malt
1.00 kg Munich I
0.35 kg Wheat Malt
0.35 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine
40g Goldings, East Kent Pellets
5 g Chinook @ 60 min
30 g Cascade @ 20 min
30 g Cascade @ 10 min
10 g Chinook @ 5 min
50 g Chinook @ Flameout
25 g Chinook Dry Hop

US 05

The whole day went great, first time i've done a full volume and first time all grain. Also first time I gave the Keggle a run.



Bringing the water up to strike temp. Used the old stockpot to cover the cutout to keep the heat in.



Adding the grain



Mash Temp



Mashing away nicely. Note i didn't get the bag sewed up just got a couple of metres of swiss voile and layed it in the keggle. Cake rack in the bottom of course. Worked well enough. Next time i'll get it sewed up though, bit awkward holding the bag and giving the mash a bit of a stir.



Still mashing, gave the cars a wash while i waited, productive day really. dropped to 64 after about 40mins gave it a 10 min burst on the 3 ring to 68. Raised the temp to 72 for 10 mins after the 60 min mash. Extracted the grain into the stockpot. Added a couple of litres of boiled water from the kettle to sparge the grain, gave it a quick squeeze and added to the boil.



Suspended the hop sock from the Mash paddle. Got quite full, for the flameout addition I used a grain bag instead.

Didn't take any photos of the transfer, but after giving it a little manual whirlpool and letting it sit for 20 mins or so. Used the new ball valve and transfered it to a 25L Cube for the night.



Monday night transferred into fermenter and pitched at 23degrees. Under the house stays a fairly constant temp of 18 in the day and drops to about 16 at night. Dry hop in couple of days and then wait it out.

Hit OG of 1060 in the fermenter for just under 23L, so very happy. The whole thing was so simple and rewarding. For the first batch I think it went quite well.
Next time i'll get the bag made up and maybe investigate getting a better stand for the keggle and burner, Not sure how long those bricks are gonna hold out.

Will post more pics at dry hopping, bottling and tasting. Thanks to all the contributers to this thread. Gave me a good amount of confidence to jump in a give it a go.

 

[reviled]

Good stuff Argon, looks like it all went well :icon_cheers: Welcome to BIAB!

 

[argon]

Good stuff Argon, looks like it all went well :icon_cheers: Welcome to BIAB!

Thanks... I think it went really well for a first time AG... a few tweaks over the next few brews and I think it'll be a doddle... love the simplicity of it all.

 

[katzke]

Thanks... I think it went really well for a first time AG... a few tweaks over the next few brews and I think it'll be a doddle... love the simplicity of it all.

Simplicity?

You missed the entire point of BIAB being a complicated unresolvable brewing method that dose not work.

Have you not learned anything from 80 pages of posts?

In fact I think because you brewed with out a true bag we need to rename the entire thing to BIAS or brew in a sheet. It would save lots of new brewers having to beg the mother-in-law to sew up a bag for the proper BIAB. Besides BIAS is a fitting name for the system. All the traditional mashers do have a bias against those of us that dare to be different.

Then the entire discussion of a pillow case or sleeping bag approach to bag design would be eliminated.

So from now on I am no longer a BIABer but a BIAS brewer or BIASer. It is up to the rest of you to figure out what a new BIAS brewer is. I think the old term I coined was a BIABy. I am sure a culture that has its own slang will come up with a suitable name for first time BIASers.

Yep I am happy from drink though not from beer. My last brew is in limbo because I have no way to cool it and let the Gelatin that I added settle properly. Lucky for me Winter is knocking on the door (may snow tonight). For those of you that have Summer bearing down on you I recommend a Wit with Raw Wheat and your choice of malt. You can brew an easy drinker or a sneaky high alcohol brew. I think the Raw Wheat counter acts the alcohol. And with brewing in a sheet we do not have to worry about stuck sparges like the other guys do. You can play with hops and yeast if you do not like a traditional Belgian brew. I think the Coriander and Orange peal are important. For Orange peal you can use store oranges and feed the inside to the family or eat them your self. I find 2 large oranges are enough but you may like 3 if you can use them. A tip, you can put the skinned orange in the fridge in a bag for a day or 2 so you can eat the offal from your brewing.

 

[tumi2]

Hi there
Have not posted in this thread in a while so thought i would update people on how my BIAB is going.

I have now completed 4 AG beers.

1) Simple English Bitter
2) another attempt at an English bitter the same as above
3) Little Creatures Bright Ale Clone
4) another attempt at the Bright Ale Clone

As you can see i have repeated each brew twice. With the English bitter i was trying to troubleshoot a flavour i did not like (my posts about this are somewhere in this thread). I am pretty sure this was the S04 yeast that i used and dont intend to use it again.

The first batch i did i have finished and it was drinkable and got better after about 6 weeks. Unfortunately i ditched half of it after 3 weeks!!! the second English Bitter was simply not drinkable so i ditched that one keeping a few to try later on. They have not improved. I have kept a few samples of all my beers so far and one thing i have realised is that patience is a virtue and beers really do get better after about 6 weeks or so.

I then decided to change my beer and went for the LCBA clone.

I am currently drinking my first attempt at that and i am really happy with the taste and aroma. Unfortunately it is quite cloudy and has no head what so ever.

So i currently have my second attempt at this LCBA using the same recipe and process except that i am cold chilling for a few extra days and also and using isinglass during the cold chilling stage. This will get bottled tomorrow night so i hope it is clearer.

So onto the clearing beer topic is there something in BIAB that makes clearing beer more difficult.? I also no chill so this may be the cause.

Does the boil effect beer clarity?
When i boil i tend to keep it pretty soft with a light turning of the wort. I now have a rocket ship italian spiral burner so i could aim for a much more rigorous boil.

What about the mash out in BIAB? I sparge with a pot of hot sparge water but i have not raised the wort in the kettle while the grain is still inside. Does this have any effect on clarity of wort going into no-chill?

I am really thankful for the info i got in this thread as i now intend to only ever AG brew and so far cant see why i would change from BIAB.

My last question is what to do next? I am leaning towards a American Pale Ale.

 

[PistolPatch]

Argon - Congratulations to you and nice pics :icon_cheers:

tumi2 - I've got an hour to spare so here you go...

SO4: Good idea to steer clear of the SO4 for a while. It can be quite an unpopular yeast for many palates.

Clearing Beer: BIAB should be no different to getting clear beer than traditional. Let your wort settle for twenty minutes before you put it in the cube. Don't drain off every last inch of wort. Allow for some wastage in your recipe calculations. If you are having clarity problems, make sure you do a 90 minute boil and ensure it is a medium rolling boil regardless of your evaporation rate. (Evaporation rates vary greatly from vessel to vessel. Yours will be on the high side with your 50lt pot.) DON'T simmer your wort - boil it. When racking from no-chill cube to fermenter, once again, don't drain every last drop. Leave the crap behind. After fermentation, chill your fermenter to 0-2 degrees for say 4 days and then rack it to your keg. That should give you very clear beer. If not, start looking at your pH. Isinglass works well but add it to the cold wort.

Pale Ale Recipe: Try NRB's All Amarillo American Pale Ale. It is a recipe that you can alter greatly and still get a beautiful beer. It is my house beer and quite a few other brewers I know use it as their house beer. It is a beer enjoyed by a huge range of palates, young and old, male and female. It is a less sharp version of Little Creatures Pale Ale and the brewers I know prefer it to Dr Smurto's JSGA recipe so you should be quite pleased with the result.

Look forward to hearing how you go.

Spot,
Pat

P.S. That only took 20 minutes - a record!

 

[flattop]

For the record, i had one BIAB brew that turned out incredibly cloudy it was a Dr Smurto's GA (no reflection on the creator). I forgot the whirfloc and the gelatin later on.
The brew looks like mud although the first glass from the bottle can be clear, once the bottle is cracked the gas raises the mud from the bottom so the second glass is always very muddy, I mean yarra river muddy (i'm talking cut it with a knife cloudy).
I clearly did something wrong, that said it tastes fine!
My following brews were fine, no idea what went wrong.

I love BIAB, unfortunately i have been so busy the last few months i've actually bought a couple of Liquid wort kits to keep stocks high for summer.

 

[bullsneck]

Just purchased a Crown Urn. So excited! I'll be BIABing in no time.

Can't wait to delve into the AG world!

:icon_offtopic: Anyone know a good place to purchase some cubes for no-chill in SE Melb?

 

[DUANNE]

i got all my cubes from rays outdoors for about 10 bucks each. or you can get the willow or bmw style ones at bunnings for around 20 bucks for memory. i tried the jerry can style ones but they didnt work for me and just use the square ones from rays now.2c

 

[bullsneck]

Cheers, BH.

Rays close to work.

Come to think of it, doesn't the jingle go...

Ray's Outdoors, come see what we got.
From tents to no-chill cubes, we got the lot.

 

[tumi2]

Rays Outdoors in Camperdown Sydney now have plenty of cubes in stock. They are a dime a dozen there so get in fast if you want some. They have 25 liters and 15 liter cubes but not the 20 liters cubes they had last year. They will be getting the 20 liter ones which actually fit 23 liters but they dont know when and have had trouble getting the current stocks.

 

[Bribie G]

I note that Rays are in Perth now, hopefully they will get up this way eventually. You would think that QLD would be an ideal market.

 

[WarmBeer]

:icon_offtopic: Anyone know a good place to purchase some cubes for no-chill in SE Melb?

I use one from a Fresh Wort Kit from Grain & Grape.

Only fits about 17 lt, but that suits my current boil pot size, plus means I get to brew more often :beerbang:

Saw a 20lt cube in the Home Hardware near Caulfield station, if that's anywhere close to home (SE Melb is a BIIIG area)