Bag Not Draining

[Rowy]

get a manifold it flows well for me Well untill you knock the end off stiring the mash and have to put on a glove then a leather glove then a chemical glove to try repair it in the mash lol So mines hard fixed in there now and good back flush fixes it clean

I do the bucket in a bucket half spargey doover type thing with my BIAB...............seems to work

 

[The Village Idiot]

My bag wasn't draining well either so I am presently soaking mine in NapiSan and boiling water right now. It's been in there about 20 minutes and I cannot believe the stuff that is coming out................I always keep my stuff clean but I'm a bit embarrassed at the moment. I will report back after my brewday this Saturday to say whether this treatment made any difference.

Hope things get better for you..... Napisan and boiling water on your bag..... :wacko: ..... any wonder "stuff" is coming out.....

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

Just read the title and thought just another bloke married with kids h34r:

 

[The Village Idiot]

Just read the title and thought just another bloke married with kids h34r:

I'm hearin' ya bob.....

 

[Bribie G]

I have no trouble draining Spotlight Voile, after several hundred brews. Not deliberately knocking the CB bags - I've owned a couple personally - but I'd have to say at the end of the day I think that the nylon material was a good idea but doesn't quite step up to the plate as the Americans say.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

I have no trouble draining Spotlight Voile, after several hundred brews. Not deliberately knocking the CB bags - I've owned a couple personally - but I'd have to say at the end of the day I think that the nylon material was a good idea but doesn't quite step up to the plate as the Americans say.

I bought a new bag for the Keggle today, cost me $12 at spotlight!!!

As you pointed out Bribie my last voile sheet never blocked on me either, want to recruit the mother and law on this one and make a clone of the old gryphon bag rather that just a sheet of fabric :beerbang:

 

[dr K]

Lipton (with apologies to TB) jigglers....
Let us go back to first principles...after mashing we need to get reasonably husk free wort into the bolier, whether you choose to mash at an L:G of 2:1 or 8:1, whether you choose to spray sparge, dump sparge, no sparge or FVB; slowly, quickly, squeezing or jiggling this holds true.
A mesh bag (whether Swiss Voile, nylon, Trevira CS or polyester) will do an admirable job, of course the run-off will be slow, but an SS false bottom or a mash manifold or a slotted manifold or a bucket of holes should aslo be slow, slowed perhaps to the speed of mesh bag or lower.
The whole hole in the bag concept is of course the hole, the small holes get, bit by bit blocked, more so even after cleaning brew by brew, you put up with poor results or you buy or build another.
It worries me to suggest that for a serious brewer a false bottom (what $60 from CB) may be a better long term deal than a bag..but suggest I do
K

 

[Crusty]

Lipton (with apologies to TB) jigglers....
Let us go back to first principles...after mashing we need to get reasonably husk free wort into the bolier, whether you choose to mash at an L:G of 2:1 or 8:1, whether you choose to spray sparge, dump sparge, no sparge or FVB; slowly, quickly, squeezing or jiggling this holds true.
A mesh bag (whether Swiss Voile, nylon, Trevira CS or polyester) will do an admirable job, of course the run-off will be slow, but an SS false bottom or a mash manifold or a slotted manifold or a bucket of holes should aslo be slow, slowed perhaps to the speed of mesh bag or lower.
The whole hole in the bag concept is of course the hole, the small holes get, bit by bit blocked, more so even after cleaning brew by brew, you put up with poor results or you buy or build another.
It worries me to suggest that for a serious brewer a false bottom (what $60 from CB) may be a better long term deal than a bag..but suggest I do
K

Well I'm now a jiggler & absolutely love it. The easiest brew day I have ever had. I see your idea of the false bottom but a false bottom is no benefit to us jigglers. We need to extract the grain from the wort not the wort from the grain like a traditional 3V brewer. The whole point of biab is a one vessel rig so the bag is probably the cheapest & easiest option. I guess I am not so serious cause all I have is a bag & not a false bottom, damn.

 

[dr K]

Well I'm now a jiggler & absolutely love it. The easiest brew day I have ever had. I see your idea of the false bottom but a false bottom is no benefit to us jigglers. We need to extract the grain from the wort not the wort from the grain like a traditional 3V brewer. The whole point of biab is a one vessel rig so the bag is probably the cheapest & easiest option. I guess I am not so serious cause all I have is a bag & not a false bottom, damn.

Crusty..I have no doubt you are brewng incredible beer, and I am certainly not suggesting that you or others are not serious brewers, nor do I make comparisons with 3V brewers, I was merely (based on the previous content of this thread) questioning the economic benefits of of bag vs false bottom or similar.
My bag, sorry.

K

 

[Crusty]

Crusty..I have no doubt you are brewng incredible beer, and I am certainly not suggesting that you or others are not serious brewers, nor do I make comparisons with 3V brewers, I was merely (based on the previous content of this thread) questioning the economic benefits of of bag vs false bottom or similar.
My bag, sorry.

K

I know you weren't mate, I was having a shot at ya. Something more solid would be much better for sure & some guys have gone to the extent of making another pot inside the original & use that as the bag, kind of like the Braumeister. I have a CB bag but it's new so won't have to worry about mine for a little while yet hopefully. A few people have reported better results with the swisse voile & I might head that way myself. :icon_cheers:

 

[manticle]

Crusty..I have no doubt you are brewng incredible beer, and I am certainly not suggesting that you or others are not serious brewers, nor do I make comparisons with 3V brewers, I was merely (based on the previous content of this thread) questioning the economic benefits of of bag vs false bottom or similar.
My bag, sorry.

K

Economic benefits need to take into account 1 pot, 2 pots or 3 pots as much as bag vs bottom. Also space considerations might be paramount for some and less so for others.

 

[Fat Bastard]

Economic benefits need to take into account 1 pot, 2 pots or 3 pots as much as bag vs bottom. Also space considerations might be paramount for some and less so for others.

I'm one of those brewing in a confined space and my hybrid rig where I use a single vessel as a mashtun and kettle works very well with a false bottom, but I've since returned to a solid sided bag arrangement as it works like a FB, but is easier to use due to the fact you can just lift the bag and throw it into the sink after draining the MT/Kettle into a holding vessel instead of digging out between 4 and 9 kilos of wet grain with a big spoon.

There are many ways to separate a cat and it's dermis.

 

[gone brewing]

If anyone is thinking of taking a nylon bag and boiling it in bleach - please think again.

Nylon doesn't take oxidising agents too well, especially at high temperature. Or the next time you go to use your bag and give it a light squeeze might be the last time you use it.

Polyester stands up much better but I still wouldn't go boiling it in bleach. Google "chemical resistance of polyester and nylon" if you want some details.

I think PBW and sodium percarbonate are both safer although I believe these do have some oxidative potential (much, much less than bleach).

Another point I gotta make is whether the material being used is stable with respect to heat. When you do your mash (and maybe a mash out) you are putting it in fairly hot water for a long time. Just like shrinking your jeans in the wash, using the bag several times for the mash could be shrinking it if the material has not been heatset very well. This is going to make the material denser and drain less freely.

I have no experience with the different materials used for BIAB except for the swiss voile that I used for mine. I have not had problems with slow draining, after about 50 uses.

 

[tavas]

I use a Gryphon bag and give it a wash and soak every 3 or 4 brews. So far no noticable difference in draining.

 

[Bribie G]

I sold my Craftbrewer FB / Lauter tun in October and went back to the bag. No perceptible difference in beer quality with my house recipes. Also the FB system took a lot longer to drain and sparge, whilst on the other side the coin the wort into the kettle was clearer. At the end of the day, like Crusty, the mound of cleaning up and scrubbing up at the end of the session was really getting to be a chore, compared to the baggy where I tip the grain into the garden beds and stick the rinsed bag in a jug of perc while the boil is happening, then when the boil is finished and drained, wash up one urn and a few utensils, hang baggy on line and done for the day.

 

[stux]

buy some actual PBW - not sodium perc. Sodium perc is not as effective a cleaner as pbw. Long soak and scrub in HOT pbw should solve the problem and set the bag to where it was. Caustic will do the trick too but isn't as safe and i wouldn't stick my hands in it to scrub like i would with pbw.

The only reason that the bag isn't draining the way it was in the past, is because the holes are now smaller, which they are because crap builds up on the cross weaves. PBW, heat and scrubbing.will release the organic build up.

When you are draining your bag, a nice way to get it to drain, is to just poke it with a stick. You bag is hanging over your pot, you get a stick and poke it, this makes waves in the liquid in the bag, the waves "wash" the bits of the bag that they hit... liquid goes through, the holes clog up again. So what you do is stand there and poke the bag rhythmically to set up a standing wave. The standing wave constantly rinses the edges and liquid constantly goes through.... your bag will drain reasonably rapidly. No need to whack the thing, just set the liquid inside to jiggling a few cms.

A gentle jiggle left and right on the top of your bag will accomplish the same thing. Works best if you set up a rhythm

 

[Nick JD]

I mill my grain so damn fine that I usually have to squeeze the living crap out of it to get at all that cloudy goodness.

Since I kettle chill, the wort into the fermenter has 30m visability (for the scuba fans out there).

 

[Shifter]

New Bag works a treat and drains and squeezes well.

 

[mwd]

Home made or bought from where?

 

[Shifter]

Home made by SWMBO. Material from Spotlight, but it's not SV.