Best Option For Electric Biab

[tavas]

Try a stainless collander

 

[Phoney]

Thanks for that TB. Great explanation.

My mum has a sort of cake rack that would be perfect for the bottom of my urn but she won't give it to me. I'm on the lookout for one and if I find it I'll start doing what you say.

I use a stainless steel colander. Was about $8 from a supermarket.

Fits like a glove over the Birko element. Then after hoisting the bag I fish it out with the mash paddle.

 

[Nevalicious]

Yep, probably should've mentioned I'm running it with an Italian Spiral Burner... Little tidbit left out there... A cake rack will be ideal, however a massive one... Might use the internet to see what others have done... Sounds like it might be a worthwhile excercise.

 

[Cocko]

You could adjust your hoist points so the bag lifts evenly and still doesn't 'compress' the mash?? As in it doesn't compress the grain just lift it to safety...

Just a thought... I only did about 40 biab's and 'hoisted' in a way that the grain was not squashed or compressed but off the bottom of the keggle I was running a burner on... great method for step mashing too!

2c.

 

[felten]

I have a 3 ring burner so I can't speak for any of the higher powered/more concentrated burners, but for me stirring is sufficient enough to stop any hotspots on the bottom of the kettle and prevent burning the bag.
If you have a good pot with a heatspreader in the base (SS w/ aluminium/copper sandwich etc) I would imagine that would be fine to use with a high powered burner as well.

 

[raven19]

The options I am looking at, and want some feedback on are:
...
Keggle with fixed element/s.
Either 50l Pot or Keggle with over the side element.

Robbo - Here is some info on my HLT, which could easily be used in an electric a BIAB situation.

Hope it is of some help.

Thread Linky

 

[BjornJ]

TB,
thanks for taking the time again to explain it.
I've read of this before and pondered the reasons for/against mash-out with BIAB, and lately not bothered.
Reading your explanation, it dawned on me why you said last time I asked to stir the grains while adding heat.
And I learned there is no need to add a wait time at mash-out temp, something else I thought was necessary without knowing why

I use the exact same type of steel colander in my 40 L Birko for my 5 min stop at 55 degrees before going 1 degree higher than I would have without the 55 degree stop.
Guess I'll go back to mashing out by turning the heat back on and stirring the entire time while heating, without trying to foam it up.

(The 5 min stop at 55, etc thing is another thing I learned from you. Thanks for taking the time to keep explaining things, really appreciate it!)


thanks
Bjorn

 

[Bribie G]

If you have a skyhook then mashout etc becomes very easy, I'd definitely look at the eye bolt into the ceiling trick. If you get a pretty chrome one it wouldn't look obtrusive and most people wouldn't know it's there including SWMBO I'll bet you anything :icon_cheers:

I've been a bit annoyed about the time lag bringing to the boil - I bought a dedicated hot plate (Kambrook about $50 if you look around) and a thick bottomed 10.5L stockpot when they were on at ALDI. The hotplate is a fierce little 2.4kw bugger and I now drain portions of wort out of tap into stockpot and heat there as well, then tip back into urn. I've got my lag down to about 20 mins now while I do my hop weighing, clean up the bag etc. No drama because I use the setup for cereal mashing and would have bought it anyway.

 

[crundle]

I've been a bit annoyed about the time lag bringing to the boil - I bought a dedicated hot plate (Kambrook about $50 if you look around) and a thick bottomed 10.5L stockpot when they were on at ALDI. The hotplate is a fierce little 2.4kw bugger and I now drain portions of wort out of tap into stockpot and heat there as well, then tip back into urn. I've got my lag down to about 20 mins now while I do my hop weighing, clean up the bag etc. No drama because I use the setup for cereal mashing and would have bought it anyway.

Another option to decrease the lag time is to use an immersion element BribieG. When I am in a hurry, it really helps to get the urn up to the boil quickly, but you need to keep an eye on it when it gets close as it can go ballistic with 4800W going!

I tend to use an immersion thermometer with an alarm set to 95 degrees to warn me when it is about to boil, so I can take out the immersion element.

Crundle

 

[robbo5253]

It seems there are mixed messages between if the 2400w is big enough or not depending on time.
I think I will keep an eye out for the 3000w model and go that way as once I have bought it I dont want to be spending extra on an imersion element or having to run a second pot as that kind of wrecks the simplicity of BIAB.
Thanks for all your input.
Cheers
Robbo

 

[tavas]

2400W is fine to boil 30+lts.

 

[matr]

2400W is fine to boil 30+lts.

as is 2200W (just need some patience)

 

[MarkBastard]

It seems there are mixed messages between if the 2400w is big enough or not depending on time.
I think I will keep an eye out for the 3000w model and go that way as once I have bought it I dont want to be spending extra on an imersion element or having to run a second pot as that kind of wrecks the simplicity of BIAB.
Thanks for all your input.
Cheers
Robbo

There's no mixed messages, I gave you some exact times. You either are happy to wait that long or you're not.

 

[robbo5253]

Hey Mark,
I appreciate the times you sent through which gave me a good idea, but then there are others who say it takes too long and are doing different things to speed it up. Like I said, I dont want to spend the money and then have to buy something else down the track.

Cheers

Robbo

 

[husky]

I have recently installed 2 x 2200W elements in my 70L pot here:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...40&start=40

First batch completed last week and with a 33L initial boil i was a little underwhelmend by the boil vigo of a single 2200W element. In saying that it was in a large pot with virtually no insulation.
With a smaller vessel and good insulation I think a single 2200W would be sufficient.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Need a massive cake rack for the bottom of my 60L SS Pot... Diameter 51cm... Any ideas??

Thanks Thirsty. Informative aas always. Until I find my massive cake rack or similar, I will just hoist now after mash is done, proceed to boil...

Cheers

Nev,

While i cant be certain with the italian spiral, never used one. I do know that in "general" you dont need a cake rack/false bottom/colander when you are using a gas burner or an urn with a concealed element. Of course - you must stir, as you always must stir when you are adding direct heat to a mash. I've seen plenty of BIAB brews done with a gas flame under the pot and no bag melting issues.

The only thing you really need to watch, is heat coming up the sides, which might heat the pot above the liquid line to hot enough to do some damage. But thats easy to fix by adjusting the flame, you dont need the heat on flat strap when you are bringing the mash temp up either for step mashing or to get to a "mash out" - so just dial it back a chunk and i doubt you will have any issues at all with just pot and burner.

But getting a cake rack type thingy is a sensible belts and braces option.

 

[MarkBastard]

Hey Mark,
I appreciate the times you sent through which gave me a good idea, but then there are others who say it takes too long and are doing different things to speed it up. Like I said, I dont want to spend the money and then have to buy something else down the track.

Cheers

Robbo

Do you think the quoted time is too long though? If you do that's fine, fair enough. I've never used an urn that powerful but I've seen mine when it boils and I wouldn't want it to boil any more than it currently does. Then again I have lagging on mine which insulates it so if you use a more powerful one without insulation the boil might be just right. But then you won't be as well insulated during your mash either.