Buying first one vessel BIAB setup

[contrarian]

The other issue with an urn is batch size, the biggest urn you can get probably won't allow more than a 25L output. For some people that isn't an issue but for others it is.

I have young kids donut is nice to be able to brew less often and still keep up supplies. I have a 70L pot and a gas burner and would normally get around 5 brews out of a 9L refill so it isn't that expensive! Pots can also have elements added to them later on.

I am currently looking into a 150L pot where I could easily knock out 60-80L at a time and get a variety of beers by cube hopping, different yeasts etc.

You can currently get a 150L pot for $170, add another $100-150 for a good burner and regulater and you will probably never need to upsize.

Depends what your priorities are and how much you have to spend!

 

[Tahoose]

You can almost punch out 70-80 ltrs of beer with your 70ltr pot already.

As long as the desired OG isn't to hi, just brew a higher OG add more hops and dilute back down when pitching.

A little off topic I know.

I'd say an urn is a good start and potentially a great system to settle on. But each to there own.

I'm on the HERMS bandwagon these days but that suits me.

 

[Diesel80]

I dove in for an 80L pot, gas and over the side electric element. My beer supply is two cubes to the good and I get two per brewday. Water heat with electric, ramp to boil with both, then control and boil with gas. Will get 10 cubes out of a 8.5kg bottle this way. Loving it.

Cheers
D80

 

[contrarian]

You can almost punch out 70-80 ltrs of beer with your 70ltr pot already.

As long as the desired OG isn't to hi, just brew a higher OG add more hops and dilute back down when pitching.

A little off topic I know.

I'd say an urn is a good start and potentially a great system to settle on. But each to there own.

I'm on the HERMS bandwagon these days but that suits me.

It's hard to get more than 45-50L into cubes with a 70L and that is stretching the equipment and for 80L of 1.045 beer it means a post boil gravity of 1.072 so that's probably stretching the truth a bit, even 60L would be a struggle and it is mainly the mash volume that makes it tricky. A 150L pot is overkill but it's a way of future proofing the brewery and would make larger mashes and boils a lot more relaxed.

Like everything comes down to what your priorities are in terms of brewing. If you can brew almost every week a small system is great but if you have less time it is nice to be able to fill a lot of cubes in one brew day!

 

[HopAssault]

I've got a 50L SS electric setup. Controlled by a keg king mkII with an built in thermowell. Very efficient system, the thermometer probe is very accurate so I can hit my mash temps within +/- 0.5 of a degree. It was an expensive setup but worth it IMO, all quality parts and the only trouble i've had so far is hot spots around the 2200w element, and scorching on the actual element. Although it doesnt affect the beer quality.
Its a good investment, if you want to go cheaper the urn, as stated, is the way to go.

 

[Bribie G]

When you do biab its only the final boil that needs to actually boil could use portable hotplate to heat water and save gas.

I've brewed in 4 different premises since 2008 and have always used domestic hot water for brewing, with excellent results. I can usually dough in after heating for maybe ten minutes. My present place the hot water is at a rather unsatisfactory 65 degrees and I can't find the plate you need to take off the HWS to adjust. First world problem :lol:.

However this means I can do a BIAB in urn brew in around 3 hours including cleanup, and an end to end double batch in under 6 hours.

Another rather neat trick is to do your second mash in a second bag in a $40 esky, then when the urn is free, after cubing batch #1 you can transfer the mash in bag to the urn and go again, the second run takes only about 2 hours as you are just basically finishing off to mashout then boil.

Most brewing consists of sitting around doing nothing, punctuated by periods of mad panic, then sitting around again.

Doing a double batch with urn and esky, something useful can be happening at all times, i.e. mashing batch two while batch one is boiling, etc.

Apart from the hot water (offpeak) I've calculated that I spend about 70c extra running the urn per batch. So for a total batch, say a dollar all up, as opposed to around $2.50 with gas. A problem with gas is that most of the heat just goes up around the pot and escapes whereas with an urn the heat is generated inside the wort.

 

[BeerIsGood]

I've brewed in 4 different premises since 2008 and have always used domestic hot water for brewing, with excellent results. I can usually dough in after heating for maybe ten minutes. My present place the hot water is at a rather unsatisfactory 65 degrees and I can't find the plate you need to take off the HWS to adjust. First world problem :lol:.

I'd be concerned about the copper content in the water that comes from the hot water system. Higher temperatures, and high residence times in a storage hot water system increase the amount of copper getting into the water.

 

[Bribie G]

Is that why I've gone a uniform green colour?


edit: bugger, now that's another thing that Dr Google is going to kill me with.

 

[Beamer]

Thanks for all your insights and opinions greatly appreciated.

I have decided to go with the urn, seems to suit all my needs for the time being and I can always move up in the future if need be.

Thanks again,
Beamer

 

[Beamer]

Yeah they're pretty easy to put on. If you decide on an urn, you can probably order a ball valve from the same place, but I imagine HBS would stock them as well.

One thing though, make sure you use thread/plumbing tape on the threads, otherwise they leak. Also put some thread tape around the thread on the site gauge thing too. I noticed it leaked wort when I first got mine until I put thread tape on it. Not much, but still annoying having to clean it up.

When you got your ball valve did you have to buy an extra bit with the barb on it for the hose or did it come with??

Been looking online and seen maybe the barb extension I need is called a false bottom elbow????

 

[Rocker1986]

Now that you mention it, yeah, I'm pretty sure it came in multiple pieces. I got it in store though, so they just gave me all the necessary items in one go.

http://craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=1166 is the ball valve itself I got, but I have a 1/2" barb on one end, and another piece of thread on the other end that fits into the valve and goes into the urn itself. It's a bit hard to explain in text - I'm doing a brew day tomorrow, I'll get some photos of what I'm talking about before I fill the urn with water, it might make it easier to understand.

 

[Beamer]

Just an update for you all,

I have recieved my BIAB setup have brewed five AG brews, three more this weekend and first keg on the gas as we speak should be ready by tuesday, very excited to taste, thinking maybe a sneaky sip for breakfast!!!!!

Will hopefully post a pic of the first schooner poured

Thanks again

 

[buckerooni]

Nice work. I've got a similar 40L elect urn with ball valve set up. about 2 years in and loving it. with an over the side element to assist, I get to mash temps (from cold water) in 20 mins. very happy with such a simple system.

Another rather neat trick is to do your second mash in a second bag in a $40 esky, then when the urn is free, after cubing batch #1 you can transfer the mash in bag to the urn and go again, the second run takes only about 2 hours as you are just basically finishing off to mashout then boil.

Most brewing consists of sitting around doing nothing, punctuated by periods of mad panic, then sitting around again.

Doing a double batch with urn and esky, something useful can be happening at all times, i.e. mashing batch two while batch one is boiling, etc.

wow, never thought of that! I've got a 20L birko used for hot water/sparge that I could use for heating the esky water, I like the sound of this!

Hope your first breakfast sip is a good 'un!

 

[pist]

From my experience, i found myself wanting to produce more wort on a brew day than just a single batch. If i had my time again i would of gone straight for a bigger pot. I mash on gas and don't have any issues hitting my temps. All you need to do is stir your water thoroughly during heating and get yourself an accurate digital thermometer to measure your mash/strike water in multiple places to take an average

 

[goatchop41]

The other issue with an urn is batch size, the biggest urn you can get probably won't allow more than a 25L output. For some people that isn't an issue but for others it is.

I have young kids donut is nice to be able to brew less often and still keep up supplies. I have a 70L pot and a gas burner and would normally get around 5 brews out of a 9L refill so it isn't that expensive! Pots can also have elements added to them later on.

I am currently looking into a 150L pot where I could easily knock out 60-80L at a time and get a variety of beers by cube hopping, different yeasts etc.

You can currently get a 150L pot for $170, add another $100-150 for a good burner and regulater and you will probably never need to upsize.

Depends what your priorities are and how much you have to spend!

Look into reiterated mashing - this will allow you to mash much bigger grain bills, using a smaller pot, without significant losses in efficiency that are usully seen with higher OG mashes. The trade off is obviously that you spend an extra hour or so (depending on it you do 2 or 3 reiterated mashes) during the mash.