My BIAB , stainless steel basket instead of bag, your thoughts ?

[nala]

The crown urn is a good idea. This will fit in it. But if your looking for a bigger one , there's a few things to consider. SS mesh is expensive. A bloke in my town
told me it costs him $ 400 a sheet. So the less baskets you can get out of a sheet, the more expensive. Local manufacturers basically told me your looking at
more than $300 to make this basket. Overseas could make it cheaper but our dollar against the US dollar is crap , and they all deal in US dollars. Then the
freight is high , but goes down the more you can fit in box. The bigger the basket, fewer baskets in a box , once again the cost goes up.
I'm asking $ 140.
Freight to most of Australia is $15 .

Could this be made as a flat pack,joined as a circle by stainless steel screws ?
Much easier to transport and less costly.

 

[Roosterboy]

$400 a sheet? I think they might be pulling your leg.

I don't know if he was spinning me crap but a well known Stainless steel manufacturer in South west Sydney quoted me $330 not including transport
to my place.

 

[Burt de Ernie]

http://utahbiodieselsupply.com/brewingfilters.php

 

[Roosterboy]

Could this be made as a flat pack,joined as a circle by stainless steel screws ?
Much easier to transport and less costly.

all the connections and the mesh is welded to the supports, so no it can't be flat packed but I am considering making the basket more cone shaped
so they can fit one inside the other to reduce freight. It will make the volume smaller , but I guess i could increase the height.

 

[Roosterboy]

http://utahbiodieselsupply.com/brewingfilters.php

Get a quote off them including freight , I say no more.

 

[Bribie G]

I'd say you would do best to have a model that would fit a Crown or Birko urn and capable of holding about 5 kg. Anything smaller and you are really going head to head with the infamous BCF 39L crab cooker that sells for around a hundred bucks, plus mesh of some sort to line it.

Another point is that the Gas BIAB mob seem to go for bigger pots such as 70L and the design you showed in your OP has a lot of water around the outside that could affect mash efficiency - you really want all the grain and liquor in as close contact as possible.

Apart from the "turn key brewery" solution that an urn gives you, I'd guess that most people also buy an urn because they don't want to spend heaps on Nasa burners, gas bottles etc.

However we urnies are always looking for useful tweaks, note the recirculating BIAB systems based on urns that are always on the forum, so an urn sized basket should hit the spot perfectly.

 

[Burt de Ernie]

What do you think. The basket has 2.5 kg of grain in it in the photo. It can fit up to 3.5 kg.
It's a 13.5 L vol cylinder made of 304 grade stainless steel. Rigid sides mean you can jiggle the grain up and
down to drain and to help in the mashing process. The 400 micron mesh acts like a filter so NO large bits
of grain or hops get into your wort.

I don't BIAB, but it looks kind of small which blows out you grain to water ratio or do BIABers not sparge the grain?

 

[Roosterboy]

I'd say you would do best to have a model that would fit a Crown or Birko urn and capable of holding about 5 kg. Anything smaller and you are really going head to head with the infamous BCF 39L crab cooker that sells for around a hundred bucks, plus mesh of some sort to line it.

Another point is that the Gas BIAB mob seem to go for bigger pots such as 70L and the design you showed in your OP has a lot of water around the outside that could affect mash efficiency - you really want all the grain and liquor in as close contact as possible.

Apart from the "turn key brewery" solution that an urn gives you, I'd guess that most people also buy an urn because they don't want to spend heaps on Nasa burners, gas bottles etc.

However we urnies are always looking for useful tweaks, note the recirculating BIAB systems based on urns that are always on the forum, so an urn sized basket should hit the spot perfectly.

The pot in the photo isn't ideal , there is a 19 L POT IN bigW that would be better ($20).

 

[Bribie G]

Another point to consider is that even if you recirculate, once you hoist a voile bag, the whole grain mass shifts, doesn't form a grain bed such as you get with HERMS or BM, and leads to cloudy wort in the kettle.
The use of a sturdy basket allows a grain bed to form and if it's lifted gradually the resulting wort in the kettle should be clearer .. especially if one of the recirc systems is used.

I don't believe that trub gives problems with the quality of the resulting beer, but it does rob volume .. having seen BM in action they do get more clear stuff into the fermenter.

 

[Roosterboy]

I don't BIAB, but it looks kind of small which blows out you grain to water ratio or do BIABers not sparge the grain?

BIABers do sparge , you can get 15 L from this system , home brewers tend to think the more beer you make in a run the better,
it's a good argument to say how much money your saving.But some brewers like making smaller batches just because they like brewing.

 

[Roosterboy]

Another point to consider is that even if you recirculate, once you hoist a voile bag, the whole grain mass shifts, doesn't form a grain bed such as you get with HERMS or BM, and leads to cloudy wort in the kettle.
The use of a sturdy basket allows a grain bed to form and if it's lifted gradually the resulting wort in the kettle should be clearer .. especially if one of the recirc systems is used.

I don't believe that trub gives problems with the quality of the resulting beer, but it does rob volume .. having seen BM in action they do get more clear stuff into the fermenter.

It is clear, i agree.

 

[Burt de Ernie]

BIABers do sparge , you can get 15 L from this system , home brewers tend to think the more beer you make in a run the better,
it's a good argument to say how much money your saving.But some brewers like making smaller batches just because they like brewing.

Its more about the amount of sparge water you can run over the grain regardless of batch size.

If your pot were relatively tight to the mesh it means you could wash the grain with more sparge water which will increase your efficiency. It not a major issue, it just means you spend more on grain in the long run.

 

[Roosterboy]

I designed this basket for people wanting to start BIAB , using fabric is a giant pain in the bum, but it seems people don't want to spend the money on SS.
I've listed this on ebay at $120 which with selling fees is below the cost of having it made and shipped. I must say I thought people would be more
interested especially as it's made to last and the companies in the US that make BIAB baskets sell them (+ freight) for much more.
If your interested 043 HUSKY 01.

 

[SBOB]

I designed this basket for people wanting to start BIAB , using fabric is a giant pain in the bum, but it seems people don't want to spend the money on SS.
I've listed this on ebay at $120 which with selling fees is below the cost of having it made and shipped. I must say I thought people would be more
interested especially as it's made to last and the companies in the US that make BIAB baskets sell them (+ freight) for much more.
If your interested 043 HUSKY 01.

i think the issue is purely size.
If it was more in-line with the size of crown/birko urns/grainfather kind of size then you would likely sell quite a few

 

[Roosterboy]

Thanks SBOB , I'll see how much that adds to the price by increasing the dimensions.

 

[wynnum1]

Old cooking they use the stainless mesh so they can filter the oil when its hot and thin and is expensive to buy the filter mesh .
Stainless Brewing Filters - Utah Biodiesel Supply is worth having a look at.

 

[Roosterboy]

Old cooking they use the stainless mesh so they can filter the oil when its hot and thin and is expensive to buy the filter mesh .
Stainless Brewing Filters - Utah Biodiesel Supply is worth having a look at.

I spoke to the guys there, you can double the price they quote as freight is nearly the same and then adjust for the Aussie dollar which is worth $ 0.71 US , you won't
get anything for under $ 170 and they don't do bulk buy discounts.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

This mob in China already make hop spiders, false bottoms and bazookas, they are on Alibaba and will supply one item they will make to your specs, why don't you get in touch with them, could be a lot cheaper, but I wouldn't hold up much hope of being a big market over here. BIAB folk will stick with a bag hell of a lot cheaper.
http://bolinwiremesh.com/About.asp?action=Services

 

[Barge]

I don't understand why you would want a rigid "bag". As far as I can tell you still have the issue of cloudy wort as the open sides would mean that recirculated wort wouldn't be filtered through a grain bed.

If I was going to ditch the bag and pay for a solution it would be for a malt pipe with top and bottom filter plates. Otherwise I would just cut up the big w pot and go with that.

 

[contrarian]

Size would be the big factor for me. I've had well over 10kg in my bag and would want that replicated in a basket. I would also wonder how cleaning would compare to a bag that can be turned inside out and either hosed or put through the wash.