Rice Hulls In Biab

[nathan_madness]

I have a recirculating BIAB setup and the two brews that I've done on it since adding the recirculating system have been great. The problem that I'm having is when mashing the pump can drain the kettle faster than the bag drains. I've fired a speed controller to my brown pump so problem solved.
What i was wondering is if i add rice hulls to my mash am I going to be able to speed up the recirc flow?

 

[Droughtmaster]

i have a braumeister and i have found that rice hulls really help my mash porosity either when its pumping up or on na pump break

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

my first thought is it is actually the bag slowing things down not the mash, what are you using for a bag?/

 

[nathan_madness]

my first thought is it is actually the bag slowing things down not the mash, what are you using for a bag?/

I got one of the CB bags.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

I got one of the CB bags.

Lots of people complain of poor drainage with those bags, you could try and boil the bag with sodium Perc or just get some swiss voil, I'd say the voil will fix the problem though.

 

[seamad]

Agree with bob, the bag is most likely the fault.
To those who add rice hulls, do you wash them first ?
Only time i have used them was in a hoprocket with hop pellets. I had them in a bag and boiled them first, the resulting water looked like a big pot of tea, didnt taste real flash either. Will never use them in a mash.
cheers
Sean

 

[twizt1d]

i didnt really like the CB bag, it took forever to drain, a lot harder to use if you dont have a skyhook too

my other biab bag was voile and it drained really easily (no pools of wort in the bag when being lifted out) but its not as durable as the CB one

i thought the CB bag being a lot finer would cut down on trub a little but it didnt seem to make any noticable difference

 

[QldKev]

I have a recirculating BIAB setup and the two brews that I've done on it since adding the recirculating system have been great. The problem that I'm having is when mashing the pump can drain the kettle faster than the bag drains. I've fired a speed controller to my brown pump so problem solved.
What i was wondering is if i add rice hulls to my mash am I going to be able to speed up the recirc flow?

I'm running a secondary system 'little bro' which is a recirculating BIAB. I've made my own bag from Swiss voile and have no issues with recirculation even when I pump a lot more flow than a brown pump could achieve. So I too guessing it's a bag material issue.

QldKev

 

[Rodolphe01]

I thought it was just me with the CB bag... Really strong and durable, but very slow draining. Tempted to go back to a voile bag, will save me about 30 minutes and a few percent in efficiency...

 

[nathan_madness]

Well I just did a Dunkelweizen with the recirc system and added 250g (dry weight) or rice hulls to the mash. At first it was flowing really well. When I hit the 56deg rest it was all over the bag was just filling as much as it had with the last 2 brews. I would definitely say it is the bag being to fine.

Yes, I soaked the rice hulls overnight and rinsed them good this morning so there was no dust left on them.

Might have to stop by Spotlight this week.

 

[Bribie G]

The CB bags are made from a nylon material which is a lot poorer draining than voile. IIRC Ross was unable to find a manufacturer who would certify voile as food safe and would only use nylon. Maybe any mk#2 bag could use a coarser weave if such material is available?

I found the bags very well made and robust, but some brews were very poor draining, especially adjunct brews with rice etc.

I've gone back to a simple voile square cut into a circle then hemmed, and hung up on a hangmans noose from the skyhook. works great and I even set my new mill to a "groats" crush which drains very freely and seems to give a couple of extra points eff.

 

[nathan_madness]

The CB bags are made from a nylon material which is a lot poorer draining than voile. IIRC Ross was unable to find a manufacturer who would certify voile as food safe and would only use nylon. Maybe any mk#2 bag could use a coarser weave if such material is available?

I found the bags very well made and robust, but some brews were very poor draining, especially adjunct brews with rice etc.

I've gone back to a simple voile square cut into a circle then hemmed, and hung up on a hangmans noose from the skyhook. works great and I even set my new mill to a "groats" crush which drains very freely and seems to give a couple of extra points eff.

I was going to look for your post on the Voile circle that posted sometime ago. That is the way that I'm going to do. I suspend my bag off the bottom of the pot by leaving it short of the bottom and then wrap a tie down strap around the pot and bag so that the bag can't sink any further into the pot.

How did you go with trub?

Don't get me wrong the CB bags are brilliantly made. I had done 12 brews of of one of them until I added this recirc system and managed to melt the bag to the bottom of my pot (bugger). I have used the one I have now 3 times and no sign of wear. They just don't flow enough if you are doing recirc. If you just use it like it was ment to be used proper BIAB style they are perfect.

 

[Bribie G]

I find that the major trub reducer is to use a hop bag, even with hop pellets. I haven't noticed much difference in trub using various BIAB methods, including my brew in a bucket with a false bottom. The major trub improvement was when I constructed a lauter tun with a FB, but the extra effort, time and cleanup was a total PITA which is when I went back to BIAB and bought some new voile.

 

[nathan_madness]

Well I use a hop sock no matter what as I use a plate chiller.

Watch out Spotlight here I come. The best thing is they have a new store in Capalaba just around the corner from CB.

 

[Jay Cee]

With those pumps, couldn't you wire in a voltage controller and 'turn it down' or is it all or nothing>

 

[Brewman_]

At some point you must move to another method.

 

[nathan_madness]

With those pumps, couldn't you wire in a voltage controller and 'turn it down' or is it all or nothing>

Yeah I already have a speed controller fitted. Just use a 12V dimmer switch.