Two Biab Qs -- Keggle And Voile

[argon]

Nice but overkill. Kind of like hopping in the Ferrari to get to the corner store for a 6-pack when you could walk the half block.

I think it'll be a fairly simple system actually... would cost me about $30 all up. I like to squeeze out the bag (with heavy duty rubber gloves) so really just another set of hands. Maybe a pulley is not essential. A "U" bolt would do the same, or a looped hook screw. The most important thing is the tie-off point really. Another set of hands always comes in handy when dealing with hot liquids and gas burners.

 

[katzke]

I think it'll be a fairly simple system actually... would cost me about $30 all up. I like to squeeze out the bag (with heavy duty rubber gloves) so really just another set of hands. Maybe a pulley is not essential. A "U" bolt would do the same, or a looped hook screw. The most important thing is the tie-off point really. Another set of hands always comes in handy when dealing with hot liquids and gas burners.

I will post a picture of how I do it in the morning. Yes it is dark her on the other side of the world. It may not be the best for everyone but shows how easy it is and that pulleys and brackets are not needed. Sure they are nice and I am not saying not to do it but they are not needed.

I still see no reason for rubber gloves. I used the old way as outlined in the original thread of just giving a twist and then let it drain in a bucket for the first several brews. Now that I have a way to hang the bag over the pot I still just give it a twist and have not burned my delicate fingers yet.

You will need to use some imagination, as I will not have a full bag dripping with hot wort in the picture. But it still works just fine.

 

[argon]

I will post a picture of how I do it in the morning. Yes it is dark her on the other side of the world. It may not be the best for everyone but shows how easy it is and that pulleys and brackets are not needed. Sure they are nice and I am not saying not to do it but they are not needed.

I still see no reason for rubber gloves. I used the old way as outlined in the original thread of just giving a twist and then let it drain in a bucket for the first several brews. Now that I have a way to hang the bag over the pot I still just give it a twist and have not burned my delicate fingers yet.

You will need to use some imagination, as I will not have a full bag dripping with hot wort in the picture. But it still works just fine.

You do have a point though... I seem more willing to spend the extra on the equipment... but be damned if I don't squeeze every last drop out of that bag!!

I reckon alot of people on these forums probably feel the same way

 

[katzke]

You do have a point though... I seem more willing to spend the extra on the equipment... but be damned if I don't squeeze every last drop out of that bag!!

I reckon alot of people on these forums probably feel the same way

When I cleaned up after the last brew I did not have enough wort left from the bag to worry about. The key is to let it drip then ring it out and drip then ring it out again. It takes some time but getting a boil takes some time also. I wonder if some of you are just impatient?

Now I am going to have to put some grain in the bag and take a few pictures to show how I lift the bag, hang it, and ring it out.

 

[troopa]

All right ive gotta ask the gurus here cause i just cant get my head around using sparging water ...

Do you let your bag down into a bucket then open it up and pour the water over the grain then re-hoist the bag back up and let it run out ?

Or you pour it through the side of the voile as its hung ?

Or do you some how open the bag mid air using magical sky hooks and pour the water over the grain?

Ps sorry for the hijack but this just got mentioned and its plagued me for 3 or 4 brews now LOL

Tom

 

[argon]

It takes some time but getting a boil takes some time also. I wonder if some of you are just impatient?

yep i'm definately impatient... that's why BIAB fits what i'm looking for... that is, a quick brew with equipment that requires little space. I also prefer to not to have to hold the bag up myself for the time it takes to drip and ring out, call me lazy but i'd like it to be suspended while I let the bag do it's work. Also if anything distracts me from what i'm doing i can leave it there and come back later.

 

[Bribie G]

I just started BIAB (for partials) and while it's easier than the way I was mashing & sparging before (don't ask!), I found it REALLY HARD to just leave the first-dunk grain without running some hot water through it again - and seeing that the resultant liqor was nice and dark. Seems a waste to not extract the extra.

Sparge in a bucket, see my forthcoming article. Sparge in a bucket + partials = match made in heaven.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

All right ive gotta ask the gurus here cause i just cant get my head around using sparging water ...

Do you let your bag down into a bucket then open it up and pour the water over the grain then re-hoist the bag back up and let it run out ?

Or you pour it through the side of the voile as its hung ?

Or do you some how open the bag mid air using magical sky hooks and pour the water over the grain?

Ps sorry for the hijack but this just got mentioned and its plagued me for 3 or 4 brews now LOL

Tom

All of those will work to an extent - the better mixing and contact with the grain the water gets... the more effective the sparge. In BIAB, you are using much much much less sparge water (if you sparge at all) than you would in a "normal" brewing scenario, so you sparging inefficiently no matter what ...

I personally like the "dunk" sparge -- where the bag is transferred to another pot that has an amount of water in it... bag is agitated, stirred, squished around etc etc for a while, then lifted and re-drained/squeezed.

But pouring some water over the bag - re-opening and pouring it in - all that will be fine. You just need to make sure the water "gets in" so to speak doesn't just run down the outside.

Best option of all in my opinion, is to not sparge at all. Pay the extra 50c for grain and save yourself the trouble -- oh if you are doing it for volume reasons, OK. But otherwise ....... who could be arsed in order to save a handfull of grain?

 

[Bribie G]

Yes for the price I'm more than happy to pay for a 5 kg grain bill that a 3 vessel system could probably crank out on 4.6kg but when I'm trying to follow a recipe (good example being the Australian Sparkling from a recent BYO mag) I do a separate bucket sparge to try to stick to the recipe as far as possible, seeing as most recipes are formulated with multi sparging in mind.

Also I'm a tight ALDI shopping ******* (says it all) :lol:

 

[BooneDocks]

Making progress -- I bought my grains yesterday. I will make an American Pale Ale. I have a friend who has some hops growing on a fence in her back yard and as best we can tell, they are Cascades and are just about ready for picking (it is hop harvest time in parts of the States) and I plan to use them undried. We shall call this brew "Feline Fantasy" as we both have house cats. Here are the particulars:

Grain Bill (the homebrew store said their mill was set at .036/.037 which seemed good and fine and I had them triple crush it). They put the grains in a "pillow case" shaped plastic bag so I now know why I wish I had a tear drop shaped bag, but I feel confident it isn't going to be to difficult to pull it up through the 12" hole of the keggle.
8 lbs. 2-Row Pale Malt
2 lbs. Vienna Malt
0.5 lb. Crystal 10L Malt

Mash
Single Infusion mash for 70 minutes at 152 degrees.
Mash Out


Boil & Hops (these are all wet hop weights at the assumed rate of 4 oz wet to 1 oz dry)
4.0 oz Cascade 6.6% at 60 min.
2.0 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 30 min.
1.0 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 15 min.
1.0 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 5 min.

Chill to 70 to 75 degrees

Pitch with Nottingham Dry Yeast. No starter or hydration.

I still am working out just how much water to put in the kettle, have to fill the propane tank I bought at a garage sale this weekend and do a little modifying/testing of the brew equipment I bought from a guy giving up the hobby. (This will be my first no kitchen stove top brew).

 

[katzke]

Making progress -- I bought my grains yesterday. I will make an American Pale Ale. I have a friend who has some hops growing on a fence in her back yard and as best we can tell, they are Cascades and are just about ready for picking (it is hop harvest time in parts of the States) and I plan to use them undried. We shall call this brew "Feline Fantasy" as we both have house cats. Here are the particulars:

Grain Bill (the homebrew store said their mill was set at .036/.037 which seemed good and fine and I had them triple crush it). They put the grains in a "pillow case" shaped plastic bag so I now know why I wish I had a tear drop shaped bag, but I feel confident it isn't going to be to difficult to pull it up through the 12" hole of the keggle.
8 lbs. 2-Row Pale Malt
2 lbs. Vienna Malt
0.5 lb. Crystal 10L Malt

Mash
Single Infusion mash for 70 minutes at 152 degrees.
Mash Out


Boil & Hops (these are all wet hop weights at the assumed rate of 4 oz wet to 1 oz dry)
4.0 oz Cascade 6.6% at 60 min.
2.0 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 30 min.
1.0 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 15 min.
1.0 oz. Cascade 6.6% at 5 min.

Chill to 70 to 75 degrees

Pitch with Nottingham Dry Yeast. No starter or hydration.

I still am working out just how much water to put in the kettle, have to fill the propane tank I bought at a garage sale this weekend and do a little modifying/testing of the brew equipment I bought from a guy giving up the hobby. (This will be my first no kitchen stove top brew).

Using backyard hops is tricky. You have no idea how bitter they are or what they will add for flavor. Can not help with the amount to use but some googling may give you an answer.

I know someplace out there is a home test for bitterness. It involves making a hop tea and sugar to balance the bitterness.

You will need to work up your own water but I think you should be around 8.5 gallons. It will depend on your boil off. This will let you know if you are close anyway.

 

[katzke]

Yes for the price I'm more than happy to pay for a 5 kg grain bill that a 3 vessel system could probably crank out on 4.6kg but when I'm trying to follow a recipe (good example being the Australian Sparkling from a recent BYO mag) I do a separate bucket sparge to try to stick to the recipe as far as possible, seeing as most recipes are formulated with multi sparging in mind.

Also I'm a tight ALDI shopping ******* (says it all) :lol:

My efficiencies are getting high enough that the only adjustments I have had to make are to recipes where they do not allow for enough losses. I still do not see how some say they can make 5 gallons of beer with only 6 gallons of collected wort.

 

[katzke]

Have a snap ready but I can not load an image because photobucket has gone to hi-tech for my computer and I can not get it to work. No other way to load an image that I know.