Using An Urn For Brew In A Bag - Tutorial

[Cocko]

Well written mate.

:icon_chickcheers:

 

[glaab]

Good job Bribie!

When you try to remove your tap to replace it be careful I think its tightened up with a rattle gun or something, it wont wanna budge if it's like mine was. I tried to remove mine and it began to warp the sheetmetal which is pretty thin. You gotta put a socket on the inside with a long bar and then get a big shifta/ open ender on the outside. Probably a 2 man job. Also the hole is 21mm 'ish so you'll need to open it up to 23mm for a bulkhead.

Cheers, Chris.

 

[Phoney]

Love your work BribieG

Your guide answers all of the questions I had before my first BIAB job. Only thing I can point out is that squeezing a bag full of hot grain cannot and should not be done with bare hands. So heatproof and waterproof gloves are essential. This is pretty obvious, but a newbie could be caught out redhanded (excuse the pun ) come brew day.

 

[Katherine]

Love your work BribieG

Your guide answers all of the questions I had before my first BIAB job. Only thing I can point out is that squeezing a bag full of hot grain cannot and should not be done with bare hands. So heatproof and waterproof gloves are essential. This is pretty obvious, but a newbie could be caught out redhanded (excuse the pun ) come brew day.

I have a pulley system and twirl my bag but still give it a good squeeze with bare hands.

 

[Wonderwoman]

I have a pulley system and twirl my bag but still give it a good squeeze with bare hands.

you're a tough nut then :lol: personally, I've used 2 large saucepan lids

 

[Katherine]

you're a tough nut then :lol: personally, I've used 2 large saucepan lids

Thats a great idea.... I would wear gloves but they dont make them in my hand size!

 

[leiothrix]

Good job Bribie!

When you try to remove your tap to replace it be careful I think its tightened up with a rattle gun or something, it wont wanna budge if it's like mine was. I tried to remove mine and it began to warp the sheetmetal which is pretty thin. You gotta put a socket on the inside with a long bar and then get a big shifta/ open ender on the outside. Probably a 2 man job. Also the hole is 21mm 'ish so you'll need to open it up to 23mm for a bulkhead.

Cheers, Chris.

(Assuming you're talking about a Crown Urn) - To remove my tap i used a socket (don't remember size, prob 1"), a 2 or 3" extension & 1/2" ratchet. Hold the tap on the outside to stop the metal bending. It was on tight, but it came off no worries.

The hole is 21mm-ish, but the beer-belly bulkhead (which on the site says requires a 23mm hole) fit in perfectly.

Of course there may be issues of tolerance, strength, tools available, etc but that was my experience.

Rob.

 

[bullsneck]

Wow, great tutorial.

AG brewing is all too tempting now.

Not sure I can resist the darkside now.

 

[Darren]

Hey BIAB'ers,
Not sure if I posted this before but I brewed in an urn for two years (about 15 years ago). I used a piece of stainless mesh moulded around the element and a copper pick-up tube to drain the wort. IIRC it cost about ten bucks and did not require the use of a sowing machine or a pulley/hoist to drain.

Please can someone tell me the real long-term advantage of using BIAB?

cheers

Darren

 

[Pollux]

Darren,

How did you manage to separate the grains from the wort before the boil??

 

[Darren]

Into an old fermenter (aka known as a lauter grant).

I used a kettle from the kitchen to sparge, dumped the grain, then put the particle-free sweet wort into the urn for boil.

Primitive....yes, but it was reliable, durable and effective (and it didn't require use of curtain material or a sowing machine).

cheers


Darren

 

[Murcluf]

Please can someone tell me the real long-term advantage of using BIAB?

cheers

Darren

I don't think there is any long term advantage to BIAB..... I technically MAIB (Masked in a bag) when I first went to AG for about 5 brew as i peiced together my set up. Don't get me wrong I think it is a brilliant way to get a taste AGing with minimal expence but I found it limited very quickly. Been now brewing with a primative AG setup now for over 18 months, first thing I noticed is how much more you can do doing it that way rather then BIAB. But this just my own opion...

 

[haysie]

Please can someone tell me the real long-term advantage of using BIAB?

cheers

Darren

I suspect none, its just another method.
Saves time and water and energy and hops and can substitute for a coles bag picking up your dog **** in the local park whilst walking. I would look a bit silly carrying my 50ltr mashtun around the park behind the dog.

 

[Cocko]

Please can someone tell me the real long-term advantage of using BIAB?

cheers

Darren

I am not sure what you mean by long term - Maybe you should ask BribieG directly and then compare a trophy count... B)

Seriously Darren, what are you asking here? The long term is AG beers! GOOD AG beers.. award winning now in cases.

BIAB - is a cheap, simple way for brewers to get in and produce some AG beer - either short term or long term...

What are the real long term advantages of using 3V instead?

<_<

 

[RdeVjun]

The prospect of getting right into AG with minimal up- front expense, straightforward equipment and simple processes is so attractive to many, I know it certainly was for me and I'm not alone. Now this Air- Locked tutorial takes the beginner through it step by step, wrinkles (or rather dog's bollocks :lol: ) and all.
So, once again, me tips me lid- just brilliant work!

Speaking of Geordies, my spousie who, bless her, is one of them too, bought me a snappy lined woolen coat from the local Op Shop specifically for slipping over the pot while mashing. It does look rather smart while the mash is on, like a distinguished gent has sat on the bench, but unfortunately lost his extremities. (Legless perhaps!) How's about that then? Actually, I think she was actually telling me to stop using my jerseys for mash insulation... I have to use two in winter time. Tip there for everyone!

 

[Paul H]

Is it true that BIAB'ing will make you go blind?

Cheers

Paul

 

[Bribie G]

Into an old fermenter (aka known as a lauter grant).

I used a kettle from the kitchen to sparge, dumped the grain, then put the particle-free sweet wort into the urn for boil.

Primitive....yes, but it was reliable, durable and effective (and it didn't require use of curtain material or a sowing machine).

cheers


Darren

Darren I used the same method as you many years ago in the UK using a Bruheat boiler (a plastic urn holding about 25L, still available and popular), did the mash in the Bruheat, sparged it out into a spare fermenter then put the runnings back into the Bruheat for the boil. It was a two vessel system, basically, and like you I did some brilliant brews.

However with a 40L urn such as we have nowadays it can all be done in one vessel. I see where you are coming from but feel that the modern BIAB method has somewhat gone over your head. Kindly re-read the tutorial and if you have difficulties with any of the concepts please PM me.

Best regards



Edit: in fact anyone with a 30L Crown or Birko urn could probably do exactly that with a spare fermenter and do a two vessel brew with sparging and make good beer, but that's not the method described in this thread.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Actually, it so happens that I have written a basic how to for BIAB in a 30L Crown, Birko or other urn. I was prompted by a thread asking about the suitability for brewing of some very very cheap 30L urns.

You could use them in the way Darren describes - but then you would have to transfer the wort a couple of times and also clean out the mashtun before using it as a kettle. That would of course work perfectly well, but here is an alternative for those of us who aren't afraid of a bit of sewing.

I still dislike the notion of mucking about with BIAB - I think it is at its best, displays all of its strengths and overcomes more of its weaknesses - when it is in its pure and basic 1 pot, full volume, no sparging original form.

BUT - the urns in question are really really cheap. ($65-75 - check e-bay) Cheap enough to make me think about how to use them and lose as little of the ease of use of BIAB as possible.

So I am attaching a How To document on Small Urn - 2 vessel modified BIAB - it is away to get full size (well 20L) finished volume batches out of one of these 30L urns - but avoid needing to boil extra water on the stove or in the kettle - and also avoid having to brew with concentrated wort.

In addition to your urn - you will need a 20L bucket (or preferably a 20L eski.. but a bucket will do) - I have brewed this way and came up with the method earlier on in the BIAB debate as a way to allow BIAB with more normal L:G ratios. Basically its a variation of the Dunk Sparge technique.

Anyway - here is the attachment

View attachment Smaller_Urn_2V_BIAB.doc

As I said, I have brewed almost exactly this way - it works - but it absolutely could be changed, tweaked and massaged in a variety of ways too

Hope you find it useful.

Thirsty

 

[Pollux]

TB: That's an interesting read, I'm tempted to try it out with my 40L urn as I have been wanting to incorporate a dunk sparge into my routine but as I brew in the garage and my apartment is two stories up I only have the urn as a heat source.

My other option is the take the BribieG dunk sparge route and use my 15L pot (previously used for extract brewing) to heat the sparge water, this would require another heat source.

Question is, could one of these little butane burners work for this? It would only have to heat roughly 7 litres to roughly 78deg, but I'm concerned regarding the gas usage.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

They're OK - I used to use one as my kettle burner for a 16L pot. The gas is cheap as ... buy it from an asian grocer rather than a camping store and its half as much. They aren't so good in the wind though - so I dont know how it'd go up on the second story.

If you are willing to use an extra pot and heat source ... then all bets are off, you can do it any way you want to. It will all pretty much work. The main point of my How To - was to keep things as close to native BIAB as possible. Only one extra, non metal vessel required, the urn still provides all the heating.

This is one of the disadvantages of brewing in an urn - their advantage is the "one bit of gear, all in one" thing - but that is of course, by its nature an inflexible arrangement. For me - a normal pot and an immersion element is the ultimate compromise between simplicity and flexibility

The more gear you add... the more options you have. Let your imagination run free BIABers. But also remember, you will reach a point where your complexity levels in equipment and effort - start to equate to that of a 3V system... and if price, time, effort and complexity even out, then I think you might be better off going with a nice tried and true 3V design that has had thousands of brewers work out the design kinks over many years... than invest too much into what would be an essentially experimental BIAB rig. Unless experimentation and adventure is your thing that is in which case more power to ya and it'll be cool to see just how far people can push the whole concept.