Which BIAB Starter Kit?

[geesexar]

i bought a cheeky peak 71lt gas fired BIAB to do 50lt batches...the kettle only holds 65lts so im maxing it out to do 50 lt batches...get as big as you can afford, if i had my time again i would go 68 lt setup

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

I would suggest going as big as you can afford. You will find that spending all that time to make 23 litres is a pain, when for the same time you can make 46 litres (or more).

But what would I do with that additional 23ltrs? I only have 3 kegs and I'm not terribly keen to buy any more yet. And the reason I got into kegging was to avoid the pain of cleaning and storing bottles (there may or may not have been an incident involving a 4wd backing out of the garage and sending about 100 bottles crashing onto the driveway).

I guess I could store any excess in a secondary fermenter which I can get from Bunnings, but then I have to worry about storage temps, space etc.

I just can't see myself brewing more than 23ltrs at a time.

 

[sponge]

You say that now, but the day will probably come..

Even just to get two brews out of a single day, depending upon time constraints.

It's easy enough doing smaller batches in bigger pots, but near impossible to do double batches in a small pot (without two boils, etc).

Fill a cube with the rest and leave it til you're ready to ferment at your own convenience.

 

[Diesel80]

Sponge has it sussed. My experience 100%. Currently I have 2 20l cubes of wort from 10 days ago sitting in a large esky in the shade in the shed. When ready I can pitch one or both of these. 2 kegs getting gassed now. Will pitch them when I start on the kegs. In 4 to 5 week's when kegs are foaming, 2 more will be ready

Same brewday length, twice the output.

Cheers,
D80

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

I get what you're all saying, but I've been brewing extract at 23ltr batches for a few years now and just don't have the inclination (or the infrastructure) to do any larger batches, so I'm really leaning towards the Keg King Robo Brew at $449-

If like you all suggest, I start wanting bigger batches from my brew day, I guess I can sell the Robo Brew and use the proceeds towards a bigger system. Keg King have indicated that they'll be releasing bigger all in one brewery systems soon, so I have to assume they'll be available should I decide to go bigger.

Really appreciate the thoughts and advice from all in here.

 

[dropbear85]

I get what you're all saying, but I've been brewing extract at 23ltr batches for a few years now and just don't have the inclination (or the infrastructure) to do any larger batches, so I'm really leaning towards the Keg King Robo Brew at $449-

If like you all suggest, I start wanting bigger batches from my brew day, I guess I can sell the Robo Brew and use the proceeds towards a bigger system. Keg King have indicated that they'll be releasing bigger all in one brewery systems soon, so I have to assume they'll be available should I decide to go bigger.

Really appreciate the thoughts and advice from all in here.

You won't regret getting a Robobrew. They are a great bit of kit for the price. For a beginner all grain brewer they are better value than an urn as you get a digital thermostat, dual elements, malt basket and a chiller.
Add a pump and an overflow and you basically have a grainfather for half the price

 

[Bribie G]

Now there's one that snuck in under the radar. Looking at that malt pipe you should get a grain bed happening, so if you raise it very gradually using a pulley and skyhook you can jug wort out of the tap and sprinkle it on the grain surface then according to your recipe finish off with a few litres of sparge water and end up with fairly clear wort for the boil, without going into getting a pump etc.

Nowt wrong with jugging if the equipment is suitable, guy who regularly took out prizes in the Nationals with his lagers and Pilsners did it all the time, I was the jug slave at one of his brew days and it works a treat.

ed: does anyone know if they are prepared to do a version without the chiller?

 

[thylacine]

I got this 50ltr kit and love it!

Tho I wish I got a bigger pot than the 71ltr so I could do full volume mashes

I do "full volume" mashes in a 30L pot. And used to do f/v in a 19L pot.

Do I want 80 litres from one recipe, or 40L each from two recipes, or 20L each from four recipes, etc.

Currently my beer fridges contain long necks from twenty-four different recipes. I enjoy brewing & drinking a variety of beer.

I also have the time...

Cheers

 

[Diesel80]

I do "full volume" mashes in a 30L pot. And used to do f/v in a 19L pot.

Do I want 80 litres from one recipe, or 40L each from two recipes, or 20L each from four recipes, etc.

Currently my beer fridges contain long necks from twenty-four different recipes. I enjoy brewing & drinking a variety of beer.

I also have the time...

Cheers

The larger volume argument is basically in regards to Output for Hours invested.
If you have bags of free time and wish to invest it in this hobby, golden!
If you have kids (two under 2 here) and your brewing time is rare as rocking horse ****, then 1 brew done over 4 hours once every other month just will not cut it.
2 brews done in 4 hours, 100% more for no extra effort...... then you are half a chance.

You can't rush the ferment, so if you don't brew enough to ferment / package in line with what you drink, then you basically may as well go buy beers for variety.
Incidentally, you can get two different beers from 1 single double batch brew. You just need to think outside the box (or inside the cube).
I do it every time, 1 English, 1 American ale, 1 brew day

Each to their own.

Cheers,
D80

 

[sponge]

Plenty easy to get 4 different beers from a quad system (for eg) by adding different hops, yeast and steeped spec malts to each cube.

Stout, APA, ESB and schwarzbier from a single brew sesh? Absolutely.

 

[Barge]

Nowt wrong with jugging if the equipment is suitable, guy who regularly took out prizes in the Nationals with his lagers and Pilsners did it all the time, I was the jug slave at one of his brew days and it works a treat.

Any details, please? I'm waiting on a pump but was going to try this next week.

Jug size?
Number of jugs recirculated?
Bag or malt pipe?

 

[Bribie G]

Yup, Lyall is the name of the gent, and he did a fairly standard 3v. As the wort drained from the mash tun down to the boiler, he would set the flow to such a rate that it could be run into a jug (just a couple of Big W 1.5 L plastic kitchen jugs) and then sprinkled back onto the top of the mash. After maybe ten jugs it was obvious that the wort was running a lot clearer as a grain bed formed and filtering was happening.

Then he opened the tap fully and the clear wort was just allowed to run unhindered into the kettle. Now, being a 3v there was a' spargin', so the measured amount of sparge water was jugged over the top of the grain bed in such a way as to minimise channeling and the wort collected until it was at its "limit" according to a refrac reading. Being an old hand he had a good idea anyway of when that point was reached.

Using a malt pipe the above would be easy. As the Keg King system is a tad smaller than an urn, I'd be tempted to do the Braumeister mash plus a small sparge to get as much goodies out as possible, considering that bag squeezing is not an option.