WTB: BIAB setup

[Chap]

Hi all, I'm ready to make the move from extract to biab/all grain and have managed to finally scrape some cash together to make it happen.

I'm essentially looking for a turnkey electric product - pot with element, false bottom (if required), thermometer, sight glass, and associated hose clamps/fittings/ball lock tap etc. I'm hoping to get it up and running for under $500 but can spend more if required.

Would anyone know where I could get something along these lines close to brisbane/ipswich areas? Or would I be better off buying everything separately and building the rig myself?

Any advice/guidelines on making the move very appreciated.

Cheers
Chap

 

[Bribie G]

Crown urn. Bag. Craftbrewer.

 

[ein stein]

for 500$ you can easily buy a 40L crown urn, bag, 3 piece ball valve etc

edit: with change left over for ingredients for a few brews.

 

[Bribie G]

Make that less than 350

 

[earle]

Yep, crown urn and biab bag. No need to get over complicated to make great beers. Plenty of comp winning beers have been made on such a setup.

 

[Hermies]

Robobrew

 

[doctorj]

What do people think of this sort of thing?
https://cheekypeakbrewery.com.au/26ltr-nano-brewery-304ss-electric-brew-in-a-bag

 

[Chap]

With a concealed element crown urn, do I still need a false bottom to keep the bag from burning?

 

[Bribie G]

Good idea if you are going to do step mashes. However for a single infusion mash, which is probably what you are going to do most of the time, there is no need to ever turn on the element while the bag is in the urn, because you can just insulate with a cheap doonah during the mash.

Also you don't need a "false bottom" anyway, just something to hold the bottom of the bag away from the element.

Kitchen shop about $15

 

[yankinoz]

To add what Bribie suggests, a round "colander ring" usually fits a kettle nicely. the legs are short, but using one I've never had problems doing a Hochkurz step mash.

 

[Schikitar]

@Chap, I just recently bought into the 40L Crown Urn and did my first brew on it a couple weeks ago - gotta say, it went really well (apart from my water volume calculations which were 2-3 litres off), the urn itself is great BUT the one thing I would say is that I've found the sight glass to be unreliable. I spent the good part of a couple hours measuring out litres of water and then with a tape measure I took the internal headpace measurements and transferred, with permanent marker, to the outside of the urn. I found the sight glass to not always, if you will forgive the pun, not measure up. Next time when checking levels pre/post boil I will also physically measure the headspace to see what I have rather than relying on the sight glass. It's not a showstopper by any means and I don't know what the other guys do but just thought I'd point it out. I think it's a great vessel for BIAB, you can easily do full volume brews, it'll hit all the right temps and it's relatively easy to clean!

 

[earle]

I removed the sight glass from mine as it was difficult to clean, I didn't use it and I wanted to remove any nooks where bacteria could hide when I started doing kettle sours. I just use a SS ruler and have a chart to convert between liquid depth and volume.

 

[tj2204]

I do the same as above but made a spreadsheet to do the calculation for me.

 

[Matplat]

@Meddo is selling a recirculating rig for $500.

 

[Schikitar]

@earle and @tj2204 - would you guys mind elaborating/sharing a little more? eg. how did you remove the sight glass, what is the SS ruler you refer to, and how about that spreadsheet?

 

[earle]

The sight glass tube screws into a stainless steel elbow which goes through the side of the urn. After reading how some other people had removed it I had the wrong end of the stick and removed the tube and elbow, and plugged the hole in the side of the urn with a ss bolt and some silicon washers. What I should have done was just remove the tube from the elbow and use a ss bolt to plug that hole. The tube is threaded at the bottom and can be unscrewed from the elbow. I think the size bolt for plugging that hole is an M10.

Ruler is just a stainless steel one that i have in my workshop, 1 metre long, can get from any hardware or big green shed.

I can't find the spreadsheet that I used to make my conversion table but this calculator does the trick, you can even change is to solve for volume for a given height, or solve for height for a desired volume https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...r+calc:+find+V,+r=n/a,+h=n/a&skip=s&gfe_rd=cr

 

[Drover's dog]

Well thanks all for your comments. I have to say since I posted my “Moving on” thread I had several email conversation with Kerry Moggach of Kehanake Pty Ltd who are the suppliers of Grainfather Fermenters, he was most helpful and after I indicated to him my funding restrictions he was directing me away from the Grainfather and more into the cheaper set ups of the 40lt BIAB I mentioned in my post or as a few of you have suggested the Robobrew. Having said all of that, the convenience of the Robobrew looks brilliant but I have this deep down feeling that I’m going to have more fun going for a BIAB system. Still not ready to part with my hard earned pension - so I will continue to procrastinate until the way ahead becomes clearer.

 

[rossbaker]

Good stuff. I have a mate who has recently started up with a crown urn biab setup and he has had great success. He's also found the biab spreadsheet really useful and has hit his numbers more consistently than I have with my robobrew.

 

[jaythefordman]

What do people think of this sort of thing?
https://cheekypeakbrewery.com.au/26ltr-nano-brewery-304ss-electric-brew-in-a-bag

I'm liking this kind of thing, add a pump and you have a robobrew that is serviceable and expandable.

Thoughts?

 

[stewy]

I'm liking this kind of thing, add a pump and you have a robobrew that is serviceable and expandable.

Thoughts?

Depends what you typically like to brew. 36L total volume makes it very tough to brew beers much higher than 6% if you are doing pure BIAB (no sparge). There are ways around that of course but you compromise on simplicity.
If you are happy sparging then this would be a great unit.
I BIAB in 40L crown urn, I mash into approx 20-25 litres, mash out while manually recirculating, then sparge to reach required pre-boil volume.
I enjoy the process & can knock out big beers doing it.