23l BIAB lifting

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Stephenj

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Going though all the different situations before deciding on whether to go large on BIAB with ACE system or go the self build boiler/mash tun route, and wondered whether it would be a pain in the arse (or back) to lift a bag full of wet grains? I wouldn't have any way of having a pulley system so would be bare hands and brute strength. What are people's experiences?

Also, is the grainfather technically BIAB?
 
For a 5kg grain bill you are looking at a 10kg dead weight lift, the bit that's toughest is the initial lift when it has excess wort still within it you could easily add a few extra kilos for that.

Easiest way I found was to have an adjustable oven shelf to hand and slide it in below the bag as soon as you get it above the boiler to allow it to drain.
 
I'm pretty strong and could manage the lift, but not sure of its just going to add a variable or 2 to the brew day that i could do without such as knocking the boiler over, losing footing, bag slipping, burnt hands etc.
 
Wet grain is heavy and hot wet grain at mash temps can also scold or at least be very uncomfortable. Whether you are using a Grainfather or BIAB you still have to lift this weight.

For BIAB I use a pair of black super heavy duty washing up gloves with a pair of thin wool gloves inside. This provides grip, waterproofness and insulation from the heat.

In terms of lifting the bag, you ned to get above the kettle. Either by having it on the floor or getting up on a chair. I twist the bag so that the wort is squeezed out of the grain as it twists. Then by the time the grain is out of the wort the weight is much less than when it is fully saturated.

Don't worry about squeezing the bag. I've never found any issues even though some people will say you might extract unwanted things.

BIAB is great. I really recommend it.
 
It's what I'm doing at the moment, just 10l batches so easier to handle. I'm looking to upscale and trying to make a decision on an ACE system or a bog standard water boiler for BIAB, or getting a boiler and mash tun system on the go.
 
I cant lift large weight because of my back. For a 23L BIAB,after the mash, I line a bucket with paint strainer then 'jug' about half the grain out of the pot into the bucket.Then am able to simply lift half the weight in each bag to drain. It takes longer but saves my back.

I have also seen a youtube vid where a guy did a 10US G BIAB and used two mash bags in his pot with half the grain in each. I tried it. It's a little difficult to mash in the second bag, but it's doable
 
I've only done one BIAB and it is heavy, but not too bad. I was able to lift the bag with two hands, and then hold it in one at shoulder height while getting a metal colander underneath it so it could sit over the boiler and drain. That was a 6kg grain bill, no idea what it weighed when wet. The boiler was on the kitchen work surface.

And I'm not the strongest bloke on the planet- 6ft2" and about 12 stone :lol:
 
@MyQul @Thumper what do you both use for the BIAB? I was looking at the ACE on a catering site, a 40l Buffalo, or at half the price of the Buffalo a 35l tea urn off ebay. I thought I was set for BIAB moving forward, but then been reading loads (maybe to much) on efficiency etc and thought about making a boiler with kettle elements, and getting a coolbox from the range for £15 and converting to a mash tun. Really torn on what to spend my hard earned on.

Anyone else got thoughts on their experiences of wither BIAB or other methods when stepping up to 23l brews?
 
This is a good idea if you've already got a step-ladder in the house:
 

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Tbh, I mostly do 5L + 10L brews (using my 15L pot), but when I do a 23L brew I do what's known as Maxi-Biab. I use my 15L pot (or sometimes a FV) to mash in and make a concentrated wort which I boil in the 15L plus a 5L pot then I dilute the wort up to 23L in the FV
 
In terms of making a concentrated wort, what things do you need to do or be aware of? How do you work out your calculations?

For the price of the ACE (£90), and the Buffalo (now £130 on Nisbets after the sale I missed), I suppose I could buy the £50 tea urn and use as HLT and as the boiler, and the £15 coolbox with a few mods, and would still come out as cheaper than the other 2. I was thinking of just getting a 30l FV and adding 2 kettle elements and the ball valve tap and make a Peco sort of thing.
 
I did 23L BIAB in the HBC peco before moving to an all-in-one system. It can get heavy for large grain bills (8 or 9kg), but even then it is manageable, but at that weight you don't have as much time to let the wort drain above the boiler before moving it, so it was a bit messy with drips of wort when transferring it to another bucket. I eventually got a system where I consistently got 80%+ brewhouse efficiency with BIAB with any reasonable grain bill. This involved crushing the malt as fine as possible, getting half the boil volume from the first runnings then the other half from a batch sparge, and by squeezing the life out of the bag each time wort was collected.
 
I simply use a 23L recipe and but do the water calculations (grain absorbtion +boil off+brewlength) for 20L.

There nothing I need to beware off but that may be due to the beer style I make. From what I''ve read you get a lower hop utilisation in concentrated wort so your maybe supposed to add more hops to account for this. But I've never noticed any difference so just add the right (as per my 23L recipe) amount of hops. However I mostly make lower OG/ABV% session beers. So perhaps if your an IPA hop bomb man you may need to add extra hops
 
I have a pulley mounted on a beam above where I site my boiler. If your boiler is on the ground I don't see why you would need to be a woodworking genius to make some sort of frame with a pulley in it to do the same thing.
As to the weight of the bag - it's often not that bad, especially for weaker brews, but I have had the odd brew where the grain has pretty much blocked up the pores in the biab bag and I've ended up lifting about 3 gallons of wort plus the grain which I doubt I could have done without the pulley.
 
I have an ACE boiler/mash tun I can do 5k grain bill with some help. First important thing is grip of the grain bag and heat protection, I use two pairs of marigolds one inside the other. I twist the neck of the bag to tight against the grain and lift. I also use one of these sink strainers from Ikea, I have someone ready to slip it underneath my grain bag as soon as it clears the top of the boiler. The lift is not too bad and is quite quick.
Hope that is of some help :)
 

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@MyQul @Thumper what do you both use for the BIAB? I was looking at the ACE on a catering site, a 40l Buffalo, or at half the price of the Buffalo a 35l tea urn off ebay. I thought I was set for BIAB moving forward, but then been reading loads (maybe to much) on efficiency etc and thought about making a boiler with kettle elements, and getting a coolbox from the range for £15 and converting to a mash tun. Really torn on what to spend my hard earned on.

Anyone else got thoughts on their experiences of wither BIAB or other methods when stepping up to 23l brews?

I asked for this kit for Xmas, and my family were feeling generous. Excellent price compared to buying the items separately. I've only used it once so far but it did the job well.

https://www.geterbrewed.com/basic-biab-starter-kit-kit-brewers-upgrade/
 

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