23l BIAB lifting

[BeerCat]

That is the same boiler i have. You might be able to pick up a bufallo 40l for around the same price. I have both.

Actually i am wrong. The one you linked to is 2.5kw and mine is 1.6kw. You might find you get a lot of boil off with that and struggle to get a 23l batch unless you top it up.

 

[Stephenj]

that's interesting. I just thought get a bigger KW to get to a boil quicker. Didn't think about the boil off being an issue.

 

[Dads_Ale]

Boil off can be a major factor in the brew day.
I lose up to 10 litres in a 60 min boil. Variables can be element power, wort surface area and forced steam extraction. I am well up on all three of these :)

 

[Stephenj]

of course, I just didn't actually take that into consideration when looking to purchase a boiler.

 

[Dads_Ale]

of course, I just didn't actually take that into consideration when looking to purchase a boiler.

Probably more something to account for once you have got the boiler. I regularly add 5l half way through the boil if i want to get 40l into my FV (Boiler takes about 50l allowing for head space and assuming 15 litre losses)

 

[Stephenj]

Just got to decide on what to get. The Peck just seems expensive for what it is, and the Buffalo gone back up to £140.

 

[AdeDunn]

I have an ACE boiler (NOT the brewer, just the boiler set) myself. I have arthritis in my left hand, wrist and a bit in my shoulder, as well as near permanent sciatica and shot knees. I lift the bag out by putting my SS mash paddle through the handle loops, then getting my wife to lift one end whilst I lift the other, then I whack a cake cooling rack on top of the boiler to rest the bag on whilst it drains. Once it's mostly drained it's much lighter and I can manage it fine on my own. It's a really good boiler kit for sure though, one tip for you if you get one though, use a couple of pegs on the handles to raise the bag higher (it hangs just above the liquid surface otherwise, and you end up with grains getting loose), it has plenty of length in it to do this but the handles just don't sit quite right without the pegs.

As to efficiency, with a fair bit of advice, research and tweaking my process, I'm now getting from 82% to 86% measured kettle efficiency. The variation now is dependent on how much RO I mix with my tap water (more RO = higher efficiency due to lower mash pH for me, but too much and I risk not enough calcium etc). The biggest improvement though was learning how often to stir, and daft as it sounds HOW to stir the grist whilst mashing. I started out doing it too carefully and gently, you need to really get it all off the bottom of the bag and into the water column. I find I can get away with stirring every 20-30 minutes throughout the mash (it's a balancing act between maintaining mash temp and stirring enough).

The only problem I still have is, I get a lot of very sticky trub. I even tried a longer bazooka in there but it still clogs by about 5 litres transferred. So could be the bag could do with been a bit finer possibly, as seems to release a fair bit of flour.

 

[Stephenj]

Great info. Thanks.

 

[Thumper]

Noob question: what is RO?

 

[IainM]

Noob question: what is RO?

Reverse osmosis. A way of removing impurities from your water.

 

[Thumper]

Thanks Ian.

 

[Bigcol49]

The only problem I still have is, I get a lot of very sticky trub. I even tried a longer bazooka in there but it still clogs by about 5 litres transferred. So could be the bag could do with been a bit finer possibly, as seems to release a fair bit of flour.

Hi!
Is the crush on your malt too small? It can lead to lots of flour in the mash.
In another thread about ACE boilers some members have ditched the bazooka and replaced it with stainless steel braid.

 

[pms67]

I brewed at my caravan and used this

 

[Bigcol49]

Stairway to Heaven?

 

[Ciaran12s]

+1 on the stainless braid. Excellent stuff. I'm not using a bag either.

 

[AdeDunn]

Hi!
Is the crush on your malt too small? It can lead to lots of flour in the mash.
In another thread about ACE boilers some members have ditched the bazooka and replaced it with stainless steel braid.

Doesn't seem likely to be honest, I get standard Malt Miller crush, which is quite large really (I compared it to pics in my brewing books, and looks right by those). I've been looking at the DX Hope Filter that Brew Builder sell to be honest, even more surface area than SS braid. I'm also switching over to whole hops from pellets, to create a better filter bed post boil. My next brew will be with whole hops, so will see if it helps any. It's just a small irritation anyway, as end of the day everything I have read is that even if you end up with trub in your FV it doesn't do any real harm. Other brew days I just ended up using my Auto-Syphon to transfer the wort, just a bit more time consuming is all.

Thumper, sorry about using the abbreviation, just that used to calling it RO now. Thanks Iain for translating. lol Basically water filtered through my RO is very very soft (and pretty close to pure, so very low calcium levels etc), which means it isn't as high in buffering minerals as my tap water. This means the acids from my malt have a larger effect, thus reducing the mash pH more than if I use just tap water. I mix in some (treated) tap water to add back some of the minerals that the reverse osmosis filter removes. I could probably get more control by just buying calcium chloride and calcium carbonate and adding that instead of tap water, but tap water is free. I already have a fair bit of experience with adjusting water chemistry from my fresh water shrimp hobby (which is also why I already owned a reverse osmosis system) which made it easier for me. I know plenty of folks though get a lower mash pH by using things like acidulated malt and/or by adding acids to their water as well. There are probably also plenty of people who have water all ready good from mashing with out of the tap or who have to "harden" their water. :) All good fun.

 

[Thumper]

No problem Ade! Now I know.

I need to get into basic water treatment. I got a copy of my water report, and mean values are:

Alkalinity 267mg HCO3

Calcium 135mg

Sulphate 63mg

At the moment I'm just throwing a campden tab in. I've bought some Epsom salts to up the sulphate, as I understand I don't want the calcium much higher than that. Just need to get some acid to sort that alkalinity out and I'm away. Hoppy summer brews, here I come!

 

[Honk]

Any cyclist's here? My repair rack comes in handy for suspending the grain bag.

 

[AdeDunn]

Any cyclist's here? My repair rack comes in handy for suspending the grain bag.

View attachment 12354

Rather an elegant solution that, nice.

 

[Dexter101]

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

Building on this, assuming I am right you meant 2 bags side by side, couldnt you do one bag in another? so put the first bag in as normal, put in half the grain, mash. place a second bag in "over the top" mash in the second half of the grain?

Then when it comes to removing, you have 2 smaller bags that you can remove 1 by 1?

If this is what you already suggested just ignore me... :bla: