BIAB is superior............

[calumscott]

I can do better than that! Have a read of the BIAB How To in my signature. Pretty much everything you need to know from equipment right through to the boil. :thumb:

 

[aamcle]

I'm going to admit to a serious lack of knowledge here, because I have no idea what BIAB is. I've guessed it stands for Boil In A Bag but despite what is probably a very descriptive name, I'm none the wiser on how it actually works. Given the subject of the thread - and my increasing interest in doing some kind of all grain brew instead of the constant kits that I've been doing - would someone mind giving a brief explanation?

I'll quickly run through the basics of Brew In A Bag.

You need big tea urn or stock pot and they need to have something like a cake rack at the bottom. I use a Burco, then you need a bag or a big enough sheet of voil fabric to line the vessel.

Add water to the vessel heat up to a couple of deg C above the mash temperature put your bag in, add grain and mix.

Keep the mash at temperature, the recipe will tell you how long and how hot. You do this by either insulating your vessel or adding a bit of heat from time to time.

Then remove the bag, drain it n so on and start boiling the wort add hops as directed cool and ferment.

Then clean up cause the it's good for your health:-)

If your really interested all you need to know is here - http://www.biabrewer.info.


Atb. Aamcle

 

[Templar]

Cheers both! I had a read of Calum's one, and given it's the 'simple' alternative to full on brewing, it's not sounding simple!!! Still, could be interesting to give it a try, might look to build a pot over winter and start BIABrewing in summer.

Couple of questions though: why can't you just pour it from the pot into the FV? I know you have to filter out the hops - surely you could pour it through a sieve to do that? I mean, you're going to aerate it anyway! Second, I assume this can be downsized easily enough to a simple gallon brew, to ferment in a demijohn? I'm thinking it might be easier to do a gallon brew a few times to get used to the technique before giving it the full 23l brew.

Cheers all!

 

[aamcle]

This guide might be what you want

http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=153


All you need is a big pan on your stove top a sheet of voil and a bucket.


Atb. Aamcle

 

[calumscott]

Cheers both! I had a read of Calum's one, and given it's the 'simple' alternative to full on brewing, it's not sounding simple!!! Still, could be interesting to give it a try, might look to build a pot over winter and start BIABrewing in summer.

Couple of questions though: why can't you just pour it from the pot into the FV? I know you have to filter out the hops - surely you could pour it through a sieve to do that? I mean, you're going to aerate it anyway!

It's to avoid "hot side aeration". Some say it's a myth, but our resident beer-scientist Aleman has posted enough convincing stuff to make me believe that if you're transferring hot you need to do it carefully.

Second, I assume this can be downsized easily enough to a simple gallon brew, to ferment in a demijohn? I'm thinking it might be easier to do a gallon brew a few times to get used to the technique before giving it the full 23l brew.

Cheers all!

Absolutely! Grab the trial copy of beersmith, bang in the numbers, use the "scale recipe" function to take it down to 5 litres and you'll be laughing.

If you struggle with Beersmith let me know and I'll work it out for you. :thumb:

 

[Templar]

Thanks for the offer mate. I think as we (there are three of us that brew as a team) have a load of kits stored (guess who just robbed Wilko blind?!) we will brew the remains of that over winter as we build a decent BIAB pot. Then we can get started on a proper BIAB brew in the new year.

If I need help with Beersmith I'll give you a shout, but hopefully we won't need it: one of our number is a computer whizz and is a little App mad! He'd rather die than as for assistance with any app!!

 

[Duxuk]

This is my method.
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=39236
As a scientist myself I apreciate the difference between a hypothesis and a theory, proved by experimentation.
I'm drinking an American style pale ale as I type this. OG was 1062 and efficiency was 75%. I poured the wort through a piece of net curtain material strapped over my FV, in one swift movement. Hoisted the sheet to drain with as little splashing as possible and after it had drained sufficiently lidded and left overnight to cool before pitching the rehydrated yeast. After reading an article about yeast viability versus temperature I add the yeast to boiled water cooled to 35C to get maximum activity.
Sadly it will never see six months. It's tasting fabulous at half that age so I'll be drinking it :
My electric cooker takes about an hour to get the 32l pot to a vigorous rolling boil. I keep the lid on as there are no DMS precursor issues with Maris Otter and the 10% of other grain I use. When I get it boiling on the one ring (I use the second biggest, the biggest has a problem!) I turn it down one notch.
If any of this is disproven by the many theories you can read on this forum and elsewhere I apologise! I think I've done 11 AG brews in about 4 months. My benchmark is bottled beers from craft breweries. If I can't at least match their standards I'll improve my techniques.
I don't buy bottles anymore, except in emergencies. I don't like to be disappointed.

 

[artyb]

for biab ..

i use a 76 litre pot on a gas ring outside
and a bit of net curtain,
more net curtain for the hop bags..
and a no chill cube...it certainly makes some great beers very easily..

i dont have a mash tun
stuck sparges,
a cooler,
a hop filter ,
or much cleaning up to do :party: i just wipe out the pot with a cloth..simples

it can all be done in 4 hrs with most of that, waiting for the mash and boil..

so i get lots of other stuff done .... :thumb:
inc working from home.. :whistle:

 

[Templar]

Crazy question, but is there anything stopping you from sealing the hot pot (with, say cling film) then leaving it to cool like that before pouring it into an FV? Wouldn't that get over the hot side aeration problem AND aerate the wort at the same time?

 

[anthonyUK]

Some of the Aussie guys pour the hot wort into a cube (jerrycan) which is takes care of any sanitation issues and leave it to cool overnight. They call it no chill so it is feasible.

 

[artyb]

heres my hot wort going into the no chill cube ,



on the last brew[ i had a brain wave :idea: ]
i put the cube back into the boiler with cold water in it




i changed the water a couple of times ..job done i then fermented the wort on the next day


so my pot is ...
1. the mash tun
2. the boiler
3 the cooler o
hows that for good use of one pot... :party:

 

[Asalpaws]

LOL that's a Swiss army pot! Nice one

 

[Wetroads]

so my pot is ...
1. the mash tun
2. the boiler
3 the cooler o
hows that for good use of one pot... :party:

Ditto (and more). Here is my 1 gallon set up: www.picobrew.co.uk

 

[Duxuk]

Here is my 1 gallon set up: http://www.picobrew.co.uk

Great link there. I like your method of mashout by just adding near boiling water. I just reheat the mash and stir vigorously. It takes a good while with 25l of water, which I start with to give a 20l brew at the end. Yours is more like a maxi BIAB, which I've never tried. You've got me thinking of ways I might be able to speed things up :hmm:

 

[mattrickl06]

For some unknown reason i decided to do my first mini-mash on Sunday using a Coopers Euro Lager kit and an assortment of dark malts to hopefully end up with a black "Budvar" type lager.

There was probably around 1kg of malts in my bag in my small pot on the hob and maybe down to never doing it before, or maybe as i had a few beers beforehand, i pretty much covered the kitchen / hob / worktops / floor / wall / blender with wort at some point during those magical 3 hours.

Also my temp control was ridiculous - the top of the pot was 40 degrees and the bottom was 85 degrees, unless you stand there stirring it for 60 minutes??

I couldnt even imagine trying to do the same sort of routine with 5kg of malts, i would probably end up in hospital - if not from scolds then from the wife battering me for making such a mess of her kitchen.

So my preference is definately HLT/MT/POT :thumb:

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Controversial Header..................... lol :nono:

If I said AG was superior I'd get clobbered by a mod in the interests of forum harmony.... .......... Boo-hoo, not fair.. :cry: :cry: :cry:

BB :whistle: :whistle:

 

[calumscott]

heres my hot wort going into the no chill cube ,

on the last brew[ i had a brain wave :idea: ]
i put the cube back into the boiler with cold water in it

i changed the water a couple of times ..job done i then fermented the wort on the next day

so my pot is ...
1. the mash tun
2. the boiler
3 the cooler o
hows that for good use of one pot... :party:

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Have I ever told you you're my hero???

The best ideas are the simple ones.

Sometimes the simple ones are really hard to spot.

Genius! My brewdays just got better! Thank you!

 

[calumscott]

Controversial Header..................... lol :nono:

If I said AG was superior I'd get clobbered by a mod in the interests of forum harmony.... .......... Boo-hoo, not fair.. :cry: :cry: :cry:

BB :whistle: :whistle:

Go one then... start the mirror image thread... If you include the first line of the first post identically, I'll bet it stands and creates another really interesting discussion like this one.

 

[graysalchemy]

It isn't the tittle of a thread or the initial post which usually gets a thread taken down (unless you break forum rules) it is what is posted afterwards and the ensuing slanging match, because people can't conduct themselves in a civil matter.

Play nicely and you can get air your opinion and have the odd verbal wrestling match, start throwing insults or post outside the rules and your post gets edited or binned.

 

[artyb]

heres my hot wort going into the no chill cube ,

on the last brew[ i had a brain wave :idea: ]
i put the cube back into the boiler with cold water in it

i changed the water a couple of times ..job done i then fermented the wort on the next day

so my pot is ...
1. the mash tun
2. the boiler
3 the cooler o
hows that for good use of one pot... :party:

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Have I ever told you you're my hero???

The best ideas are the simple ones.

Sometimes the simple ones are really hard to spot.

Genius! My brewdays just got better! Thank you!

tbh i quite impressed myself ....

i was putting the hot wort into the cube and was thinking about cooling,
maybe using a wheel barrow full of water ..then it just clicked... :idea:

out came the hose and in went the cube,
i collected the the warmed water through the tap into a watering can a few times then topped up with cold , the warm water was used to water my veg patch....simples.. :party: