Brew in a Bag – A Step By Step Beginner’s Guide

[puravida]

I've been meaning to do this on my blog site for a while.
Here's my step by step beginner's guide to Brew in a Bag all grain brewing.
Hopefully a few of the new brewers on here will benefit a little!

I've kept is as simple as I can.

http://chompchomp.co.uk/?p=141508066

 

[calumscott]

Good Work That Man! :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

Great site and great how to. :thumb:

 

[Barticus]

As a newbie it looks a great How To to me. :clap:

One question. What are induction hobs like for biab. Do they get hot enough etc.

 

[rich27500]

Good starter guide

 

[alanywiseman.]

Great Guide :clap:

What size is your pot?

 

[Smudge]

Awesome how to Jon thanks. Just to let you know brew your own is available on iPhone now so presume its on t'ipad.

Smudge

 

[fbsf]

Excellent - many thanks for this. I've been offered a loan of a 25L stock pot whenever I need it, so I reckon that BIAB is calling me slightly quicker than I was expecting it to!

Where is the best place to get the bag from? EDIT - don't worry - I've found my LHBS has them for less than a tenner. Result.

 

[PD]

well done enjoyed the read and informatrive, thank you.

quote fbsf
Where is the best place to get the bag from?

your local home brew shop if its not in stock they will get it for you. Support your lhbs at all times they have a living to make, without them home brewing would be a lot more difficult.

 

[fbsf]

Whoops - must have been editing whilst you were typing!

 

[puravida]

Thanks for the kind words all!
@smudge - awesome news!! Hooking it up right now!! :thumb:

 

[Swift Pint]

If your brew pot is big enough then you dont need to rinse the grain - just add the full volume of water at the start. :thumb:

 

[Smudge]

If your brew pot is big enough then you dont need to rinse the grain - just add the full volume of water at the start. :thumb:

Sp there are 2 schools of thought on that and I've wondering which way to go with it. Your suggestion would be a but load easier but wouldn't it be better to sparge to get more sugars out of the grains? Or is that not necessary?

Smudge

 

[Swift Pint]

If your brew pot is big enough then you dont need to rinse the grain - just add the full volume of water at the start. :thumb:

Sp there are 2 schools of thought on that and I've wondering which way to go with it. Your suggestion would be a but load easier but wouldn't it be better to sparge to get more sugars out of the grains? Or is that not necessary?

Smudge

To be honest I've puzzled on this quite a bit. Initially I thought the main draw for BIAB was simplicity, but the more I've looked into it, its seems to be simplicity but with little/no sacrifice compared to a full all grain method. I would have thought you'd get more sugar out of the grain if the water was constantly in touch with the grain - the BIAB guys on the Aussie forum refer to it as a "passive sparge". I dont know whether the capacity of liquid to dissolve sugar decreases susbstaintially if it already has some sugar dissolved it in? :hmm:
I would have thought you'd end up with more sugae by adding all the water at the start? :wha:

To me rinsing the bag adds an element of uncertainty - how much grain has the new water been in touch with/ how much sugar has been asbosrved, whereas if the mash is with the full liquid this uncertainty is removed and so is more repeatable. Not to mention the extra time / effort. - I know its not really that much extra effort...

I get efficiency of about 75% doing a full volume mash. From what I've read on other forums there seems to be little difference in efficiency between rinsers, non-rinsers, and those who take the bag out after the mash & dunk it in a seperate pot with additional water which is then added to the main mash.

I go with the no rinse due to simplicity and because I dont see any big benefit. Theres a great beersmith podcast with the guy who runs the BIAB forum, he dispells a few myths about BIAB brewing. After hearing it I was completely converted! :thumb:

 

[Smudge]

[quote="Sparge Pervert":azkdhoal]If your brew pot is big enough then you dont need to rinse the grain - just add the full volume of water at the start. :thumb:

Sp there are 2 schools of thought on that and I've wondering which way to go with it. Your suggestion would be a but load easier but wouldn't it be better to sparge to get more sugars out of the grains? Or is that not necessary?

Smudge

To be honest I've puzzled on this quite a bit. Initially I thought the main draw for BIAB was simplicity, but the more I've looked into it, its seems to be simplicity but with little/no sacrifice compared to a full all grain method. I would have thought you'd get more sugar out of the grain if the water was constantly in touch with the grain - the BIAB guys on the Aussie forum refer to it as a "passive sparge". I dont know whether the capacity of liquid to dissolve sugar decreases susbstaintially if it already has some sugar dissolved it in? :hmm:
I would have thought you'd end up with more sugae by adding all the water at the start? :wha:

To me rinsing the bag adds an element of uncertainty - how much grain has the new water been in touch with/ how much sugar has been asbosrved, whereas if the mash is with the full liquid this uncertainty is removed and so is more repeatable. Not to mention the extra time / effort. - I know its not really that much extra effort...

I get efficiency of about 75% doing a full volume mash. From what I've read on other forums there seems to be little difference in efficiency between rinsers, non-rinsers, and those who take the bag out after the mash & dunk it in a seperate pot with additional water which is then added to the main mash.

I go with the no rinse due to simplicity and because I dont see any big benefit. Theres a great beersmith podcast with the guy who runs the BIAB forum, he dispells a few myths about BIAB brewing. After hearing it I was completely converted! :thumb:[/quote:azkdhoal]

That's a decent efficiency right there and a solid case for eliminating passive sparging.

You've sold it to me :thumb:

Smudge

 

[rich27500]

Full scale BIAB would argue that the sparge happens at the same time as the mash, they have found a 'mash out' raising temp to about 75c helps increase efficiency.

My method generally hits 80% so it makes me chuckle when people perpetuate the myth that BIAB is less efficient than 3v brewing.

For full scale BIAB I believe i need a 40l kettle, starting with 36l of water. I have a 27l electrim bin so need to sparge and I also dilute post boil to get back to 23l

 

[puravida]

All really good points!

I do perform a ten minute mash out at around 75°C.

The main reason I sparge is you have to dump the grain bag somewhere, and I always see a big pool of prime wort sitting at the bottom of whatever bucket I threw the bag into. Figured I'd collect whatever extra I could and rinsing with a jug or two of hot water does release a significant amount of sugar that I'd otherwise be losing.

My pot is 33L and I brew to a 20L length to ferment down enough to fill 19L cornies. It's just a little too tight to get the whole full boil volume in there PLUS the grain - especially on a big beer where I may be sticking 5kg or more of grain in the pot. It works for me to add whatever volume of water I reckon I can get away with and then top up with more water or sparged wort once the grain is removed.

I guess I brew in a similar way to I cook. I have a rough recipe in my head but I tend to go with the flow, adding and tweaking as I go along. I donlt think I have ever brewed two absolutely identical beers in the same way as I've never cooked two identical racks of ribs! I'm always fiddling around with some part. That's the fun bit for me!

 

[rich27500]

Pursvida that makes total sense to me. The full scale BIABers have a pulley and they'd let the bag drain back into the wort until the very last drop. I have a similar system with a couple of screws in the the en of a worktop

 

[rich27500]

Puravida that makes total sense to me. The full scale BIABers have a pulley and they'd let the bag drain back into the wort until the very last drop. I have a similar system with a couple of screws in the the end of a worktop

 

[BrotherMalice]

Got to have a proper read again but will be coming back to it all the time till I have done my 1st BIAB in a few weeks :)

Thanks for taking the time to post it :thumb: