Can't decide - Now decided - Maxi BIAB help required now...

[calumscott]

I need to do a big batch, my stocks are low. So a 40 or 50 litre BIAB!!!

I figure that I should do something out of wheeler because my hooky came out just like hooky so I can trust the recipes.

The candidates are:

Arkells Kingsdown
Fullers London Pride
Ringwood FortyNiner
Wadsworth 6X

Have any of you done these? Even if you haven't, which would *you* brew?

 

[robsan77]

I love 49 et

 

[dennisking]

I've brew the pride and 6x both turned out very good, recommend either.

 

[LeedsBrewer]

of the list, the only one ive had (In a pub in london) is londons pride and it was :sick: Watery rubbish. I've heard others say that they like it though so maybe it was just a bad pint? :?

so... going from my experience, my vote is for anything but the pride :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

I've decided.

Fortyniner.

I've lashed the recipe into Beersmith and then scaled it out to double it up...

I now have a few problems.

1) It requires 70l to BIAB mash. My pot is 70l.
2) That's going to be heavy (but I'm confident that my hob will take it...)
3) Pulling a spent grain bag that starts at 10kg dry isn't going to be a lot of fun.

So I think I should maxi BIAB it - I have two identical grain bags so I'll double them up to be able to take the weight.

Is the concept that I take the total volume of mash water and subtract enough to make the pot and things manageable, so start with say 52l of water rather than the 63l it asks for, perform the mash, then sparge (or rather dump the grain bag in a bucket, throw the rest of the water at it and dunk the bag a few times...) with the remaining 11l? Add that lot back to the pot and get the boil on?

Seems too easy somehow... :wha:

 

[rpt]

I've never done it but that's my understanding. I hope it's that easy as I have a 19L pot on the way. So I plan to do a smaller scale version of what you do.

 

[johnnyh]

I've never done it but that's my understanding. I hope it's that easy as I have a 19L pot on the way. So I plan to do a smaller scale version of what you do.

Can I ask which pot you've bought, I'm looking for a 19litre for extract brewing that I can then use for maxi-biab

Cheers

 

[Jeltz]

I think your grain bag will be close to 20kg after the mash. Lugging 20kg around isn't a big deal, manoeuvring it out of a pot which is on top of a hob is something else.

If you want to do it I would strongly suggest a pulley system if you can.

 

[rpt]

Can I ask which pot you've bought, I'm looking for a 19litre for extract brewing that I can then use for maxi-biab

Try searching for "buckingham large stock pot" on eBay.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Can't you dig some grain out to lighten it then lift???

 

[calumscott]

Can't you dig some grain out to lighten it then lift???

You know... I *actually* hadn't thought of that...

...thanks BB! :lol:

 

[mmaguy41]

That how i did maxi biab, i used a 19l pot usually with 4-5k grainbills so mashed with around 14l of water. For the sparge i would stick the grainbag in a fv flatten it out a bit and pour a kettle of water over it slowly then drain it and add to pot. I did that with 3 kettles of water or until i got as much as i wanted in the pot. Ive moved on to a mash tun and boiler set up now but it was a great way to brew. Dont know if id fancy doing it on a larger scale though but hope it goes well for you.

 

[graysalchemy]

Fullers for me. I actually do the ESB as my house bitter, very nice it is too. I use Whellers recipe but make it Mancunian with 5% wheat malt addition.

 

[calumscott]

...and after all of that I'm going to wimp out and just get a 40-pinter of fortyniner on the go.

I reckon I should get the daft pale brewed and another one shortly after. The daft pale is going to give me a clue regarding pulling big grain bags!!