New to BIAB

[Personal91]

Evening all

I have been thinking about BIAB as I have some storage constraints and have seen a few videos where it seems a lot easier + it's less cleaning hehe

Would it be better to get a large fermenter and put kettle elements in it, a collinder to cover the elements so as not to burn the nylon bag of which I will put the grains and insulate the fermenter

That or a tea urn with a temperature sensor/temperature setting so as to make it easier for setting different while mashing

I have given an early Christmas gift of a brewing book with recipes for making beer/ale/ipa's etc and want to get tonAG as soon as possible !!

 

[Chrissparky]

I use an ace boiler with false bottom and hop filter, I find it great. Look on eBay, it came with false bottom and hop filter included. I don't know your budget but it cost me £149 might be cheaper at the moment. Good luck with biab, I'm over the moon I tried it. Getting great beers compared with kits

 

[wfr42]

If you have a large pot try the method in the simple ag thread. You can strain the grain against the lid and through a sieve.

For equipment I'm very happy with the hbc biab starter kit, geterbreweds looks very similar and may include the false bottom. Both include a grain kit so you're only really spending just under £100 on equipment that you know is safe and have some come back on.

 

[Personal91]

If you have a large pot try the method in the simple ag thread. You can strain the grain against the lid and through a sieve.

For equipment I'm very happy with the hbc biab starter kit, geterbreweds looks very similar and may include the false bottom. Both include a grain kit so you're only really spending just under �£100 on equipment that you know is safe and have some come back on.

I haven't a large pot but I will have a look at the HBC starter kit aswell as the geterbrewed kit aswell.

I would be interested in making my own masher/BIAB rig as I do like building things though to be honest

How many times have you used your kit ?

 

[Personal91]

I use an ace boiler with false bottom and hop filter, I find it great. Look on eBay, it came with false bottom and hop filter included. I don't know your budget but it cost me �£149 might be cheaper at the moment. Good luck with biab, I'm over the moon I tried it. Getting great beers compared with kits

What was the capacity + what was the power of your ace boiler ?

 

[pms67]

I use a Cygnet boiler 30l
£71
Its a cheaper option, no false bottom but does me fine, temp control and doesn't cut out 👍

 

[wfr42]

I've done 10 full length brews in just over the 9 months I've had my peco boiler.

I suppose you could buy an element online - which may be more (more expensive, but more) dependable than one you get from dismantling a budget kettle or two. I had a melted lead, possibly from a boil over or not drying the element housing correctly, but very quickly resolved and replaced.

I got a 15 litre pan to do 10litre batches for Xmas last year (first brew was on the 29th) which I now collect sparge water in while mashing. If the ladies of the house hadn't complained about the smell and the 5hour occupancy of the kitchen I might still be stove top brewing.

 

[Sandimas]

The good thing about AG / BIAB is that you don't have to do full volume brews.

12L works best for me: I can lift the wet grain bag out, I can use do it with stock pots on the kitchen hob, and storage of the kit isn't as issue. Plus I find 40 pints of the same beer too much, so having around 20 per brew allows me to experiment more.

 

[Cqr]

How about gas

 

[Chrissparky]

The boiler holds 30l to the top it has 2 elements one 900w and one 1600w. And a temperature display, the display seems to read 2 degrees too low but it seems consistent. I sparge into another big pot after the mash with 4-6l to get up to 23l. It holds a good rolling boil. With hindsight and if it was available a 40l boiler would be better for biab. But all in all I'm happy with my setup

 

[Slid]

I've done 10 full length brews in just over the 9 months I've had my peco boiler.

I suppose you could buy an element online - which may be more (more expensive, but more) dependable than one you get from dismantling a budget kettle or two. I had a melted lead, possibly from a boil over or not drying the element housing correctly, but very quickly resolved and replaced.

I got a 15 litre pan to do 10litre batches for Xmas last year (first brew was on the 29th) which I now collect sparge water in while mashing. If the ladies of the house hadn't complained about the smell and the 5hour occupancy of the kitchen I might still be stove top brewing.

That pan looks like a great intro to stove top brewing to me. a 15L pan will get you a very decent brew length on just AG (up to 12L) or you can add it to a one can kit for a full length (up to 25L) Partial Mash brew that is a big step up from kit brewing.

 

[Fil]

you can knock up a very respectable diy boiler for not too much investment.
45-50l hdpe ex mango chutney blue barrels can be sourced from circa £0-£10, or PP buckets can be sourced from the copper kettle online brewshop.

personally i would suggest a minimum capacity of 40l if your looking at brewing a 23-25l batch
(its quite easy to over sparge by a litre or 2) so a 30-32l pre boil volume is not unheard of..

and a rolling boil can splash n boil 4-5cm above the liquid level, so some extra capacity can save you saving some liquor to add later or boil separately or even worse spend the boil duration mopping up after hot sticky over spills.

A few extra quid spent on a bigger vessel now can save hours of hassle later, (or brew smaller batches?? which is less beer for the effort of the brewday Hmmm)

budget kettle elements work a treat and can be scrubbed back to shiney with a lil elbow grease if attacked asap post boil. And the budget solution to adding plumbing inside (hop filter) and outside (tap/valve) a pot is to use 15mm copper tube and compression plumbing fittings, a 15mm compression tank connector can be modded to remove the pipe stop with either a 15mm drill bit or a file letting you push tube all the way through and seal letting you connect to both ends

Again Just my opinion, but if considering biab brewing I would rely on insulating the pot during the mash to retain the heat rather than risk cooking and denaturing the grain by trying to add heat with the elements during the mash.

whichever route you follow enjoy it

 

[dave_walton]

I started off by making a mango chutney barrel system and last year built a new one using a 60l copper kettle fermenter with a 30l fermenter suspended inside using s hooks. False bottom with an ikea splatter guard and a brew bag containing the grain. Added a solar pump and a raspberry pi running craftbeerpi and voila a very crude grainfather that you can do full volume mashes in. Works for me.

Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk

 

[Personal91]

Thank you all for your advice and tips but now I'm possibly more stumped as to what to do as got so much more choice!

 

[pms67]

Evening all

I have been thinking about BIAB as I have some storage constraints and have seen a few videos where it seems a lot easier + it's less cleaning hehe

Would it be better to get a large fermenter and put kettle elements in it, a collinder to cover the elements so as not to burn the nylon bag of which I will put the grains and insulate the fermenter

That or a tea urn with a temperature sensor/temperature setting so as to make it easier for setting different while mashing

I have given an early Christmas gift of a brewing book with recipes for making beer/ale/ipa's etc and want to get tonAG as soon as possible !!

It also depends where you will be brewing, stove top pots are fine if it's inside but im banished to the shed (smell) therefore an electric boiler (big tea urn) is ideal for my needs, if i jad more money i would probably have went for a ready made 40l boiler designed for brewing but like i said,my 30l tea urn (Burco Cygnet) works a treat and maintains a rolling boil no problem, but at the end of the day its up to you,look at your budget, as in life, you get what you pay for or if you are handy with diy,anything is possible.
Good luck whatever way you go.

 

[Personal91]

It also depends where you will be brewing, stove top pots are fine if it's inside but im banished to the shed (smell) therefore an electric boiler (big tea urn) is ideal for my needs, if i jad more money i would probably have went for a ready made 40l boiler designed for brewing but like i said,my 30l tea urn (Burco Cygnet) works a treat and maintains a rolling boil no problem, but at the end of the day its up to you,look at your budget, as in life, you get what you pay for or if you are handy with diy,anything is possible.
Good luck whatever way you go.

I know I won't be allowed to brew in the house as kits are even seen as something that's just a mess ( in respect to the kitchen) !

I think I could get away with just getting a big fermenter or mango chutney barrel and insulating it aswell as putting in 2 heating elements but to have a premade boiler like yours with a temp control would be something else as I could then do more complicated brewing but that may be something to work towards to.

 

[pms67]

There's nothing complicated about my brewing!
Dump all grains in a bag,soak for an hour, remove them, boil remaining wort for an hour throwing in various hops at different times, cool,add yeast and hey presto.
Ive only done three Biab brews and around 100 kits!

 

[Personal91]

There's nothing complicated about my brewing!
Dump all grains in a bag,soak for an hour, remove them, boil remaining wort for an hour throwing in various hops at different times, cool,add yeast and hey presto.
Ive only done three Biab brews and around 100 kits!

I'm willing to help you drink through your experiments if you'd like hehe

 

[pms67]

If i thought they were good enough i would send you some!
Come back in six months and we will swap bottles 😂👍

 

[Personal91]

If i thought they were good enough i would send you some!
Come back in six months and we will swap bottles 😂👍

At the moment I can't swap as am only making beer from kits and trying to make cider/wines from supermarket fruit juices but soon....soooon I will be at a level where I am good enough to swap my brews - when I get the time to make them that is - there's always something that needs fixing or mending or painting at home !