Planning BIAB what size boiler?

[krazypara3165]

currently doing kits at the moment, however i plan on moving over to BIAB soon (BIAB because I have very little space - unless there is any other compact methods?) and im looking into boilers.

Does anyone have any reconsiderations?

I have seen a few 30l ones at around £50 but anything larger (40l) costs at least double that. and then there is the buffalo ones even higher.

as it is only early days yet I am unsure as to how much volume i would get from a brew. how much could i get from a 30l or 40l boiler realistically?

any advice on any additional kit needed?

cheers,

 

[LeithR]

Hi there krazypara,
My boiler holds 29L to the top of the sight glass and probably would hold about 35L right to the brim,

Here's my boiler. I do 23L BIAB brews in it, but I have a smaller 8L boiler running alongside especially when I am making a "Big Beer" like a Robinson's Old Tom where this is around 8Kg of grain, the 8L of water comes in handy for sparging once I have removed the bag from the boiler and also liquoring back to the planned brew length.
The other thing I have rigged up in the garage is a pulley arrangement so I can easily pull the bag out of the boiler

.

I can strongly recommend one of these

 

[krazypara3165]

cheers, just the info that I am looking for! looks like I would be better off getting a 40l one then... as I at least want to be able to end up with a 23l brew. Never thought about the weight of the grains the only thing I can think of is if I set the boiler up outside on a sunny day (anyone else set up an electric boiler outside?) and place it in the corner of the garden. that way i can rig a pully system with some wood over the fence posts

 

[calumscott]

I use a 70l pot for 40l brews.

I estimate the weight of the bag at pulling time to be around 28-30kg, I pull by hand and this really is the outside edge!!!

I'm going to weigh it on the next brew!!! :lol:

Things to consider are how big you want to brew and what heat source you want to use. Everything else stems from there. :thumb:

 

[krazypara3165]

Cheers im happy with the volume of kits (23l) so I would be happy with that tbh. And im planning on going electric but brewing outdoors

 

[calumscott]

OK, so build your own or try to buy?

 

[krazypara3165]

Probably going to buy to save the hassle. Ive seen 30 and 40l tea urns for between50-100. Dont think I can justify the cost for a buffalo though.

 

[supersteve]

I keep thinking about buying one but then I consider if I get a free FV and can get a hold of an old kettle and suddenly the idea of making one seems interesting and cheap. :wha: :hmm:

 

[zombrewer]

I bit the bullet & bought a 40l Buffalo last year for £120, I felt it was worth the extra money for peace of mind... don't think I would have paid £160, the price does vary a bit though, so keep an eye on the Nisbetts site... they'll also sell ones with cosmetic damage on eBay for well under a ton from time to time. I brew outdoors with it, with a punch bag bracket to hoist the bag...

 

[Dave1970]

If you're wanting to go Buffalo then this is a pretty good deal
£64.99 without VAT works out at £83.99 delivered
I just got one from here. It obviously had been used, there was a bit of scale on the bottom where the element is - that took all of 30 seconds to get rid of. Also instead of the temp dial being marked in degrees it's just marked 1-6. Not a big problem for me, I'll use my old one as an HLT and the 1-6 one as a boiler, you could always just calibrate the dial yourself with a thermometer.

I do 28 litre brews in my 40 litre Buffalo - that's about 37 litres at the start of the boil

 

[krazypara3165]

If you're wanting to go Buffalo then this is a pretty good deal
£64.99 without VAT works out at £83.99 delivered
I just got one from here. It obviously had been used, there was a bit of scale on the bottom where the element is - that took all of 30 seconds to get rid of. Also instead of the temp dial being marked in degrees it's just marked 1-6. Not a big problem for me, I'll use my old one as an HLT and the 1-6 one as a boiler, you could always just calibrate the dial yourself with a thermometer.

I do 28 litre brews in my 40 litre Buffalo - that's about 37 litres at the start of the boil

Bloody hell thats cheap! And its payday tomorrow......

Not planning on biab until I get a few more kits under my belt but at this price It can go into the shed for a few months!!

 

[LeithR]

I don't know what Freecycle is like in your area but I got my Boiler (a Burco wash boiler) from Freecycle so its certainly worth checking out. I put a wanted request on to get it.

I've also seen them for sale at my local Car Boot sale.

 

[krazypara3165]

Freecycle here is pants but car boot sales may be a shout!

 

[MyQul]

Just to make you aware (if you not already) of the Maxi - BIAB tech which enable you to make a bigger brew length than the size of your boiler/pot. I have a 20L pot which enables me to make about 24.5L brew length if I get decent efficiency. The basic tech is to make a concentrated wort then dilute up to volume in the FV

 

[krazypara3165]

Just to make you aware (if you not already) of the Maxi - BIAB tech which enable you to make a bigger brew length than the size of your boiler/pot. I have a 20L pot which enables me to make about 24.5L brew length if I get decent efficiency. The basic tech is to make a concentrated wort then dilute up to volume in the FV

Is there a guide anywhere?

 

[MyQul]

Think you might have to sign up to the forum before you can view the below relevant pages but give it a go anyway

http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=352

 

[krazypara3165]

Cheers for that! Looks a wee bit more fiddly but it is definatly an option now!

 

[MyQul]

Cheers for that! Looks a wee bit more fiddly but it is definatly an option now!

The only real difference between "traditional" BIAB and Maxi BIAB is you just have to do a couple of sparges, really.


If you decide to have a go and are a complete maths dunce like me use this dilution calculator when trying to work out how much to dilute the concentrated wort rather than trying to do the dilution calculations yourself (even though the formula is provided at the bottom of the above link/pages)

http://www.brewersfriend.com/dilution-a ... alculator/