Where to next?

[DaveMadeThis]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and looking for some advice. I've done a few kit brews over the last year and while they were a great start I'd like to move onto something more advanced. I'd read up on the brew in a bag method and thought it looked great with the level of control it gives you with fairly minimal equipment (space is an issue at the moment).

However I went to my local home brew store, mentioned brew in a bag and was told they don't recommend bothering with it at all and instead I should consider going for a boiler, mash tun and chiller to do 'full all grain'. As lovely as that would be I just don't have the space and money for it right now.

What do other people do? Are there many brew in a bag brewers out there and is it recommended?

Thanks for any responses,
Dave.

 

[PD]

dave start your own thread off for your question, ( its considered bad manners to hijack another persons thread .... )

you'll get better and more responses.

 

[artyb]

i bought a 76 L stockpot with a lid and a bit of net curtain...

and ive made some great beers.... :party:

i also had fv's from kit brewing,
i bought a gas ring for £15
and a pair of no chill cubes for £8


most of it fits inside the pot for storage .. :thumb:

 

[DaveMadeThis]

dave start your own thread off for your question, ( its considered bad manners to hijack another persons thread .... )

you'll get better and more responses.

Apologies, I thought I had started a new thread. I'm the author of this one so have I started it in the wrong place?

 

[PD]

you are indeed Dave my apologise....darned slow internet this morning I was looking at another thread...again my apologise you are quite in order.


that will teach me to mix brewing beer chatting in the bar and reading the forum...... :?

 

[Francois]

Go BIAB! It's awesome. And by the sounds of your space/time situation, it's the best solution for you.

If you've been doing kits anyway you'll just need to get yourself a big boiler. I got a 32l electrim bucket when I started four months ago, and it's brilliant for purpose. Integrated thermostat does a lot of the work for you, and with it being electric you can just run an extension lead into the garden for the boil to stop the house reeking lol (not that I mind obviously, but I think SWMBO would have something to say about it).

...And you'll need a big piece of fine mesh polyester, about £3 from a fabric shop. Bank officially broken. I really don't understand the prejudice against BIAB, it's still all grain, with all associated benefits (drastically cheaper than kits, the warm fuzzy feeling of creatring from scratch) but with the added convenience of being ridiculously compact.

For example, with the setup I have, If I've had a decent brewing spree I can have 200 pints of beer going (in primary, secondary or conditioning). But once that beer's into bottles/keg the fv's all stack into the mashbin, homemade wort chiller shoved in too, taking up the approximate space of your average kitchen bin. Which then just sits at the back of a cupboard along with a box of hops, syphons and airlocks, and whatever malts I have at the time.

The world's stealthiest nanobrewery :

 

[Fil]

?? very odd usually brewshop staff are on the button with advice..

go biab, its the first step towards 3 vessel brewing for many but also the ideal final solution for many others. there are many skilled and enthusiastic biabers brewing quality beer indistinguishable from beers brewed any other way. they have even mechanised the process and put a 2grand + price ticket on it see the brewmeister

if u go biab U will like the results, and if u hanker after more toys and a 3 vessel setup your baib pot will be very usefull too.

also biab is ag brewing, dont let anyone tell u different..

 

[Cononthebarber]

You don't think the HBS owner wanted you to buy more stuff by going 3 vessel do you?! :lol:

BIAB by all accounts sounds like an awesome way to brew and I kinda wish I'd done the same before building my 3 vessel set up, you can make just as good beer BIAB. I think the only drawbacks I have heard is slightly less efficiency and you struggle to make big ABV beers, but these are counteracted by the savings in cost of equipment and space usage. By the sounds of things you have mostly everything you need already, just get a plastic fermenter and stick a couple of kettle elements in and you're off and running! :thumb:

 

[DaveMadeThis]

Thanks guys, you've been very helpful. Would a 32 litre pan on the kitchen hob be enough to get me going? I like the idea of doing smaller batches, lots of experimentation with recipes.

Can't wait to get started now. Thanks again.

 

[Fil]

google the difference between mini and maxi biab, one way ( i can never remember) will allow u to use a slightly smaller pot..

 

[rpt]

I BIAB in a 40L Buffalo boiler. Definitely a recommended way to go. I'm not convinced the efficiency is low as it seems to work fine for me. If you are making very large batches then it isn't ideal as the bag of wet grain will be very heavy but people do do it with a winch. For a standard 23L brew of normal strength beer it works fine.

Mini BIAB is brewing a small amount of beer in a small pot. A great way to get started.
Maxi BIAB is using a small pot to brew a normal amount of beer. This involves sparging and adding water to the FV. It is less efficient and not ideal, but if you don't have space for full size kit it is a great way to do it.

There is an Australian forum dedicated to BIAB - biabrewer.info. I use their BIABacus spreadsheet as my brewing software. It can also handle maxi BIAB.

 

[gl0ckage]

[quote="Cononthebarber] I think the only drawbacks I have heard is slightly less efficiency and you struggle to make big ABV beers[/quote]

Pretty sure it's more efficient and my 8.6% stout can contest with that statement too. Also my 11.3% kiwi beer.

Before I started biab the how to says you get better efficiency?

Seriously do biab though, I'm looking at 3 vessels but for now I'm just biabing it.

 

[Cononthebarber]

I didnt mean you couldn't make big beers, just that hauling really heavy grists I imagine would be a challenge :lol: although I have seen some people using winches from the ceilings...

I always thought BIAB was less efficient as you can't get as good a sparge? Maybe I'm wrong though...I have no evidence to back it up

 

[Fil]

its worth considering the mash position b4 u start biabing, my first stab left me with the boiler on the worktop and the grain bag at shoulder height before i stated lifting.. DUH!! i ended up standing on the worktop bent below the ceiling oiking it out

 

[Francois]

No efficiency issues here, and no issues with stuck mashes etc, because I'm just essentially dunking a giant tea bag several times in 75c water and topping up with it :grin: always hit or exceed beersmith's projected target sg. Have had a play with a borrowed mash tun and it worked fine of course, but no better than biab as far as I can tell. And to be honest, I just kind of like the hands-on sparging process, rolling the grain in the bag, eking out the last sugars... Think that probably makes me a bit odd, but so be it :grin:

 

[artyb]

its worth considering the mash position b4 u start biabing, my first stab left me with the boiler on the worktop and the grain bag at shoulder height before i stated lifting.. DUH!! i ended up standing on the worktop bent below the ceiling oiking it out

that must have made you question your sanity .... :whistle:

luckily...i boil mine on a ring on the patio... :party:

 

[artyb]

I didnt mean you couldn't make big beers, just that hauling really heavy grists I imagine would be a challenge :lol: although I have seen some people using winches from the ceilings...

I always thought BIAB was less efficient as you can't get as good a sparge? Maybe I'm wrong though...I have no evidence to back it up

i do a mash out..
which is raising the temp of the bag ang grain for around 15 mins , before removing the bag,[this is raising the temp towards the boil]
which is the same as a hot sparge water,
it releases the sugars from the husk of the grain...

i also lift the bag out and then lower it back into the wort 3-4 times,
this rinses the contents,

its a great feeling and everything just smells so good.. :party:

i really love the biab method and cant see me changing to 3v :hat:

 

[DaveMadeThis]

artyb, you should be a salesman. Checked with my local store and they have 32 litre brew pots in stock.

Would a 32 litre pot be too large for 1 gallon batches? Also would I need a pot with a tap and hop strainer on or would a regular big pit do?

Cheers for all the advice.

 

[gl0ckage]

I wouldn't try pouring boiling wort from a 32L pot. Get a tap and hop strainer I wish I had one.

 

[DaveMadeThis]

I wouldn't try pouring boiling wort from a 32L pot. Get a tap and hop strainer I wish I had one.

Would I not be cooling the wort in the same pot before pouring it into the FV? I can see how the tap would be handy though.