3 vessel vs BIAB

[Steve B]

Just for fun and because I had the gear to do it, yesterday I deviated from my normal HLT/Mashtun/boiler setup to try a BIAB.

I have a 50l boiler (usually my HLT) and a ginormous voile bag that I usually line my 40 litre mashtun with. The latter was held in place with bungee cords and protected from the element by one of those raised grill thingies that came with my combi microwave.

What really registered was how much quicker BIAB is - no sparging, much less to clean, and less debris.

The downside was that rather than the 45 litre batches I normally do this is 25 litre. But it was quick and easy!

There was no need for the pulley arrangments some use - the mashed bag was easy enough to lift out and was placed in a bucket to drip dry & the drips poured back into the boiler.

I know some might think this is in the wrong section, but if you're pushed for time and have the basic equipment BIAB is well worth considering. It'll be nice to see how it turns out - fermenting away nice right now.

Anybody else tried this for a bit of variety?

[Eric]

Without BIAB I wouldn't have got started all grain brewing.
Without BIAB I now make much better beer and would never consider a return.

[beernsurfing]

Without BIAB I wouldn't have got started all grain brewing.
Without BIAB I now make much better beer and would never consider a return.

Maybe you dont know what you're doing re BIABB??. Im a 3v brewer, since 04, when BIABB wasn't heard of ( at least here ). My neighbour recently started brewing via BIABB ( only made a few kits before that ), and made consistently excellent beers. I can't understand how you think changing your brewing method means you make much better beer. Same steps involved, mashing, boiling, cooling, just different streets, to get to the same address. A good tradesman never blames his tools!!

[soupdragon]

Maybe the simplicity of BIAB eliminates a step or two where errors could occur to affect the final beer? I'll be honest and say that my old brewing method was at best untidy and slack. Since moving to BIAB and simplifying my methods the quality of the resulting brews has improved significantly. I don't particularly care how or why ( I have my own theories ), all that matters as far as I'm concerned is the quality of my beer

Cheers Tom

[Eric]

Maybe you dont know what you're doing re BIABB??. Im a 3v brewer, since 04, when BIABB wasn't heard of ( at least here ).

My experience is the opposite of yours so perhaps I've gone the wrong way about this.

It's nearly 50 years since I started brewing and it was progress to use a grain bag for all grain brewing. I still have two, one is likely more than 30 years old. Then influenced by Dave Line (died 1979), a quote from one of his books ..............
"Mashed grains can be awkward to handle, but contained in the grain bag as shown are very easy to handle." He even went on to the extent of giving advice on etiquette to get feminine assistance in making one. His pictures and descriptions match what I've read about BIAB, so assumed the acronym was new, not the process. Is that wrong?

I used a grain bag recently after having a stuck mash, but it remained stuck and so reverted to my preferred mash tun. It did remind me of the process no longer in use since manufacturing a variety of copper and stainless steel filters for three prototype mash tuns.

I accept you can make drinkable beer by BIAB, I was happy with the beer I produced when I used a bag, just as I had been with my student day concoctions which could never be called good by any stretch of the imagination. I've tried some retrograde steps but never considered replacement of the grain bag as one, improvement being instantly observable in both wort clarity and speed of run-off. I must have seen some merit in the process, did it for twenty years.

[Spud395]

It's also an experiment I mean to try in the near future.

I'm a believer in try it yourself and draw your own conclusions, which I will.
I'd be interested in hearing how your beer turns out!

[Steve B]

I'm not sure why there'd be much difference between traditional 3 vessel brewing and BIAB - they both follow the same processes. Only difference is in one you extract the wort from the mash, the other you extract the mash from the wort. I've read that BIAB might not reach the same efficiency of 3 vessel brewing, so people doing it are advised to up the malt content to compensate.

It'll e a few weeks before I can taste this brew to compare with my 3 vessel brewing, tastes OK in the FV. Wort was a lot cloudier, though.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Only difference is in one you extract the wort from the mash, the other you extract the mash from the wort.

I think that is the crucial difference, and probably the only one that can have any real effect on the flavour.

In a 3 vessel system you recirculate the wort out of the Mash Tun, back through the Mash until it runs clear. The Mash Bed is acting as a filter, removing all the finer particles.

This obviously can't happen in BIAB so I assume the wort ends up being much more cloudy pre boil.

So the question would be whether this more cloudy wort has any adverse effect on the final taste.

I haven't tried BIAB, but I might, I have a bag so could give it a go.

[Befuddler]

I batch sparge, but in a bag. It means my mash tun is simpler, I can still use mash thickness to my advantage, I can sparge in minutes, and I can squeeze the bag to improve my efficiency. I think it combines the best aspects of both, but I would say that.

As long as your hot and cold break are good, I don't think the cloudy runoff makes any difference. I certainly haven't tasted any.

[Kev888]

I've experimented with BAIB and also asked similar questions to this on the forum. My own personal conclusion is that they can both make very good beer but that I personally made better beer with the 3v system - my feeling is that this small difference isn't so much due to the BIAB approach as it is to the no-sparge approach, which can be (but doesn't have to be) part of BIAB.

I think its minimal though; if i lived in a flat for example then BIAB would be an excellent option; as I now brew in a permanent garage setup the 3v system is just as easy and works better for me.

Cheers
kev

[beernsurfing]

I dont think i'd change to BIABB, im too used to my setup, but if i had to due to space constraints i'd do it in a heartbeat. I dont think i've ever tasted a BIABB and thought "this'd be better if it was brewed on a 3V setup".

Eric, you have much more experience than i do, i just struggle to accept that people believe BIABB can't make as good a beer as 3v ( not forgetting there can be big variations in what a 3v setup can be ).

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[dave-o]

I've BIABed before, when i had an unexpected mash tun injury, and had to wait a few weeks for a new one. The beer produced was fine, although efficiency was lower.
I would recommend it for beginners or just for convenience.

[Bribie]

Last year, a month or so before the Australian National Homebrewing Conference a hardy band of brewers did a "Systems War" brewday with three teams of brewers using a HERMS system, a more basic 3V system and a BIAB. Same recipe, yeast, fermented in the same location etc. The results were judged by a "blind" panel at the conference - it was an English Special Bitter IIRC - and BIAB and 3v tied in the results with HERMS coming shortly behind.

We're repeating the exercise next month for the Brisbane Brewing Convention in November, once again an ESB - but we are also hoping to slip in a Spiedel Braumeister as well. Man they are taking off over here - despite the hefty price tag - so interested to see the results.

With the wort clarity into the kettle, sure BIAB produces more cloudy wort but with a good floccer and a suitable resting period, the wort out of the kettle can be crystal clear, and any higher level of polyphenols that sneak through to fermentation can be sorted using Polyclar or a good cold crash.

[Steve B]

Certainly the best thing I noticed was the reduced amount of time expended - much quicker and less messy. If the result tastes reasonable I'll certainly consider doing it again - especially when I want to do a brew but am pushed for time.