Anyone else here doing Brew in a Bag BIAB?

[raiderman]

the pictures aint so different to what I do. Its what I've always done and I don't intend on changing.
I put a brewing bag in the boiler - up to temp and add the grain, if its potein rest schedule I yank the bag out and raise the temp and replace the bag stirring frantically! Sparging is a rinse with boiling water and then I leave the grain soaking for 1/2 hr with a couple of kettleloads of boiling water dumped on. O boil the hops in bags on the bioiler and I'm through in about 4 hrs. I have no clarity issues and only the boiler and a plastic bin to clean Easy, why do it any other way?

[potatoes]

Tom D, You have inspired me to give BIAB a go! But I need a bigger pot and a bag. Is this the pot you used? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/30CM-HEAVY-DUTY-S ... 23fff63a2d

[Tom_D]

Hey potatoes, yeah that's the one. I don't think it quite holds 19L (only just under) but it obviously depends on what kind of brew length you are hoping to achieve. You'll probably find that you lose about 3L per hour with that pot. The calculator at the BIAB forum is very handy for working out the available volume for water and grain so I'd suggest grabbing it if you haven't already. If you're happy making smaller batches of beer, I'd totally recommend it!

[lancsSteve]

Just blogged my first BIAB brewday with my bro-in-law Mr C at: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=36857&p=393655#p393655

Well fun - will be doing this myself for a 100% wheat beer soon...

[scarer]

I'm having a go at this method today. Less washing up and a shorter brewday

It will be interesting to taste the result and if its as good as my full all-grain beers then I will use it to brew smaller batches of stronger beers. I like to have choice when I want a beer and I also prefer to bottle although I hate bottling itself, I just feel that the beer matures better in the bottle retaining more aroma than a cornie and so smaller batches aren't such a head ache to bottle. It also takes ages for me to finish beer in a cornie and by the end I find the hop aroma has vanished unless I faff around with dry hopping. Bottles are easier to take to places as well for tastings or parties.

So, I should know in a few weeks how this turns out. I've heard of award winning results so I'm looking forward to tasting it.

[toper1]

When doing BIAB expect less water absorbsion than a standard mash.About 600-700 ml per kilo of grain compared to 900-1000 ml standard method.You'll have to do the conversion to imperial,sorry

[scarer]

All went to plan yesterday, I got 10 litres of porter after 90% mash efficiency giving me SG1055. I was aiming for 1050 but had played safe and calculated the grain bill to 75% efficiency.

Liked the ease of the day and I took my time so I didn't really get the shorter brewday but I seemed to have more sitting down time!

I'm looking forward to the finished beer

[filet o fish]

this looks mega. * puts 19 litre pot and a set of curtains on christmas list*

[Redimpz]

It is mega, just pop it all in the pot stick some lagging around it walk away watch some telly while it does its thing, when you've got your wort set it to boil and once it's steadily boiling, walk away again. (there's a lot of walking away involved in this game, stops you from tinkering with it)
currently planning second brew, possibly a Bluebird clone.

[Shadowknight]

I was looking at maybe, one day, going AG - if I could justify the gear and cost of gas and electric to the BOSS. This looks a perfect compromise.

[EoinMag]

I haven't done three vessel but I presume that there is a lot more cleaning involved with it than just washing out the one vessel and then mopping up afterwards. I've done 5 All-grain brews with this method at this stage and many more partial mashes, which is what got me onto thinking I might as well mash the lot, cos the partials were working out so well and were getting up to half the grain bill, so I took the plunge.
The main advantage for me is the minimal equipment that was needed compared to already being able to do full extract boils, if you can already do a full volume extract boil then there is no excuse for not being able to give this a whirl.
There are issues with this method not being as per industry standard or a little off when it comes to traditional three vessel brewing, but the reality is that these issues don't translate into problems in real terms and produce good, at times award winning, beers, despite the detractors.

[danbrew]

if I could justify the gear and cost of gas and electric to the BOSS.

Average cost of a KWh is about 13p - Gas is cheaper. Boiling a 23l brew length for 90 minutes on a 2.4KW element is only going to cost about 60p (including heating up time).

I estimate a £1 all in for power for a 23l brew length.

[Shadowknight]

if I could justify the gear and cost of gas and electric to the BOSS.

Average cost of a KWh is about 13p - Gas is cheaper. Boiling a 23l brew length for 90 minutes on a 2.4KW element is only going to cost about 60p (including heating up time).

I estimate a £1 all in for power for a 23l brew length.

..and all I would need to add is a boiler? (and the bag!)

It's a cunning plan... it might just work.

Cheers!

[danbrew]

..and all I would need to add is a boiler? (and the bag!)

It's a cunning plan... it might just work.

Cheers!

And you can make a boiler for around the £30 mark or just use a stockpot for smaller brew lengths. BIAB is the ideal way to get into AG. You make your money back in no time on any outlay you make...

[Yeasty Rob]

Only just noticed this thread and its quite lengthy so sorry if this has been asked in previous pages.

Would you think this method would still prove efficient for a 1 gallon brew?

I'm thinking of going AG in the new year, but would like to run some "test" recipes first to see how it all goes on a small scale. The BIAB method looks a great way to begin with just a stock pot and my normally brewing gear.

Was thinking of using one of these pots (you can pick them up cheap from ikea):


With some netting as a fine liner would be easy to strain out the grain.