Brew in a bag

[Bum]

Speedie, over the last few years some brewers have been pioneering a single vessel method of brewing usually referred to as BIAB (brew in a bag). The original intent seems to have been to do away with a great many of the steps used in more traditional 3V systems. You might want to have a look into it before you tell someone how to correct their process when it seems you're not on top of the method they are following.

[EDIT: My apologies to anyone who might look in this thread looking for info on BIAB. I didn't make this as a thread, rather it was split from another thread to keep it on topic. The two links posted further down are good resources though so keep reading.]

[speedie]

bum please elaborate on the use of a single vessel system?

[Bum]

No. Like I said, do some research - plenty of info around. Only reason I bring it up is that your advice to Bullfrog might not be 100% relevant to his method.

[drsmurto]

Clearly all our subtle hints about AHB haven't worked so i will make it very easy for you Speedie.

Here is a link to AHB with an article on using an Urn for Brew in a bag

Aussiehomebrewer is a much bigger forum (>15,000 members) than this one and contains many brewers with your level of experience.

[Bum]

I'm not sure how I feel about this...

[ryan]

I'm not sure how I feel about this...

About AHB? Come on down....we`ll look after him

Ryan

[drsmurto]

You two need to learn to share

[Bum]

No, the issue is that there is a little backlash against the postcount-gifted welling at the moment and he'd most definitely tip the scales - I see pitchforks in my future.

[warra48]

We need a Butters replacement on AHB. Speedie is an ideal candidate. There are oodles of gifted brewers on AHB who would be delighted to enter into a cerebral and erudite discussion about all the technical ins and outs of brewing, not to say egg sucking.

I think you are carrying too heavy a burden there, Bum, being one of the few regularly in the firing line of a lot of less intellectually gifted posters.

[Bum]

That isn't were the backlash is coming from, I'm afraid. Most new members eventually work out where I'm coming from and some even grudgingly admit that I might have even been trying to help (if you can imagine such a thing!). The backlash that has me bothered is coming down from above (up to you to decide whether this is board staff or the formerly helpful brewers who don't post anymore).

[hirns]

That isn't were the backlash is coming from, I'm afraid. Most new members eventually work out where I'm coming from and some even grudgingly admit that I might have even been trying to help (if you can imagine such a thing!). The backlash that has me bothered is coming down from above (up to you to decide whether this is board staff or the formerly helpful brewers who don't post anymore).

Off topic still, but: Either way Bum, for what it's worth.....I don't believe either forum would work as well, if it were not for the balance that you add. I believe that a lot more realise this than they care to admit. Keep up the good work .

Hirns

[warra48]

Just to make it clear, I am a 3V brewer.

For the BIAB brewers, there's now a dedicated forum, started by the famous Pistolpatch from AHB.

Hopefully it might clear up some issues in this thread.

Here's the link: http://www.biabrewer.info/

[Bum]

read your link from the other site that you seem to have distain for
and it seems that there is another vessel called a bucket?
does this deem it a single vessel and bucket system?
how hard is it to go on one of those verge pick up days and find a unwanted esky for free!
why do you have to be so negitive
i can see why the extract is down now

I do not have disdain for that site. I like it a lot and post there very regularly (some might say regular as clockwork). [EDIT: oh yeah, you were probably talking about DrS having disdain for it. Apologies.]
About the bucket, if you read the post properly you'll see that this part is what he referes to as an optional "tweak" - a great many brewers forego this step.
BIAB in its purest form is still a single vessel method.
Not very hard but maybe they don't want to.
I wasn't being negative - I was actually trying to help you understand what it is that you are talking about - I guess I forgot you aren't interested in that. Dunno what came over me.
Efficiency is not necessarily lower for BIAB - it just takes a little more knowledge to get at them sugaz.

[SuperBroo]

It appears to me that BIAB is simply...

- Warm up say 15 Litres water to strike temp in the kettle.
- Crushed grain goes into a bag, and then lower the bag into the kettle.
- Wait say an hour, and lift the bag up above the kettle.
- Sparge water thru the grain into the kettle beneath until the boil volume is reached, say another 15 Litres or so.
- Then boil away / add hops like normal.

In which case I apologise for my previous posts about mashing in an esky.

Am I close here ?
If yes, i guess the only reason you would do it is if you dont have a reasonable mash tun ?

Long answers not requireld lads, just tell me straight... bracing for replies as I hit send....

Cheers,
Chris

[Planner]

Long answers not requireld lads, just tell me straight... bracing for replies as I hit send....

Short answer - yes
Different variations of sparging exist, from what you suggested to additional buckets and even no sparging at all.

Disclaimer - I'm far from expert on the subject, having only done a couple of BIABs

[speedie]

What system of brewing do you use and advocate?

[bullfrog]

Should have read this thread before telling Speedie he didn't know what he was talking about in the other one. Seems moot, now.

Grog, you've more-or-less hit the nail on the head. As Planner mentioned, it can be done as a no-sparge process, but I'm starting to think that my sparge the other night helped a lot with my efficiency so will now be including that in my process.

Just in case anyone's interested, here's my (new and improved) method:
-Heat 25L to strike temp
-Add grain bag and dough in
-Leave for mash length (I've insulated my urn with rubber foam from Clark's and even with ~15L headspace don't lose a degree in the mash)
-Remove bag and put it into a large colander that I made which fits perfectly into the top of my urn
-Add 10L of water at sparge temps and stir vigorously
-Crank up to boil temps with the grain bag still in colander and give the bag a good squeeze
-Add hops & kettle finings, chill and transfer to fermenter for pitching

The colander tends to get mostly clogged up by the grain which is good because it makes it drain slowly. This gives time for the sparge water to properly do its thing.

[Bum]

this off topic bum
what system of brewing do you use and advocate!

I don't advocate any system - I advocate good use of a chosen system to make good beer.

I currently use a 3V system (40L electric urn as HLT, 33L Eskie with Beerbelly Falsie as MLT and a 36L Beerbelly SS kettle on an Italian Spiral burner with LP adjustable reg) but when putting my system together I tried to future proof it by making sure my HLT would be suitable to use for BIAB should I ever want to have a crack at that method down the line. Prior to this system I did BIAB partials/small AG batches in an esky and boiling on the kitchen stove - at the end of the day I didn't enjoy brewdays with this method.

[Bum]

So I can set my HLT on a timer, get out of bed and my strike water is good to go. Why didn't I go electric on my kettle? I absolutely hate how unresponsive my electric stovetop is when cooking and didn't want the same on my boil.

[BribieG]

As a BIAB brewer I am interested to see that the thread has wandered into 'sparge or no sparge' territory. BIAB at its simplest is a no sparge method that uses full volume of liquor at the beginning. However many BIAB brewers use a 40L urn (Birko or Crown) and this size of pot is really at the limit of doing a full volume brew once you start getting up into the 7 percent alcohol range using all grain - i.e. not relying on sugaz etc to get you there. I'll give a ludicruous example which nevertheless illustrates the point. If I were to put a 20 kg grain bill into the urn and mash it, the grain would retain so much liquid that after hoisting, I'd end up with something great to give to my horse for lunch, but little or no wort.

After doing around 150 BIAB brews I find from experience that your typical Timothy Taylors or Carlton Draught style, at around 5 percent alcohol can be brewed quite nicely using full liquor volume. However when getting up into the >6 % brews, then to get the necessary pre boil volume I do need to add a bit of extra liquor, especially if doing a 90 min boil. So I add that extra liquid by doing a sparge-in-a-bucket on the side, while the urn is coming up to the boil, and add the runnings back into the boil.