Brew in a bag

[Bum]

Hey, Bribie.

I know it is a bit hard to tell but this thread started out as a response to a post of speedie's in another thread. If I recall correctly (apologies if not) I was responding to a slight he made to bullfrog about his method assuming he was brewing 3V and thus his "help" was entirely irrelevant. I think the sparging only became an issue here because speedie wanted to pick holes in my suggestion that it is possible to brew good beer in a single vessel - before you go out of your way to convince him please be aware that he doesn't think good beer can be made in an esky MLT either.

Anyone unfamiliar with Bribie from AHB who has an interest in BIAB should be aware that they could do worse than direct any queries his way - quite accomplished in comps and such.

[bullfrog]

please be aware that he doesn't think good beer can be made in an esky MLT either.

Or in any other way that doesn't involve quadrillion litre fermenting vessels and 8 million litre kegs. Don't try saying anything to this bloke, Bribie, not worth the facepalms that come from reading his ridiculous misinterpretations of your posts.

[speedie]

well done Bribie your post was very informitive and hit the nail on the head

[Bum]

Bribie knows most of us already.

[speedie]

Bribie do you use any other vessel arrangement for your brewing or just stay with a bag and urn
when i started using bags in the earler days i still adapted the dual or more vessel use

[earle]

Was going to pick up some swiss voille from spotlight for partials and whatever happens after that but was wondering what type to get. From AHB there seems to be cotton, polyester and nylon but there is some conflicting advice on which to use. If someone asks it turns into - are you sure its foodsafe, just buy it from the brew shop and various other rants.

What do people here use?

[hirns]

Well I don't biab, but a large grain hop bag that I bought off Ross(Craftbrewer) is definitly polyester.


Cheers

Hirns

[warra48]

I have a small and a larger bag. Both are polyester swiss voile, bought at Spotlight.
Mrs warra is a wizz on the Bernina, and she sewed them to my pattern.

I don't BIAB, but use them as a strainer when draining the kettle into the fermenter. Keeps out all the trub and hop debris.

[roboscot]

Warra, can you post details of the design of the bag please.

[warra48]

Warra, can you post details of the design of the bag please.

The design is copied from the picture of the bags for sale at CraftBrewer. It's just a flat straight up and down bag, with a rounded bottom.
I got mrs warra to sew in a border along the top where I put through a drawstring of synthetic rope.

[Planner]

Was going to pick up some swiss voille from spotlight for partials and whatever happens after that but was wondering what type to get. From AHB there seems to be cotton, polyester and nylon but there is some conflicting advice on which to use. If someone asks it turns into - are you sure its foodsafe, just buy it from the brew shop and various other rants.

What do people here use?

Picked up a bag from G&G already sewn for about $8-$9 (600x600), wasn't worth the hassle of asking SWMBO to sew at that price.
Polyester, nylon, who knows. I've used it for a few brews now without dropping off the twig, so it must be close to foodsafe.

[big dave]

How have the brews gone Planner?

I am wondering what everyone is using for a pot. Have looked about at pots, and a 50l pot is looking like hundreds of dollars. No way SWMBO is going to swallow that!

[Planner]

How have the brews gone Planner?

I am wondering what everyone is using for a pot. Have looked about at pots, and a 50l pot is looking like hundreds of dollars. No way SWMBO is going to swallow that!

Dave

So far the brews have gone to plan (or somewhere near a plan). Started out with a cheap SS pot from one of the discount shops, about 18l & $7.00 I then found a 20l urn in the cupboard at work. This allows me to do concentrated boils, but limits me to about 16l of full strength or 20l of mild into the fermenter.

Taste I'm happy with, but presentation still needs a bit of work, mostly due to me scrounging as much as I can (more than I should) from the kettle and getting plenty of break material into the fermenter. On the lookout for a keg to cut down to replace the urn (would love a 40l urn, but like you SWMBO would have a fit at a $300 HB purchase).

[warra48]

If you want a 50 litre one, you will have to fork out something in that order for an aluminium pot.

Sell it to swmbo as costing no more than 2½ slabs of store bought megaswill. That's about what you get out of a standard 23 litre brew.
And think of the savings once you have it. You'l make your money back over no more than 3 to 4 brews.

[rotten]

I purchased a 30 ltr urn for $120 inc postage from ebay, probably mentioned it before as it's a great deal. If it's good enough for 3V it's good enough for BIAB. Please don't take that the wrong way Biabers, I can do a 21 ltr batch no worries, with a 26 ish ltr boil.
Will post brand or link later if you like?
Cheers

[big dave]

Ta, that would be cool. I will start siphoning small amounts of coin out of consolidated revenue....

[rotten]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/30-litre-tea-cof ... dZViewItem

Try that link, it's $135 with free postage, basically same as i paid. Noticed only one day left this time round.
Cheers

P.S. mine is actually a dial controller which is very versatile, this one looks like it has set temps, maybe keep looking for the other one.

[SuperBroo]

SWMBO is sewing up my $3 of voile from spotlight into a bag,

Cant wait to do a biab

Will post my results later,

Just seems there are a lot of reasons to give it a go.

There is a really good radio podcast about biab at http://www.basicbrewing.com


Cheers,
Grog

[SuperBroo]

Woooo Hoooo

I did my first BIAB last night, and it went really well, this is such a simple way to brew.

How I went about it...
1- 31 Litres of rainwater into kettle.
2- Heated to 69c.
3- Put bag in, and tipped in 4.25 Kg grain, stirred for a while, temp now at 67c.
4- Wrapped kettle with a car sunshade for insulation.
Temp was at 64c after 30 mins so just lit gas again on low and raised temp to 67c again.
5- After 1 hour, lit gas on high to start the boil.
6- Gently stirring the grain, and when the temp hit 78c, lifted the bag above the kettle, using rope and step ladder.
7- Used 2 pot lids to squeeze the bag a couple of times.
8- Removed the bag after about 10 minutes. (Ended up with 27 Litres)
9- Boiled wort and added hops etc as normal.
10- Allowed grain to cool, and fed neighbours chooks

This brew was another JSAA and pitched the wort onto a JSAA using US04 primary yeastcake.

For my next one I'll make a stainless screen to lift the the bag off the bottom of the kettle in case I need to fire up and raise the mash temp a bit. (I didnt have any trouble, but with a screen you wouldnt even have to think about it).

I used swiss voile from Spotlight which cost me about 3 bucks and SWMBO did the sewing bit.
The wort was a bit more cloudy, but all settled OK after whirlfloc and whirlpooling, settle for an hour.
I always tip the trub from the kettle into a sanitised 5 Litre jug, seal with gladwrap and pour the clear wort into the fermenter the following morning, i noticed with the BIAB there was no more trub in the jug than normal.

Will be interesting to compare this beer to the previous 2 JSAA's I've done.
Will comment later when I have a taste.

Cheers to All,
Grog

[matr]

I'm part way through making a Stainless Steel mesh bag for my setup. It's coming along quite nicely

I used 310 micron aperture mesh which is a bit bigger than the voile (210) but I'm hoping it will work ok. It's basically a cylinder of mesh with a slightly conical shaped base to aid in draining. I will also install a thermowell to the inside wall which I can then put the temp controller probe in.

It cost me heaps more than just buying a premade bag but ya get that!! It should last a while and won't be affected by the electric element. I'm also thinking of rigging something up to stir the mash within the bag but that will be phase 2 of the project. I've also got enough mesh to make myself a nice hop bag.

Along with this I've got a 50L keg with a 2200W element, SS 2 piece ball valve, SS fittings & a SS pick up tube. Keg is insulated with 2 layers of 10mm camping mat around the side & 1 layer underneath.

I'll post some pics when it's operational & worth viewing.

Was hoping to get it all done in the next few weeks but a work trip to China may delay things.. However I may come back with some nice electronic gadgets!!!(or hops if anyone is interested )

Cheers, Mat.