Reason I haven't been posting here recently is because I have gone all heretical and gone in a slightly different direction.
I found with full volume BIAB I was getting a lot of trub and wasting ingredients due to cloudy wort into the kettle that was ending up with up to 3L of cloudy gunk per brew. Note I say into the kettle, not out of it, as the wort out of the kettle after a good boil and a floc can be as clear with BIAB as any other system. However clearer wort into the kettle (i.e. clearer wort after hoisting the bag) would be a clear advantage for better wort recovery rates.
Problem mostly caused by BIAB not forming a "real" grain bed that allows for recirculation, a bit of a sparge if desired... etc.
I decided to look at a solid sided "bag" method and came up with a bucket-in-urn idea. I works extremely well, and I have sold my 4 BIAB bags
It goes like this:
20L $6 handy bucket that fits snugly into the electric urn. The bottom of the bucket has been drilled. Into this goes a kitchen strainer from supermarket (bashed into a pork-pie-hat shape and the handles cut off) which is wrapped in a bit of voile for better filtering, and secured in place with some silicone hose to provide a fine false bottom the wort must pass through.
Mash same as BIAB then hoisted gradually on a block and tackle, with a bit of recirculation just using a jug - a cheap pump could be an option - until the wort runs clear, having been "forced" to pass through the grain bed that has formed at the bottom of the bucket.
Advantages: virtually identical to a soft bag BIAB without having to handle a wet hot bag, similar entry cost, better wort recovery, easy clean up. Also because this is a "double jacket" setup, the mash actually loses virtually no temperature during the mash.
It shares with BIAB the basic idea that it removes the grain from the wort, not the wort from the grain (as 3v systems do)
Just thought I'd share this
Cheers
Brew in a solid "bag"
Post #1 made 12 years ago
Last edited by Beachbum on 28 Oct 2011, 20:31, edited 5 times in total.