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What is Mini and Maxi BIAB?

Post #1 made 13 years ago
by Yettiman
First, let me apologize for being 'slow'

I have read this and other forums and feel I am going around and around

Could someone just confirm I have understood it correctly, or if not point me at an easy to understand thread

Very much appreciated and apologises for being 'slow'

I think it is:

Mini = a small pot (usually on the stove) Heat, add bag, remove bag, boil
Maxi = same small pot, Heat, add bag, replace bag with a new fresh bag, remove bag, dilute to normal strength, boil

Thus a Maxi will let you do twice (or more) batch sizes, as you end up with stronger wort that can be dilute to a normal concentration, thus resulting in a bigger brew batch.

I have tried to simplify the above procedure as I am a little embarrassed at asking and do not want to waste people time, and have thus simplified the procedure to the basics

Mini = normal BIAB
Maxi = same but doubling the grain bill, so as to be able to add more water after the second bag has been removed with out diluting the wort too much

Is this correct.

Please be gentle in your replies, just trying to learn
    • SVA Brewer With Over 50 Brews From Great Britain

Post #3 made 13 years ago
by joshua
YettiMan, you wrote....
"I think it is:

Mini = a small pot (usually on the stove) Heat, add bag, remove bag, boil
Maxi = same small pot, Heat, add bag, replace bag with a new fresh bag, remove bag, dilute to normal strength, boil"

"Mini" is Correct!!!

"MAXI" is the way to make more volume of beer and Pure BIAB......

More grain in the bag in the small Pot to Start, then Mash, Remove the bag into another small pot and "SPARGE"(rinse) with hot water, then Start the boil, Add the water from the "Sparge" to the boil as the kettle allows.

You can use the Full Volume of the Small kettle to make wort with MAXI BIAB!!

If you can figure the Exact volumes for Mash and Sparge. you can make 23L/5Gal in a 24L/5.25Gallon kettle
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #4 made 13 years ago
by Hints
Here are some definitions and links that may help.

BIAB: Single vessel, full-volume brewing incorporating a bag. All of the 'Total Water Needed (TWN)'for the brew is added to the kettle before mashing in. Effectively, the mash and sparge occur simultaneously. On occasion, this is sometimes also called, "pure BIAB".

Traditional Brewing: Multi-vessel brewing where the TWN for the brew is added to the grain in at least two stages. One of these stages is the mash. Any other stages are referred to as sparges.

Mini-BIAB: Same as BIAB just done on a stovetop. This is pure BIAB.

Maxi-BIAB: Any type of BIAB that is not full-volume brewing. Maxi-BIAB is never "pure BIAB" as all the water is not added to the mash and, in nearly every case, more than a single vessel is required. The water held back from the mash in a Maxi-BIAB can be added via a sparge, as a dilution before the boil, during the boil or in the fermentor. These can be called "maxi-BIAB adjustements." If any of these adjustments are used, the brew can be regarded as a Maxi-BIAB.

Any maxi-BIAB adjustment always has an increased cost in ingredients, labour, equipment and/or quality. Some more information on these limitations can be found in this post and at the end of this post.

The Maxi-BIAB term is not one we have ever been very happy with but no better alternatives could be found.

[Please note that Hints does not reply to questions.]
Last edited by Hints on 24 Mar 2013, 12:22, edited 2 times in total.

Post #5 made 13 years ago
by GuingesRock
Hints wrote:Mini-BIAB: Same as BIAB just done on a stovetop. This is pure BIAB.
Thanks for the great definitions Hints.

Looks like I have been doing "Mini-BIAB" all along without realizing it. :whistle:
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Last edited by GuingesRock on 24 Mar 2013, 18:31, edited 2 times in total.
Guinges

Post #6 made 13 years ago
by Yettiman
Perfect,

Thank you.

Very much appreciated.

I think I will be sticking to Mini BIAB, I like the simplicity and I am not bothered on the Alcohol level, I only want to brew session beers. I like the taste of strong flavor beer with full mouth feel, but not worried if the alcohol is 1% or 5%

Thank you again
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Post #8 made 13 years ago
by GuingesRock
Hi BrewBagMan, It's a 16 Gallon (60L) Pot.

I wonder if the definition of Mini-BIAB should be something like “small batch, pure BIAB, done on a stove top”.

That pot in the picture above is a 16 Gallon one with a 10 Gallon batch in it. It’s sitting on a Ceramic Maytag cooktop. The large element has a pretty good heat output. The pot is a two person lift when it is full, and I’m really surprised the weight of it hasn’t cracked the glass/ceramic cooktop yet, but it hasn’t.

I’ve also seen pictures of a really large BIAB pot sitting on all four elements of small apartment style stove (something like the picture below). Does that work well? I’m vaguely thinking of getting one for my pot and moving out of the kitchen to a little back room by the porch, I have with my other beer stuff in that room.

Edit: :think: or a couple of the two ring ones back to back (or three of the single ring)...cheap and wouldn't need special wiring. Would just need to plug them into seperate outlets.
Stove Sink.png
Electric_Cooktop.jpg
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Last edited by GuingesRock on 25 Mar 2013, 18:18, edited 2 times in total.
Guinges

Post #9 made 13 years ago
by HbgBill
GR.. who makes that pot.. it's gi-normous ( gi gantic-e-normous). It sort of looks like the conformation of a Bayou Classic.. but, I don't think they go the 'normous. Beautiful kettle. Tri-clad bottom?
Last edited by HbgBill on 25 Mar 2013, 22:27, edited 2 times in total.
Bill
Hop Song Brewing-Santa Rosa, California

Post #10 made 13 years ago
by GuingesRock
Bill, Yes tri-clad, yes Bayou Classic. Got it here. Love it!

The volume markings inside are really handy (picture shows the markings in the smaller 8 Gallon Pot, but the 16 Gal has them too)
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Last edited by GuingesRock on 25 Mar 2013, 23:34, edited 2 times in total.
Guinges

Post #11 made 13 years ago
by hanson95
[quote="Hints"]Here are some definitions and links that may help.

BIAB: Single vessel, full-volume brewing incorporating a bag. All of the 'Total Water Needed (TWN)'for the brew is added to the kettle before mashing in. Effectively, the mash and sparge occur simultaneously. On occasion, this is sometimes also called, "pure BIAB".

Mini-BIAB: Same as BIAB just done on a stovetop. This is pure BIAB.

Great! So here's a question - how big of a kettle will I need to do "Mini-BIAB" if I want to end up with a boil of 7.5 gallons using 15 lbs of grain? I guess what I should be asking is: can I do this with my 9 gal kettle, or do I need to use the "Maxi-BIAB" method? (to avoid spilling water over the side when I add that much grain).

Thanks!
Last edited by hanson95 on 27 Jun 2013, 01:56, edited 2 times in total.

Post #12 made 13 years ago
by joshua
Welcome hanson95, If you intend to make 5 gallons of finished beer, you will need to do MAXI-BIAB with a 9 gallon kettle. BTDT(been there done that).

You might need a 10-12 gallon kettle to Make a Pure BIAB batch, and 15 gallon will work very well for ALL gravity beers. Except, maybe 1.099sg batch with 33 pounds of grain!

Please take a look at BIABACUS, http://biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1869#p25993 and check out the Maxi-BIAB method which can help to get more from a small kettle.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #14 made 13 years ago
by PistolPatch
Welcome aboard hanson ;),

Tricky stuff doing all-grain brewing when you have a limiting factor. If I am reading things right, your biggest limiting factor is going to be that your stovetop is your only heat source. You mentioned, "...my 9 gallon kettle." I'm guessing you already have one. Have you done a trial boil in it on your stove top?

[SIDE NOTE: Just went to check your "first post" on the board to see if I could get more info as to whether you were an extract brewer etc and I see no first post!!!! How did you manage to creep past that???]

Anyway, your first problem is that you would almost certainly not be able to bring 7.5 gallons to the boil on a stove top. Even 4 gallons will take a while to get to a boil on most stove-tops.

If you already have a barbecue and a gas bottle, a three-ring camping burner will work very well with your kettle and they are fairly cheap. This and a few small dilutions will give you a corny keg full of quality, normal strength beer, no problem.

:peace:
PP

P.S. Joshua's advice on using The BIABacus is excellent. There are an infinite amount of Maxi-BIAB variations that anyone can make to a brew and they all have repercussions. The BIABacus is the only thing around that can get this complexity down to something manageable. WIth your size kettle, you will not have to make too many 'costly' adjustments.
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Post #15 made 13 years ago
by hanson95
PistolPatch - Thanks for your input! So, I'm not only limited by the volume that will fit in my pot, but also my ability to bring that amount to a boil on the stove? I have done 7.5 gal all grain boils in this pot on my old stove, but it did take almost an hour to bring it up to a boil. We just moved into a new house and the previous owners left a "professional" Wolf range - I wonder if that has higher BTUs? At any rate, I may investigate getting a propane burner for the garage (wife will certainly be happier).
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