My only tip mcgoo is that the porosity of the bag affects the rate of drain a fair bit.

If you have a pulley, make sure you have a mechanism that allows you to stop and hold the bag at a certain height. In other words, have a mechanism that allows you to slowly lift the bag out of the sweet liquor. This can be done over the time that it takes to raise the sweet liquor from mash temps to boiling point.

The advice above might vary though depending on kettle shape. Some kettles are tall and narrow and others are fat and wide. Most people forget this. Advice above may not suit a tall, narrow kettle . Maybe it would .

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I used to double-batch by hand and it wasn't that hard but then my bag was coarser. I could not do it now with the bags I am using.

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My aim is to just maximise, without going mad, the amount of wort I can get from the bag between mash-out and boil temp.


PP

My technique is to keep it over the pot until I am done squeezing.

mcgoo wrote:It's not hard when doing a single 23l batch but I'm looking to do a double batch. I guess the bag will weigh approx 20kg with all that wet grain and I can't lift that on my own. So after i build a winch do I need to sit the bag into a basket or are there large strong bags that won't rip with that sort of weight.

Any tips much appreciated

regards

mcgooooo

Hi McGoo, I use one of these bags http://custombiab.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Excellent bags, very well made but I dont double batch.