Now that I have a few BiaB's under my belt, I feel compelled to make some notes on my process (which is still evolving), and perhaps ponder aloud some of my failings and successes.

Before I get started, I am not a "true" BiaB'er. I've taken aspects that I like from the BiaB method and have applied to to my own brewing style. I also do a few other things "wrong" as well, but for the most part, it works out well for me.

Starting with equipment... I'm in the process of obtaining a 1/2 bbl stainless keg, which will be the centerpiece of my brewery. I will also be going all-electric once I get all the pieces together. I have a perfect spot in the basement to make into my brewery, which will have my brew bench, a work table and a separate ferment closet.

Currently, I'm brewing in a 8-gallon aluminum stock pot over an LP-fueled turkey fryer. It's not one of those awesome turkey fryers, but I can go from ~40F to a rolling boil in about 30-40 minutes, which beats the hell out of using my kitchen stove.

I also do use a separate mash tun; it's either my 5 gallon beverage cooler or my bigger rectangular cooler, depending on the size of the grain bill.

I have a separate ~30 quart pot that came with the fryer, which has come in useful. So I guess I actually have a 3v system... lol

My bags are made from voile curtains, a basic cylinder design, double-stitched with some of that heavy duty nylon quilting(?) thread. So far, the bag has held about 13 pounds of dry grains (plus water weight) without any issue. I have a large bag for grains, and a small bag for hops, which I think I really need to double layer.. pellet hops get everywhere.


So to start my brew day, I'll put 4 or 5 gallons of water into the kettle and get it heated up to strike temps, usually 165F or so. I've been hitting low on my mash temps since I've started brewing outside, so I need to be more cognizant of external temperature. Once my water hits strike temps, I put a vegetable steamer basket in the bottom of my mash tun (basically so the bag doesn't get snagged on the spigot bulkhead inside), then put in my bag.

Here's one of the places I do things "wrong"... after lining my MLT with the bag, I dump in my grains, THEN fill the MLT with water. I fill it right to the top, stirring the whole time. I keep stirring and checking my temps, and once I hit the magic range of 154F-158F, I seal the cooler with the lid, then wrap it in blankets. Over the course of the next 90 minutes, I'll lose MAYBE 2 or 3 degrees.

While the grain is mashing, I refill my kettle and bring the water up to mashout/sparge temp. Yup.. sparge. I leave half of the water in my kettle, the other half goes into my third pot, when the time comes.

After 90 minutes of mashing, I lift the bag out of the MLT, placing a colander (or "sieve") under it, and allowing the bag to sit in the colander and drain into the MLT, which now has about 2 gallons of sweet liquor in it. And sweet it is. I'll give it a few minutes of draining (during which time I split the water in the kettle, etc.), then promptly "tea bag" it in the kettle, swirling it around and lifting it in and out of the water, allowing the bag (and grains) to completely rest on the bottom. After a good 10 or 15 minutes of this, I place the colander over the top of the BK and set my bag of grains in it and allow it to drain into the BK. I also fire up the burner at this point to get a jump start on my boil.

Important note: my last batch I didn't teabag it, and I missed my OG by a miserable amount. That's okay.. this batch is for my Dad, and since he's used to Coors Light, this will still be awesome for him. Shhhh...

While the bag is draining in the BK, I add the sweet liquor from the MLT, then top off the BK by "sparging" my bag with water from my third pot. A few good squeezes of the bag, and I turn it over to the girlfriend, who uses the spent grains for bread and dog treats.

From here I hit my boil in about 15 to 20 minutes, put the first bunch of hops in my "hop sock" (leftover voile from the curtain), and clip it to the side of my BK.. usually the side that is "rolling" the most. As I make more hops additions, I just chuck them in the same hops bag.

During the boil, I re-clean and sanitized everything I need for the next few steps. And since I've recently switched to carboys, I need to re-do my process a little bit.

Traditionally (with the Ale Pails), I would place my sanitized colander on top of the bucket, and laid down a double sheet of sanitized voile to catch miscellaneous trub and hops fragments from the cooled wort. It also helps aerate the cooled wort. Since I no longer have the luxury of having a huge opening, I'm going to need to com up with something a little different... perhaps a pair of nested funnels that "sandwich" the voile would work.. I'll find out this week when I brew again. I have found this extra "filtering" step will usually get me another 1/2 gallon in the fermenter.

Assuming I'm somewhere in the ball park of pitching temp, I'll toss in my yeast and cap the carboy, giving it some good old fashioned shaking.. blah blah blah...


So yeah... while I may be over-complicating things, and certainly not following the letter of the law for BiaB, this process has been working really well for me, with the exception of the light ale that I didn't teabag, or add the "filter" while transferring the cooled wort into the carboy, so I'm going to have a REALLY light light ale, and only about 4.5 gallons of it, which may be a blessing in disguise. :-)


I'm open to comments, suggestions and whatever else. I'd prefer to not get flamed for using a MLT. ;-)

Cheers!

Cheers to you, BobB.

I agree that the information sharing aspect is much more important than "you don't brew the way I do, therefore you are wrong" method. Hell, I know I'm doing it all "wrong", but since I added the bag to my equipment, my efficiency has skyrocketed and my beer has cleared out considerably. I'm also done cleanup in maybe 20 minutes...

I'm not going to knock the old 3v system, but on the other hand, I really do prefer the simplicity (although my OP seems a touch complicated.. lol) of this system.

Sure, if you want to add another hour of cleanup, go for it. ;-)

Mad.. I love the conical... but you have entirely too many cats... want some more? ;-)

I wouldn't say "no" to a site glass... with a thermowell, since I'm headed in the all-electric direction.



But I think it's the continuous evolution and trying out new gear that excites me as much as making a quality beverage.

Thanks for your words, Pistol.

So to answer the question "Why am I doing this?" is simple: I honestly enjoy the experimentation, the tinkering of methods and processes to create my own beer... the reason I want to create my own beer is for 1) a great deal of personal satisfaction; 2) so I know EXACTLY what I am drinking; and 3) I may decide to go pro someday.. when I'm independently wealthy, that is. :-)

My justification for using the current method that I am is quite simple: I use the MLT so I can mash-out in clean (ie. no sugars) water. I have it stuck in my head that rinsing/tea-bagging a bag full of grains in the clean water is "better" than rinsing/tea-bagging them in "dirty" (ie. "sugared") water... much like when hand-washing an article of clothing comes out cleaner when it's rinsed in clean water, as opposed to muddy water, for example. However false and misleading I'm being to myself, I have a happy little peace of mind that I am doing all I can to extract as much of the sugars out of the grains as I can.

Invariably, I need to top off my BK to get 6.5 pre-boil gals in it. So instead of just adding "clean" water to it, why not pour clean water through the grains to help wash out every last bit of sugar that I can? So maybe I add only two or three more "specks", but every last bit counts, right? :-D

I am also working with a couple handicaps... my BK is barely big enough for a 5 gallon batch, let alone having 6.5 pre-boil gallons in it... and my MLT isn't nearly sufficient for anything with more than 8 or 9 pounds worth of grains.

I sincerely feel that once I am able to afford/acquire a larger BK that I will be able to transition to a more "traditional" BiaB. On the other hand, 3v habits do die hard, especially when that's all you've ever known. Perhaps more time reading BiaB techniques is in order as well as making forward progress towards continue my plans towards an electric setup to keep things as simple as possible.

If I didn't have to re-shingle my roof this spring, I would be able to make a couple jumps ahead, but for the time being, making do with what I have is going to eventually lead to the destination that is most appropriate for me and my beer... it just will take a little longer.