Hello stpete, nedderlander and chesl73. Welcome to the site!

Don't forget to download the BIABacus software. Excel based file that is a big help with configuring and conducting BIAB brews...

Stpete - look through the site. You can see lots of others that have went through the same things you will be, and have posted and got some excellent advice. I might be case in point... I've posted lots of questions and have been given lots of excellent advice! Nothing has been perfect, but just the same all my BIAB brews turned out (final result) very good! I'm very happy with them and expect you to be as well.

Nedderlander - I have never used Brewsmith software but there are some people that use this site that could likely help you convert. Most will likely encourage you to use the BIABacus, for assorted reasons, but they would likely feel BIABacus to be more accurate and more tailored for BIAB. But either way, it makes beer... And beer is good and is our friend. I believe the 6 gallon brew pot to be a little small for brewing a 5-gallon batch unless you do things like withholding water and adding later, etc. Best to have a larger pot and be able to do a full volume mash. I would think, living in China, hardware such as a bigger brew pot might be really low cost... I was vacillating between a 10 gallon and 15 pot. Almost went with smaller 10 gal (it would have worked for most of the 5 gal brews I brew) but ended up going 15 gallon. Very glad I did! Ran out of beer (a beer emergency ) a month or so ago and was able to almost do two 5-gallon batches at once. Enough beer produced for two 4.55 gallon batches into two fermenters...just over 9 gallons in total. Beer that finished at 5.25% ABV. Anyhow, a bigger brew pot gives you more flexibility.

Chesl73 - the pioneers of BIAB are all from your native land of Australia and have had such a big, positive impact on many of the rest of us around the world, in our brewing hobby...! It almost seems incredulous that BIAB isn't being practiced by everyone in Australia. Here in the USA, more doing BIAB all the time but it definitely is still the minority. Well, other styles of brewing can produce good beer too, just not as easy and takes more equipment. Glad you found the site. There are a lot of helpful people here that can help if anyone has questions.

Best of luck guys...!

Scott

stpete....where do you hail from? Fl? I'm in Clearwater.
J

Welcome Gizo and Andy!

@ Gizo: Download the "BIABacus" at http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1869 and get "The BIABacus - Help" at http://biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1863 The sample BIABacus contains a recipe for NRB's All Amarillo IPA which is a fantastic brew. Plug in your numbers and get going. As a "free" American I am green with envy at the ability for you Ozzie's to legally distil alcohol, doing that here in the States gets you a long vacation at a Federal facility. (Never stopped my ancestors though!)

@ Andy: Grab the BIABacus mentioned above and read up on the help section. As to using well water...water chemistry plays a big part in the finished product and may be something you want to play with down the road once you have gained a bit of experience. You can go here for an idea about the science of brewing water http://www.biabrewer.info/viewforum.php?f=147 but for the time being you should start your brewing using plain old bottled water (not "RO" or reverse osmosis water!).

---Todd

Welcome aboard simchez, meatymc and jmculak. All the info you need to successfully BIAB is here, if you can't find something just ask.

meatymc - when you say you downloaded the calculator, do you mean the old one or the newest biabacus 1.3t? Also I don't know what pictorial you are referring to, if you don't find the answer maybe start a thread here in the new members section and we will get you sorted. My initial thought is maybe the point at which the volume is being measured is not the same, ie volume into fermentor vs volume of ambient wort, or something along those lines...

Edit: meatymc - Found the pictorial, I have seen it before and thought it sounded familiar. The biabacus is very good at predicting volumes and gravities, so as long as you have filled it out correctly I would trust what it tells you. If you want to have someone review your file post it in the 'Use this thread to convert recipes'

Happy brewing folks!

Hey fridgeman and Gian, welcome! Great place for quality info here whether your moving up from kits or been BIAB brewing for months You should both try out the BIABacus if you haven't already, and if you have trouble finding what you need here just ask! Happy Brewing!

We are all here to help.Rob,spog, and rayi welcome aboard.
Robert we all LOVE FREEBIES !!!! PM me ..I'll send my address so you can send me some !! HAHA
spog ... Just keep an open mind... Whilst we use bag we all keep watch over our practices. But, You must strain a heck of alot to keep the trub down !! YIKES
Ray ...Good on ya for giving it a go. my inlaws are outside of Detroit and nephews brew . maybe I can hook ya'll up.
J

Hi Kangarooster and welcome to the forum! Lots to learn here, take a look around, ask questions and get brewing!