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Post #7401 made 9 years ago
by golfgod04
Scott wrote:Hey Will

Welcome to the forum! I was in your shoes less than 2 years (and about 20 BIAB brews) ago...

Where are you from? I bought a 16 gallon brew pot. Normally I brew 5 gallon batches of beer that ranges from 1.048 to maybe 1.060 normally. So lighter to medium and occasionally heavy high OG beers. The most I've brewed is 9.5 gallon (into packaging / keg) of an APA around 1.052 OG / 5% ABV beer. But with the bigger pot you have ability to do bigger OG beers, or almost double batch if you want to. I almost went with a 10 gallon pot and I am SO glad I went bigger...

Anyhow, let us know a little more about what you want to do and one (or multiple) of us will jump in and provide some suggestions and advice. Again, welcome to the forum! :luck:

Im from Mass, Ive brewed over 25 batches as a partial mash brewer and my cheap pot finally quit on me. I make mostly pale ale, ipas and in between those batches I make some interesting brews. I made a peanut butter brown ale , a lemongrass hefeweizen, belgian/american double. I brewed on a budget with my partial mash equipment and when going to switch to BIAB, I will also be on a budget. I'm looking into a 40 or 42 quart pot and a burner.
Last edited by golfgod04 on 26 May 2016, 02:53, edited 11 times in total.

Post #7402 made 9 years ago
by golfgod04
ShorePoints wrote:Welcome, Will. Have a look around, reading as much as you can digest. Be sure to get the BIABacus and try it out - kettle dimensions are a very early and important thing. Purchase a little larger than you want, never smaller. My 40 cm tall X 35 cm diameter pot is almost big enough for what I do. :idiot:
Also, read about the bag material as a key component for success. Good luck, and ask questions when you have them.
thanks will do.
Last edited by golfgod04 on 26 May 2016, 02:53, edited 11 times in total.

Post #7403 made 9 years ago
by joshua
Welcome Wyndell(TxPitMaster),

BIAB is the best way to Brew some Great Beer.

Check the Links in the Post above your(#7399).

Let know, if you have ANY Questions.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #7404 made 9 years ago
by Scott
golfgod04 wrote:I brewed on a budget with my partial mash equipment and when going to switch to BIAB, I will also be on a budget. I'm looking into a 40 or 42 quart pot and a burner.
Well I can understand budgets...they are what they are, just the 40 quart / 10 gallon size is a little small... Need stainless steel, in my opinion. Don't need temp probes and any of the rest of that. But I would highly recommend spending an additional $30-40US for a 50% bigger pot and think it will save you frustration and headaches in the long run. That's my opinion. Either way, best of luck to you. :luck:
Last edited by Scott on 26 May 2016, 04:17, edited 11 times in total.
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Post #7406 made 9 years ago
by joshua
Welcome to The forum, Pathgeek

To get you Started the BIAB, You can Download "BIABACUS" at http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1869, A good Spreadsheet,

and get "The BIABacus - Help" at http://biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1863, since you will probably need it,

and read the "Clear Brewing Terminology (CBT)" http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2685 to Understand the Terms used in BIABACUS.

Let us know your Questions, and Many of Us will Help!
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #7407 made 9 years ago
by Elephantbrew
Hi everyone!

I'm Ed and I live in London. I first got into brewing extract about 6 years ago but threw in the towel after pouring 40 pints down the drain after a major sanitation failure. I've recently got back into brewing and have done a couple of one gallon all grains (with mixed results). I'm very excited about exploring BIAB so have bought a 20 litre pot and a bag and am hoping to brew this weekend. After having a little look around this awesome site, I think I'll try the simple mini BIAB and see how much I get from it (hopefully 9.5 pints).

I'm a teacher so get some nice long holidays to brew in! This site looks like an incredible resource so I'm hoping to learn as much as I can and maybe sometime soon brew some tasty beer...

Cheers,

Ed

Post #7408 made 9 years ago
by Scott
Hi Ed, and welcome to the forum!

Joshua had some good links (above your post).

Let us know what questions you have and we will jump in and help.
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Post #7409 made 9 years ago
by slingy
Hi

I'm from Adelaide, just looking at getting back into some brewing after 4 years off. Have made a combination of all grain and partials, basically all ales because I can't lager properly. My last lager tasted like nail polish, but I've been happy with most of my ales.
Going to do a BIAB partial in an electric urn to get back into the swing of things before going to all grain again.

I've got a question about the brewing process that I haven't been able to find an answer to, and hasn't really come up in my previous brewing....
I'm planning on doing my brew this weekend, but it doesn't look like my hop delivery will arrive in time. I'm wondering if it's ok to do the mash and save the sweet liquor in the fridge for a couple of days before completing the brew when my hops arrive?
I figure it shouldn't be an issue because it's pre-boil, so oxidation and contamination won't have any negative effect?

Post #7410 made 9 years ago
by ShorePoints
Welcome aboard slingy.

About your process question -Short answer is that you are making a lot of extra work and increasing the likelihood of problems by not waiting for hops to arrive. It looks like you are making and storing a giant starter solution (no hops, no yeast yet). Will there be any boiling involved post mash? Later, you plan to apply heat, boil and add hops according to a schedule. I suppose it could be done, but waiting for hops to arrive is better. Crushed grain can be stored and used within 10 - 14 days without ill effect if you store it properly.

I think you have not found an answer to your process question because nobody would choose to do it that way.
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Post #7412 made 9 years ago
by joshua
Slingy, you can Mash for the 90 minutes, then Raise the temperature to 170F/77C to Mashout, and Drain the Bag fully.

If you can increase the temperature to Just below 212F/100C, you will have Sweet Liquor, or what I call "Malt Extract".

You can load that in to a Refrigerator size Container, and let it Cool, to the point, your Refrigerator doesn't say
"Holy ^$%#%$, that is HOT!" and hold it seal for up to a month, as Malt Extract.
Honest Officer, I swear to Drunk, I am Not God.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #7413 made 9 years ago
by golfgod04
Since Im on a budget to make the switch from partial mash on my stove top to all grain BIAB. Here is what I was thinking

Brew Kettle:
40 Quart Stock Pot for $69.65 with lid http://www.amazon.com/Update-Internatio ... +stock+pot
I would prefer a pot like this but once you add the accessories, its over $100 Is there a similar alternative?:
SS Pot with 2 Weld for $106.96 (includes ball valve and thermometer I can't find another brew kettle that is similar with the features for less money. http://www.austinhomebrew.com/Stainless ... _4607.html

Burner:
Bayou SP10 Burner for $49.97 http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP1 ... you+burner

Bag:
Wislerbrew biab bag
Last edited by golfgod04 on 27 May 2016, 22:48, edited 11 times in total.

Post #7414 made 9 years ago
by Scott
Hey golfgod04,

We probably should move this discussion off the intro forum... Some quick answers.

PistolPatch, one of the (if not the) most knowledgeable BIAB experts in the world, would recommend getting a nice large stainless steel pot but skip the temp probe and ball valve. Here is a recent post: http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php ... 992#p53992 Full disclosure, I have both...

Your stainless pot is way too small / aluminum was a bit small too and not as good material as Stainless Steel. You can get larger 60 quart aluminum pot, but then same price as good lower priced SS pot. Here is a 62 Quart Stainless Steel Pot: http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-106 ... +15+gallon. It is a very nice pot, for about $97US.

I think your burner looks fine.

The only thing about Wilserbrewer bags is design: his is cone shaped on the bottom, not flat with same shape as the pot. In my opinion a flat bottom Cylinder Shaped Bag is a much better design in that it doesn't compress grain as much (and I believe you should get higher efficiencies if grain is not compacted...). Let me see if I can find a link to the one I bought (and the design logic seemed much better for the reason mentioned). https://www.mashedin.beer/collections/c ... a-bag-biab. I chose their premium bag with the Velcro and love it. No offense to Wilserbrewer...this is strictly a design issue to me.
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Post #7416 made 9 years ago
by thughes
Arrggg, welcome BlackBeerd....good to see a fellow pirate aboard. Please tell us a bit more about yourself and what you want to learn. What style of beers do you like, any past brewing experience, etc. We're all here to help.

---Todd
WWBBD?
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Post #7417 made 9 years ago
by seancdn
BiaB rocks. Being in France, it was not difficult to assemble materials and ingredients from readable sources.can't wait to get started.
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Post #7418 made 9 years ago
by ShorePoints
Welcome to Frada - a Beginner from Sweden.

Welcome also to seancdn.

Read the things suggested by Joshua above in post #7406) and please ask questions. You will get answers. The BIABacus is not as difficult as it may look and it will set you on the right course.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #7419 made 9 years ago
by slingy
joshua wrote:Slingy, you can Mash for the 90 minutes, then Raise the temperature to 170F/77C to Mashout, and Drain the Bag fully.

If you can increase the temperature to Just below 212F/100C, you will have Sweet Liquor, or what I call "Malt Extract".

You can load that in to a Refrigerator size Container, and let it Cool, to the point, your Refrigerator doesn't say
"Holy ^$%#%$, that is HOT!" and hold it seal for up to a month, as Malt Extract.
Cheers for the response.

I ended up finding a good local source for the hops and doing the full process on the day. Fermenter is bubbling away nicely.
So now I've got enough hops for two more batches of this IPA, hopefully it turns out ok!
Last edited by slingy on 30 May 2016, 09:05, edited 11 times in total.

Post #7420 made 9 years ago
by Goesting
Hello people,

Greetings from beerheaven Belgium :peace:
I'm kind of new in the brewing proces. A few years ago I started with extract brewing but I only got rubbish out of it. Than started building my new house so there was no time to brew.
Now the time has come to start brewing again. First there was the thought of buying me a Grainfather... but after some good considerations I decided not to. But what now? I want to do small batches, around 6 to 8 liters without spending to much on materials. So an 11 liter pot on my induction stove it will be. I have a small Iwaki magnetic pump, maybe I'll make some sort of a Grainfather/BIAB with it.
That's it for now, have to gather some info here and start ordering some materials and I'll let you all know how it goes.

See you all on another colorful day,

Aaron
It's never the end, it's always a new beginning!

Post #7421 made 9 years ago
by ReeflifeGlass
Hello everyone.
I am grateful for being a part of this forum. I am a glassblower for 20+ years and am new to Homebrewing. I just did my first brew for my birthday. And did a Pliny The Elder Clone BIAB. Just racked it and can't believe how good it smells. I didn't completely hit my OG but I got close. I hit 1.060 instead of the desired 1.072. But it was my first time and more importantly I had a lot of fun.
I'm from Northern California near the Oregon border on the Redwood Coast. I enjoy pale,porter,Stout,and most of all IPA with a lot of hops.

My kettle is 10gal, and am using 6gal carboys. What I would like to learn more about is how to scale my grist bill up to accommodate for efficiency. For my first time. I pulled the bag out and rested it on a turkey rack over the kettle. And used a plastic container I drilled some holes in to sparge with until we got to 8 gal. The boiled our wort with hop additions and ended up with 5.5gal in the fermenter.

Found this forum watching a podcast of BeerSmith about BIAB with Jake Keeler.
Thanks again for this opportunity to connect with like minded Brewers.

Jack

Post #7422 made 9 years ago
by Scott
Hello Goesting and welcome to the site!

Understand you are looking to do Mini BIAB. Correct? There are guys here that do lots of that. (Not me, I produce 5 Gallon batches, around 20 liters normally). Seems like larger batches would be much more Efficient - once you discover you Enjoy the brewing process, and if you actually Drink enough of your beer to justify it - you may want to Expand the operation. ;) With not much more time you get much more beer. But no problem with doing it small with Mini BIAB if you want too (either just to start and try it, or into the future as well...).

Not sure what a Grainfather is... Is it what we would call a grain mill...? If so, where I live I can easily source the grain and grind it at local home brew shops... If this was more difficult or increasingly expensive I may purchase my own grain mill.
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Post #7423 made 9 years ago
by Scott
ReeflikeGlass (Jack),

Welcome to the site! Glad you found it, and also that you found the hobby.

I live in Oregon, in the Willamette Valley near Salem. Just a few hundred miles north of you. For 26 years I ran a different company and travelled down through the bottom of Humboldt County as the southernmost reach of my territory in California. So I know your area well, and would always stop for beer down there at one microbrewery or the other... (A few places come to mind in Fortuna, Eureka and Arcata, in particular...) :party:

You will want to download the BIABacus file. It will help you with planning and scaling batches, etc. http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1869

Clear Brewing Technology is / will be another important one for you to review... http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2685

I might have suggested 15 gallon pot (over the 10 gallon) as you wouldn't be brewing so close to your limits. Also, for sure a pulley would be a great idea to attach to the bag and pull out, etc. easier than manhandling the bag to a turkey grate. Don't quite understand the plastic container with holes in it for sparging bit... If you are doing 100% full volume BIAB mash for 90 minutes, there is no reason to do a separate sparge. Sounds like you may be doing a separate sparge (?). And be careful with the plastic... :interesting:

For sure you'll want to use the BIABacus file with Excel. And if you attach a copy, we can have a look at it and usually pinpoint where something went south. (Probably just make a new post to the BIAB for New Members area...). So, we can easily help on future brews where you've used the BIABacus. :smoke:

Let us know how we can help! And good luck to you. :luck:
Last edited by Scott on 31 May 2016, 01:29, edited 1 time in total.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 50 Brews From United States of America

Post #7424 made 9 years ago
by ShorePoints
A big welcome to ReeflifeGlass. Jack, you did fine on your first batch. You will find from experience and by reading more on this forum that you really do not need to sparge. If you try to maximize VIB with water held back for a sparge in Section W of the BiIABacus, it works, but entails extra effort and a little bit of extra equipment. I mostly don't do that any more and I am yield-driven. Keep us up to date on your progress.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #7425 made 9 years ago
by ReeflifeGlass
Scott wrote:ReeflikeGlass (Jack),

Welcome to the site! Glad you found it, and also that you found the hobby.

I live in Oregon, in the Willamette Valley near Salem. Just a few hundred miles north of you. For 26 years I ran a different company and travelled down through the bottom of Humboldt County as the southernmost reach of my territory in California. So I know your area well, and would always stop for beer down there at one microbrewery or the other... (A few places come to mind in Fortuna, Eureka and Arcata, in particular...) :party:

You will want to download the BIABacus file. It will help you with planning and scaling batches, etc. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1869

Clear Brewing Technology is / will be another important one for you to review... viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2685

I might have suggested 15 gallon pot (over the 10 gallon) as you wouldn't be brewing so close to your limits. Also, for sure a pulley would be a great idea to attach to the bag and pull out, etc. easier than manhandling the bag to a turkey grate. Don't quite understand the plastic container with holes in it for sparging bit... If you are doing 100% full volume BIAB mash for 90 minutes, there is no reason to do a separate sparge. Sounds like you may be doing a separate sparge (?). And be careful with the plastic... :interesting:

For sure you'll want to use the BIABacus file with Excel. And if you attach a copy, we can have a look at it and usually pinpoint where something went south. (Probably just make a new post to the BIAB for New Members area...). So, we can easily help on future brews where you've used the BIABacus. :smoke:

Let us know how we can help! And good luck to you. :luck:
Thank you for the Welcome.. I wasn't sure how important the sparge step was using a bag and wether it was ok to skip it. I mashed in the kettle in 5Gal. water and wanted to bring my volume to 8Gal. pre-boil and had a goal of ending up with 5-6Gal in the fermenter. As for the plastic jug. It was something I saw on youtube and thought it seemed like a good way to increase pre-boil volume and get what sugars I could at the same time. I only added a couple cups at a time to it and spent about 30 mins doing this until I reached the desired pre-boil volume.
But now I understand I can just use more grain to hit my target O.G.? Or get closer than I did.
Last edited by ReeflifeGlass on 31 May 2016, 03:03, edited 11 times in total.
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