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About to take the plunge to BIAB - pot & bag predicament

Post #1 made 11 years ago
by gjs
Hello All.

I've done a few kits and have really enjoyed those, but it is now time to move on to making some better beer that I can properly create myself, and BIAB looks like a great way of doing it.

I've been trying to work out what will be best to get in terms of equipment, mainly in terms of pot and bag, so I wonder if anyone can give me some advice regarding these aspects.

Large pots in the UK are expensive and I'm trying to keep costs down, but I am also conscious of wanting to get something I wont quickly outgrow.

I found a firm in Germany who can supply a 50 litre stock pot for very reasonable money (£44 inc delivery to UK), so I was inclined to go for that. However, I then need to find a bag. Now, I cant sew, nor can my wife and we don't know anyone who can, so making one or getting one made up will be a challenge so I was hoping to find something else pre-made that can be used for this. I have read quite a bit about people using paint straining bags. Would the paint straining bags linked HERE be okay to use. Or perhaps THESE?

With the pots, the same firm can provide me with a 33 litre for £34 delivered, which is again a good deal. I have got a Ritchies Mashing and Sparging bag (Ritchies) which should be big enough for this size pot. I have seen a mention of this bag being used for small BIAB batches of around 10 litres, but wondered whether the community here would agree if these are suitable, and if so are they okay for up to 23 litre batches?

If I get the 50 litre, will it be okay to use for smaller batches of around 10-12 litres? But then if I get the 33 litre pot, will I be able to make 23 litre batches and if not, is it easy enough to scale recipes down? I was thinking about making 23 litre batches as seem to find a lot of recipes for this volume and also found some all grain kits that are aimed at making this volume and although possibly not necessarily the cheapest way, I was thinking that it could be a good way of getting some practice in and getting used to what I'm doing, but then once I know where I am, I may well want to experiment a bit and will be better to make smaller batches when doing that, so ideally I want to get a pot that can cover small and larger batches.

Another option is a water boiler/tea urn, but these are hard to come across and quite expensive. Anything on ebay never seems to be local to me, but wondered whether they are any good or not?

Apologies - a bit of waffle here. Just keen to get cracking but keen to try and make the best possible decisions before I plunge in!

Thanks for reading. Any advice will be much appreciated.

Regards,


Greg
Last edited by gjs on 21 May 2013, 02:43, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #2 made 11 years ago
by Yeasty
Hi gjs

I've always gone by the rule that getting the biggest pot you can afford from the start is a wise investment. A 50L will serve you well for a 23L brew and for smaller 12L brews. Your boil off will be the same regardless of your brewing volume. As for a bag, give the paint strainers a miss, you really need space for your mash to come into contact with all your water.Buy a couple of square yards of swiss voile and if you can't find anyone who can sew just line your pot with a piece and secure it around the edge with a bungee strap. Once your mash is done gather the ends together and lift out. There are guys who use this method all the time and they never get a bag sewn up.

Another thing to consider is your heat source, 50L on a stove top is a struggle ( i did it indoors until I went gas) so you will want a good burner set up. Unless you intend to fit electric elements ? If you are looking for a burner give me a shout and I'll dig out a link for a supplier I use who are good value.

:luck:

Yeasty
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Post #3 made 11 years ago
by gjs
Thanks for the reply Yeasty.

I can see that the 50 litre pot would give me the better range, although as you mentioned the heat source needs considering. I was hoping the wok burner in the middle of our range cooker which is pretty big and fierce will be up to the job. For a 23 litre batch, do you think that is realistic, or optimistic ?!

How did yours go when you did it indoors, and was that on a gas hob?

I wasn't keen on using a burner outside as the gas cylinders seem expensive and will be something else for the kids to trip over or face-plant against! But if I explore that route I'll be sure to take you up on offer for info on a good supplier - cheers for that.

A quick measure of the cooker makes me wonder if the 50 litre could actually be better for heating up than the 33 litre, as it could span across two burners whereas the 33 litre will only go across one. Does that sound a viable alternative to the wok burner if that struggles?

Good point regarding the paint strainers. I like the voile idea - simple solution really I guess, duh :idiot:

Thanks for your help - much appreciated.


Greg
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Post #4 made 11 years ago
by mally
Just as an alternative, this is what I use link.

Good enough for 23 litres VIP (volume into packaging) - BTW you will have to get used to terminology :shock:

It is more expensive (& delivery on top of that), but can be moved anywhere with a mains socket, and has basic temp control.
Last edited by mally on 21 May 2013, 14:51, edited 2 times in total.
G B
I spent lots of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I squandered
I've stopped drinking, but only when I'm asleep
I ONCE gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life
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Post #5 made 11 years ago
by PistolPatch
gjs, nicely written post/s and I can see you are getting looked after very well. I'm going to enjoy reading this thread rather than writing to it because anything I have had to say has already been written. Love your question re the pot spanning two burners - nice!

Maybe I can add one thing though I'm not sure if it holds true for all countries...

1. Bottled gas - never thought/realised this until now but it is probably the most expensive means of heating.

2. Mains gas - would almost be the cheapest method of heating in most countries.

3. Electricity - probably a lot cheaper than bottled gas.

I'm on bottled gas. Bugger :angry:.

;)
PP
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Post #6 made 11 years ago
by Yeasty
gjs wrote:How did yours go when you did it indoors, and was that on a gas hob?
I'm electric indoors,my pot is 45.5cm wide so it sat across to elements.It did the job but the steam is a problem.
gjs wrote:I wasn't keen on using a burner outside as the gas cylinders seem expensive and will be something else for the kids to trip over or face-plant against! But if I explore that route I'll be sure to take you up on offer for info on a good supplier - cheers for that.
I do like my gas setup. I shopped around for the best deals.Your bottle deposit is the most expensive bit.
gjs wrote:A quick measure of the cooker makes me wonder if the 50 litre could actually be better for heating up than the 33 litre, as it could span across two burners whereas the 33 litre will only go across one. Does that sound a viable alternative to the wok burner if that struggles?
You will only find out by trying :dunno: If you can find out the Kw rating of your burners there are calculators online which will give you cold to boil times. I still favour the 50L.

Nice to see your thinking about it. Its easy to jump straight in and end up with a shed full of unsuitable equipment.
Last edited by Yeasty on 22 May 2013, 04:18, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #7 made 11 years ago
by lambert
Greg

I've had this idea to make a "Roving Training Pot" for a while now - loads of people want to get into brewing but are unsure of what to get, bags, etc etc. I've also recently acquired an OLD 23L (or thereabouts :scratch: ) alu pot that I've converted to an electrical kettle. (Tesco/ASDA budget range kettle element (2KW), proper hot conditioned plug and 1.5mm cable). I've been using this pot to "experiment/play around" with, eventually I want to convert another slightly bigger/better pot for my small/test batches.

You are welcome to "have" the pot (and bag, hop sock and some other bits and pieces to get you going). It is NOT pretty, it's not even 100% round :shock:. And the lid is a carton covered in heavy duty foil! But it works and it will make beer (I've just finished brewing an 11L American Brown Ale on it). And it will give you an idea of what it's like to do BIAB with electricity.

There is one condition though - if you decide to get a bigger/shinier/better pot or stop brewing I would like you to pass the pot (and the "bits") on - free of charge - to the next person who wants to try his hand at BIAB. And if you are able to make improvements to the pot (like a proper/better lid!) and pass that on to the next guy - well, even better. And the idea is obviously that whoever you pass the pot on to will also pass it along. You get the idea? I'm pretty sure that you will eventually move on to another pot/kettle (we all do ;)) but "learning" on a small pot is a really nice way to ease yourself into BIAB.

Let me know if you are interested.

Cheers,

The Anti-shiney
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Losing about 1.5C every 30 minutes with the flimsy "lid"
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My copy of Yeasty's syphon. Best used with leaf hops. I got a lot of break material in my cube.
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Cubing...
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Last edited by lambert on 22 May 2013, 05:17, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #8 made 11 years ago
by gjs
Hello All.

First up, thanks for the follow-up responses – I really appreciate your thoughts and guidance.

I’ll respond and to them in order of posting. Typing up in Word though as have a tendency to lose what I type in a browser window!

Hello mally – thanks for mentioning the Buffalo boiler that you use. I have been very intrigued by these as look like they could be an all-in-one solution in terms of mashing, boiling and pouring out. A couple of questions on the water boilers if I may – are there any downsides (other than cost!) to using them, and does the standard tap that comes with it work well enough or does it replacing? Oh and yes, plenty of terminology to learn. I started sailing last year and still getting used to all the terms with that! Its baffling as to why on earth ‘ropes’ are called ‘sheets’ in sailing so when someone mentions ‘main sheet’ you think they are talking about the sail, but they’re not! But that’s another story...!

Hello PistolPatch – Yes, I’m certainly being well looked after. Thanks for your thoughts on gas vs electric costs. Over here, bottled gas will be the dearest and yes mains gas is cheaper than electricity. Saying that, the costs have swung about over recent years (mostly upwards though) so I’ll need to check on that for sure. We get mugged by the energy suppliers for whichever we use so they’re both expensive – more of a case of which one is more of a rip-off than the other!

Hello Yeasty – thanks for the further comments. Good point on the steam – I hadn’t considered that aspect and recalling that making chutneys for Christmas made the house stink of vinegar for days, it is certainly something to think about. Regarding pot sizes, I got confirmation from the German supplier – the 33 litre pot is 35 x 35cm, which doesn’t give much of a smaller footprint than the 50 litre which is 40 x 40cm, so based on that and your comments regarding boil off being the same, the 50 litre is definitely the preferred choice out of the two sizes, and it is only £44 delivered from Germany to UK which does seem a good deal to me. I’ve had a look on the net and think I’ve found the burner information for my cooker (or pretty close to that model) – the wok burner is 3.60kW Triple crown (wok) burner. There is also 1 x 3.00kW Rapid burner 2 x 1.75kW Semi-rapid burners and 1 x 1.00kW Auxiliary burner . Does the wok burner seem powerful enough? Based on a simple looking online boil calculator, 40 litres will take 53 mins to go from 15 to 80 degrees C.

Hello lambert – that is a great concept and thank you for the very generous offer. Perhaps each person who takes on the Roving Training Pot should etch their initials & dates in to it so a whole history can be built and followed?! The sort of batch size you mentioned seems like an ideal way to find my feet . In terms of those batch sizes, are they easy to scale down from the more typical 23 litre batches i.e. could I buy a 23 litre all grain kit and effectively halve it? I’d love to take you up on that offer, but notice from the location field that you are a fair distance from me so getting it here could be difficult & costly but great if we could find a way around that!

Thanks again to all of you for your help. I’m itching to get going so I can crack on and develop an alcohol problem cheaply and tastily, and the help I’m getting here is getting me closer to that!!
Regards,

Greg
Last edited by gjs on 22 May 2013, 08:03, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #9 made 11 years ago
by mally
GJS - There will always be downsides whichever one you pick. Most people will also defend their choice as well (human nature). If I had to be picky about the buffalo I would say
1) Could do with more kW (only 2.4kW).
2) Would prefer a bigger one (to do double batches).
3) Tap works great but doesn't have a permanent on function (have to keep it pressed).
It can be unscrewed in seconds to reveal a silicone valve that can also be removed for easy cleaning.

You could easily modify a buffalo, but I don't see the point, and I would recommend building from scratch if you wanted to go that route. On the plus side, it has a concealed element, so is really easy to keep clean.

Whichever route you pick, you will be looking for something else in a year or two anyway :argh:

Lambert - I love the "Roving Training Pot" idea. YMCA/salvation army of BIAB :lol:
G B
I spent lots of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I squandered
I've stopped drinking, but only when I'm asleep
I ONCE gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life
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Post #10 made 11 years ago
by lambert
gjs wrote:Hello All.
Hello lambert – that is a great concept and thank you for the very generous offer. Perhaps each person who takes on the Roving Training Pot should etch their initials & dates in to it so a whole history can be built and followed?! The sort of batch size you mentioned seems like an ideal way to find my feet . In terms of those batch sizes, are they easy to scale down from the more typical 23 litre batches i.e. could I buy a 23 litre all grain kit and effectively halve it? I’d love to take you up on that offer, but notice from the location field that you are a fair distance from me so getting it here could be difficult & costly but great if we could find a way around that!
Greg,
Don't worry about delivery - PM me your address and I'll get the pot send down. It will probably be Friday or so. I'll leave the etching for you!

As to scaling recipes - just use the BAIBacus that is available from this site. It's the only piece of software you will ever need when brewing! You can scale any decent recipe to suit your equipment. Once you have decided on a brew have a go at completing the BIABacus - if you get stuck just post on the forum. With the BIABacus there is no need to guess - it will give you the required ingredients and you can buy the required grains, hops and yeast. Rob from http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; sell various grains, a huge variety of hops and yeast. He'll also crush your grains to order (ask him for a BIAB crush). There are other (very good) online homebrew suppliers - I just happen to use use Rob and I'm very happy with his service.

Cheers,
B
Last edited by lambert on 22 May 2013, 17:01, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #11 made 11 years ago
by gjs
Hello again All.

Thanks for the follow-up mally.

Those are interesting comments on the Buffalo boiler. Aside from your slight niggles, they do seem like a very good option albeit more costly. I would assume that more powerful boilers can be bought but naturally costing more (or could a more powerful element be installed?), but I do like the concept of being more of an all in one unit. I think I'd be lashing that tap down with gaffer tape! I will have a good look at these boilers as the next step after I've done my apprenticeship with the Roving Training Pot!

lambert - thanks for your follow-up too. You are very generous and I appreciate that very much. I have just sent you a PM with my address.

I will have a look again at the BIABacus as it does looks really useful! I'll swot up on the terminology so it makes more sense this time round and start thinking about what I'm going to brew first. I cant wait! I'll check out TheMaltMiller.co.uk too. I've had a look at their site before and they look good so its handy to get an endorsement from the customer end. I've seen some all-grain kits at the brewuk.co.uk website. As a newb, a 'kit' is appealing to me so I don't have to worry about formulating a recipe so prefer to try something tried and tested to start with, and they contain the right quantities. Is that a good route to go down, or should I scrap that thought, check out the recipes on this site to find something I like the look of, and reproduce using BIABacus?

Thanks again.


Greg
Last edited by gjs on 24 May 2013, 01:48, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #12 made 11 years ago
by Yeasty
Hi greg

You'll only really know how your wok burner performs by doing a test. Time is a limiting factor and being able to get a good boil going. If you have a new combi boiler you can fill your pot from the hot tap which saves a lot of time and energy.

As for buying grain/grain kits I recommend sorting a recipe using the Biabacus then ordering the grain & hops. The kits are generally put together using an unknown "formula" and seldom match a scaled biabacus recipe exactly which can be a bit of a worry when you are starting out as you have to tweak the biabacus to get your water to match the grain bill. Its much easier to do it the other way around.

:peace:

Yeasty
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Post #13 made 11 years ago
by gjs
Hello Yeasty.

Thanks for your reply.

I do have a new combi boiler so thats a great idea. However, (spanner in the works!) we have really hard water here that doesnt taste very nice without filtering, so I'm not sure i could use that approach which is a shame because you're quite right, it would save a lot of time & energy.

With the home brew can kits that I've made, I sat the water filter in the sink, fed a syphon into the section where the filtered water goes, filled the water filter up, started syphoning the filtered water out to the container, and then turned the tap on to match the speed the syphoning was running out at. That meant i could leave it to it and saved me filling up the water filter and waiting for it twenty times!

The comments about the grain kits make sense. I'll find a recipe I like the look of and have a bash with BIABacus and scaling the recipe, and then get my order in based on that.

Thanks again.

Regards,


Greg
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Post #14 made 11 years ago
by lambert
Yeasty wrote:As for buying grain/grain kits I recommend sorting a recipe using the Biabacus then ordering the grain & hops....Its much easier to do it the other way around.
Can't agree more with Yeasty - the 30 minutes or so that you need to spend to get behind the basics of BIABacus will be well worth the effort.

Have you got any particular preference in beer type? We can always suggest a recipe :drink:

B
Last edited by lambert on 24 May 2013, 06:16, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #15 made 11 years ago
by Yeasty
gjs wrote:The comments about the grain kits make sense. I'll find a recipe I like the look of and have a bash with BIABacus and scaling the recipe, and then get my order in based on that.
Look up Graham Wheelers BYORA. Its a cracking book for British Ales ( No lagers), or Brewing Classic styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer which covers all the styles. Both these books have what we call good "integrity" and have enough information to enable accurate scaling using the Biabacus.
gjs wrote:we have really hard water here that doesnt taste very nice without filtering
I am hesitant about writing this bit as water is the biggest of the mind farts for any brewer unless you have a masters in Chemistry. So don't get too hung up on this as its really advanced brewer stuff. Generally if it tastes ok it will brew ok, yours doesn't so filtering may be a good idea. One thing that greatly effects water taste is Chlorine. If its bad in your area it will need removing which is easy to do with 1/2 a campden tablet per 25L. This might be what gives it its bad taste ?

Graham Wheeler has a section in his book about water, he specifically mentions chalky water which being in Kent is what yours is.( another reason to get GW's book) You can also download a water report from your local utility company web site which is handy to have.

This is another topic so my advise is to brew first and look into water once you have your brewing technique nailed.

:salute:

Yeasty
Last edited by Yeasty on 24 May 2013, 16:37, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #16 made 11 years ago
by Zymeck
Yeasty wrote:
gjs wrote:The comments about the grain kits make sense. I'll find a recipe I like the look of and have a bash with BIABacus and scaling the recipe, and then get my order in based on that.
Look up Graham Wheelers BYORA. Its a cracking book for British Ales ( No lagers), or Brewing Classic styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer which covers all the styles. Both these books have what we call good "integrity" and have enough information to enable accurate scaling using the Biabacus.
gjs wrote:we have really hard water here that doesnt taste very nice without filtering
I am hesitant about writing this bit as water is the biggest of the mind farts for any brewer unless you have a masters in Chemistry. So don't get too hung up on this as its really advanced brewer stuff. Generally if it tastes ok it will brew ok, yours doesn't so filtering may be a good idea. One thing that greatly effects water taste is Chlorine. If its bad in your area it will need removing which is easy to do with 1/2 a campden tablet per 25L. This might be what gives it its bad taste ?

Graham Wheeler has a section in his book about water, he specifically mentions chalky water which being in Kent is what yours is.( another reason to get GW's book) You can also download a water report from your local utility company web site which is handy to have.

This is another topic so my advise is to brew first and look into water once you have your brewing technique nailed.

:salute:

Yeasty

The water here in sunny Hull is very hard and very chlorinated - ive just been buying Bottled water from Tesco/Asda - you can get 5L for £1.10
Last edited by Zymeck on 25 May 2013, 03:48, edited 2 times in total.

Post #17 made 11 years ago
by gjs
Hello again all.

Thanks for further follow-ups, which I'll respond to in the appropriate fashion...
lambert wrote: Have you got any particular preference in beer type? We can always suggest a recipe :drink:

B
My preferences are super hoppy pale ales, Belgian (particularly Triples, Trappist & similar 'big' doubles & quadruples) + English golden ales. I'd like to work up to recreating Dark Star's Revelation or Thornbridge's Jaipur at some point as well as trying my hand at some Belgian style beer, but don't want to try to run before I can walk and all that, so may start off with some straightforward looking English ales.
Yeasty wrote: Look up Graham Wheelers BYORA. Its a cracking book for British Ales ( No lagers), or Brewing Classic styles by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer which covers all the styles. Both these books have what we call good "integrity" and have enough information to enable accurate scaling using the Biabacus.
Graham Wheelers BYORA looks good and I may well order that - thanks for the recommendation. John Palmer's book seems to get high acclaim and the first edition is available for free on the internet which is a great resource, not to mention quite generous of him.
Yeasty wrote: I am hesitant about writing this bit as water is the biggest of the mind farts for any brewer unless you have a masters in Chemistry. So don't get too hung up on this as its really advanced brewer stuff. Generally if it tastes ok it will brew ok, yours doesn't so filtering may be a good idea. One thing that greatly effects water taste is Chlorine. If its bad in your area it will need removing which is easy to do with 1/2 a campden tablet per 25L. This might be what gives it its bad taste ?

Graham Wheeler has a section in his book about water, he specifically mentions chalky water which being in Kent is what yours is.( another reason to get GW's book) You can also download a water report from your local utility company web site which is handy to have.

This is another topic so my advise is to brew first and look into water once you have your brewing technique nailed.

:salute:
Yes, our water is quite chalky. We get plenty of lime scale in the kettle and in the shower head, etc and there are quite visible deposits left on stainless sink. I'm not sure if the bad taste is limescale or chlorine, or both. I recently bought some campden tablets so I'll use them next time. I did read somewhere that filling up a container of water and letting it stand for a day will also get rid of chlorine. I don't know how true or suitable that is for brewing beer, but I probably wouldn't be that organised anyway so will stick with filtering/campden tablets. I downloaded a water report but perhaps I'll get that chemistry degree before trying to understand what it all means! But I do like the idea of looking at that level of detail much further down the line, or at least knowing that it can be taken to that level of accuracy.


Hello Zymeck
Zymeck wrote: The water here in sunny Hull is very hard and very chlorinated - ive just been buying Bottled water from Tesco/Asda - you can get 5L for £1.10
Thanks for the suggestion. Good idea, I'll have a look in the supermarkets. I have a feeling the own brand economy table water may be even cheaper than that*.

Thanks again to you all.

Regards,


Greg

*edit - a quick check on Tesco's website shows 10 litres would cost 85p (2 litre bottles are 17p)!
Last edited by gjs on 25 May 2013, 05:06, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #18 made 11 years ago
by lambert
gjs wrote: Thornbridge's Jaipur
Tasted it once in a pub and knew that I had to try and brew it. I found this recipe on Jim's Beer Kit - look for the Bombay IPA towards the end of the page. It's got enough information to complete the BIABacus (I've made section D = 21L - you'll understand when you complete BIABacus). I've brewed this beer 2 times this year and it's awesome!
Last edited by lambert on 25 May 2013, 06:27, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #19 made 11 years ago
by mally
GJS - If you are still considering the Buffalo as an option, have a look at this thread I just posted here.

It shows that tap in more detail.
Last edited by mally on 26 May 2013, 05:10, edited 2 times in total.
G B
I spent lots of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I squandered
I've stopped drinking, but only when I'm asleep
I ONCE gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life
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Post #20 made 11 years ago
by gjs
Hello lambert.
lambert wrote:
gjs wrote: Thornbridge's Jaipur
Tasted it once in a pub and knew that I had to try and brew it. I found this recipe on Jim's Beer Kit - look for the Bombay IPA towards the end of the page. It's got enough information to complete the BIABacus (I've made section D = 21L - you'll understand when you complete BIABacus). I've brewed this beer 2 times this year and it's awesome!
Oh nice, that Bombay IPA sounds spot on - I think I'm going to give that one a bash. Thanks for the pointer. As you like the Jaipur, and if you've not already tried it you may well also like Revelation that I mentioned in an earlier post - superb ale which I like more than Jaipur. Although the brewery is fairly local to me, they supply bars around the country and the BeerFinder on their website suggests the nearest they supply to you is a couple of bars in Edinburgh, so you may find it at one of those (Bow Bar & Auld Hoose) if you're passing through that way.


Hello mally.
mally wrote:GJS - If you are still considering the Buffalo as an option, have a look at this thread I just posted here.

It shows that tap in more detail.
Thanks for providing the link to your post. I will be considering one of those boilers as an option so I'll refer back to that if that is the route I go down after getting some training batches under my belt with lambert's Roving Training Pot. lambert has kindly set that off on its way down to me :thumbs:. Hopefully that experience will give me some clearer direction as to what my ideal setup should look like and weigh up the pros and cons including costs.

Regards,


Greg
Last edited by gjs on 26 May 2013, 06:51, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #21 made 11 years ago
by smyrnaquince
As far as the paint strainer bags, these are what I used up until now for my stovetop half-batches (2.5 US gal = 9.464 L in to bottles). However, I've started this think that their mesh is a bit too coarse. (I'm not the first one to voice this opinion.)

Being cheap, I bought some voile, glued a "channel" for a drawstring around the perimeter of a circle of voile, and made a bag. I must also say that at this point I have purchased enough cheapo bags that I could have bought a nice one and saved money.

In my opinion, if your first brew is one that will hide mistakes (i.e., full-flavored, like a stout), then use the paint strainer bag. If you decide to do more brewing, get a better bag.

Let me be honest and say that the quality issues I have may have nothing to do with the bag, though.

Post #22 made 11 years ago
by gjs
smyrnaquince wrote:As far as the paint strainer bags, these are what I used up until now for my stovetop half-batches (2.5 US gal = 9.464 L in to bottles). However, I've started this think that their mesh is a bit too coarse. (I'm not the first one to voice this opinion.)

Being cheap, I bought some voile, glued a "channel" for a drawstring around the perimeter of a circle of voile, and made a bag. I must also say that at this point I have purchased enough cheapo bags that I could have bought a nice one and saved money.

In my opinion, if your first brew is one that will hide mistakes (i.e., full-flavored, like a stout), then use the paint strainer bag. If you decide to do more brewing, get a better bag.

Let me be honest and say that the quality issues I have may have nothing to do with the bag, though.
Hello smyrnaquince

Thanks for this. I think that based on your comments, I'll avoid paint straining bags and will look at voile as being the key material for a bag. I don't want to compromise the beer from using the wrong type of bag, as if the beer isn't that good and I was using a paint strainer I wouldn't know if it was the the bag or something else. If I go with the masses and use voile and the beer is bad, I can rule out the bag!

Regards,


Greg
Last edited by gjs on 28 May 2013, 21:59, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #23 made 11 years ago
by gjs
Hello All.

Great news - The Roving Training Pot (plus kit) arrived at 9am this morning :thumbs: - lambert sent it from Scotland on Friday and it is already here in Kent. Quick or what!

I cant wait to get brewing. I'm going to place an order in with TheMaltMiller.co.uk as recommended by lambert, and am going to try that Bombay IPA also mentioned further up. I'll look for another recipe too and buy some more ingredients at the same time to make postage costs more economical.

I'll give an update on here as soon as I get it and start the brew. I'm not sure if I should start a new topic for that or continue with this one. Any thoughts on that are welcome.

lambert - many thanks again for this :salute:

Regards,


Greg
Last edited by gjs on 28 May 2013, 22:10, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #25 made 11 years ago
by Yeasty
Well done Bertie :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: I'm loving the training pot idea :thumbs:

Did you include the syphon ? I just noticed that you have what looks like 15mm tubing all the way to the cube. I use 5mm ID tubing, the flow is slower so I get less trub being "sucked" through. Although NC means it settles out and isn't a problem.
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