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Some pics of my rig

Post #1 made 15 years ago
by rocket58
Here a few pics of my system,The kettle is a converted keg with a tap inserted into the bulkhead.
The bag was made by good old mum from Swiss voile,brought from our Spotlight stores and lines the entire inside,and have a wire cakestand in the bottom to prevent the bag from burning
The bag is being lifted by a couple of Awning pulleys with awning rope all connected to my beam on my garage door
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Post #3 made 15 years ago
by BobBrews
Here is my rig with me yesterday May 1st 2010.
It was National Home Brew Day. I forgot all about it? So in the last minute I ended up doing two batches! A “Cream ale” and a Chinook IPA.

http://www.stempski.com/biab.php

NEW, I added a few extra pictures!
Last edited by BobBrews on 02 May 2010, 21:36, edited 11 times in total.
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
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Post #4 made 15 years ago
by hashie
I like the sign on the fridge Bob "free beer today" :)

Also, what sort of burner do you have under your keggle? Did you make the stand yourself? Looks like it is from an old chair.

Personally I can't be arse'd putting a tap on my keggle, I just use a stainless racking cane and siphon the wort out
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #5 made 15 years ago
by jimmysuperlative
BobBrews wrote:Here is my rig with me yesterday May 1st 2010.
It was National Home Brew Day. I forgot all about it? So in the last minute I ended up doing two batches! A “Cream ale” and a Chinook IPA.

http://www.stempski.com/biab.php

I see you mill the grain straight into your bag ...I've never thought to do this? Your method would be similar to underletting in a more traditional set-up.

Have you had any issue with dough-balls?
Last edited by jimmysuperlative on 03 May 2010, 13:37, edited 10 times in total.
Everybody's waitin' for the man with the bag ... K Starr (1950)

Post #6 made 15 years ago
by BobBrews
To... Hashie jimmysuperlative and all
Everyone says that the sign should say "Free Beer Tomorrow"! But I tried that and even I came back four days in a row before I figured it was a joke! The burner is a Camp Chef model SH140L here is a link to the company http://www.campchef.com/store/item/132/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... ooker.html

Here is where I bought it cheaper at the time.
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/HIGH_PRE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 182C87.cfm

The legs are removable and cost me extra I think? I got a little crazy and put a tap on the keggle also a thermometer. It is very close to perfect but the probe catches on the bag sometimes. If I knew that I was going to be a BIAB devotee than I would have skipped the dial!
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/BREWMOME" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 88C141.cfm

I have been grinding into my brew bag almost from the beginning. Some people said they had problems dumping the grain in the bag. I had the bag slip in as I was pouring when I first started. One day I just tried grinding into the bag and dropping the whole works into the pot. I never had a problem with dough balls. I also put a bungee cord around the bag to hold it at a good level. I don’t have anything on the bottom of the pot to keep the bag off the hot bottom. I just put the elastic cord around the bag-pot and pull down on the bag to adjust the height. It also can get the grain closer together to get a tighter bag so the enzymes are closer? Don’t know if it helps but why not?
I added a few Pictures to my home site here.
http://www.stempski.com/biab.php
Last edited by BobBrews on 04 May 2010, 00:14, edited 10 times in total.
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #7 made 15 years ago
by hashie
That's a great set of pics, with a good tutorial as you go.

I didn't notice the first time I looked, but you have a rocking chair in the shed with you. Is that for a quiet ale or 2 while you wait for the mash to do it's stuff or does the good wife sit out there with you?
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #8 made 15 years ago
by BobBrews
The rocking chair is for me! "She, who must be obeyed" can find her own chair! However most of the time I must admit, "First there gets the chair"! The rule "You cruise you lose" is in play also so I guess it's a draw. I do love to savor a brew while rocking in the chair. I figure that I am getting exercise with all that rocking so I can tap another! Cheers!
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #9 made 15 years ago
by hashie
Ha ha, top work Bob and the chair also provides a place to rest those "massive arms" after lifting the bag :)

I'd be happy to just have a stool when I brew, but I've been to slack to get one organised. If only I had room for a rocking chair, life would be sweet.
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #10 made 15 years ago
by BobBrews
While your waiting to get organized. Have a brew! "All good things come to he who waits"? with a beer!
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #11 made 15 years ago
by Beachbum
Great pics Bob
I'm interested in American Cream Ales, based just on hearsay because we can't get commercial examples here in Australia: I recently brewed an attempt and it's just gone into the keg, tastes really smooth and neither malt nor hops predominate, but a nice corny twang. What do you think of: (scuse the metric ;) )

23 litre batch

4 kg pale pilsener malt
1 kg dry weight maize (in the form of boiled polenta - flaked maize would be very similar)

mash 65 degrees 90 mins

20g Galena hops 90 mins

Wyeast liquid American Ale yeast 1056

Fermented 18 degrees then lagered for 10 days before kegging.

Cheers
Michael :P

Post #12 made 15 years ago
by rocket58
hashie wrote:Looks good Rocket.

How are your evaporation rates with that Keggle?
Hi hashie,I work on about 12%per/hour, would be lot less with a lid,however,I start with 37 litres,I lose about 17 litres all up and that includes water to grain,Trub and cooling losses to get 20-23 litres into the fermenter.It's all about working within your own system.I know pistolpatch has done a lot of work inserting info into excel workbook on the various different shapes of kettles..
Last edited by rocket58 on 06 May 2010, 12:34, edited 9 times in total.
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Post #13 made 15 years ago
by hashie
That's the same rate as I get with the same style keggle, only mine still has a 100mm lip all round. As opposed to yours where the entire lid is gone.

Interesting!
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #14 made 15 years ago
by rocket58
hashie wrote:That's the same rate as I get with the same style keggle, only mine still has a 100mm lip all round. As opposed to yours where the entire lid is gone.

Interesting!
I think the evaporation rate has to to do with the circumference of the the kettle not the height..If thats what u mean..a lip do u mean added height or a reduced circumference that was cut out?
Last edited by rocket58 on 06 May 2010, 19:41, edited 10 times in total.
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Post #15 made 15 years ago
by BobBrews
Beachbum,
Here is the receipt I brewed with an exception of the yeast. I used Wyeast #1272 American Ale II Yeast.
O.G: 1040 / Ready: 4 weeks

A light, clean fermenting ale modeled after the "cream lagers" of the northeast United States. Low in gravity, long on flavor, this beer is a pale thirst-quencher, great for brewing and enjoying in the summertime. Dingemans Biscuit Malt gives our Cream Ale a warm, toasty flavor that complements the light hopping.

Fermentables
7 lbs. Rahr 2-Row Pale
0.75 lbs. Gambrinus Honey Malt
0.25 lbs. Dingemans Biscuit

Boil Additions
1 oz. Cluster (60 min)

If you choose dry yeast
Safale US-05. Optimum temperature: 59-75° F.

If you choose liquid yeast
Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast. Optimum temperature: 60-72° F.

Mash Schedule
122° F for 20 minutes
153° F for 60 minutes
170° F for 10 minutes
---------------------------------------------------------
Your Receipt falls in line with what your looking for. Check out this link.
http://www.brew-dudes.com/cream-ale-recipe/79
Cheers
Last edited by BobBrews on 06 May 2010, 21:31, edited 10 times in total.
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #16 made 15 years ago
by hashie
rocket58 wrote:..a lip do u mean added height or a reduced circumference that was cut out?
Reduced circumference that was cut out (smaller opening in the top)

Pats calculator says it is on kettle circumference not opening circumference and your and my data back that up. Interesting to see it proved.

This would also suggest that a lid will not reduce boil off?!?
Last edited by hashie on 07 May 2010, 06:36, edited 9 times in total.
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #17 made 15 years ago
by Cameron
hashie wrote:That's the same rate as I get with the same style keggle, only mine still has a 100mm lip all round. As opposed to yours where the entire lid is gone.
Hashie, I have a 50L keggle which I have used for BIAB just once. I also have a lip around the top, roughly 10cm, which drove me crazy. It made the bag prone to slipping in as I stirred!
Last edited by Cameron on 19 Jun 2010, 15:51, edited 9 times in total.

Post #18 made 15 years ago
by hashie
Cameron wrote:
hashie wrote:That's the same rate as I get with the same style keggle, only mine still has a 100mm lip all round. As opposed to yours where the entire lid is gone.
Hashie, I have a 50L keggle which I have used for BIAB just once. I also have a lip around the top, roughly 10cm, which drove me crazy. It made the bag prone to slipping in as I stirred!
Hi Cameron, I prevent the bag from slipping in by tying a rope around the portion of the bag that overhangs the kettle. It doesn't need to be on super tight, infact, I find it fits fairly snugly in the groove near the top of the keggle.
Last edited by hashie on 20 Jun 2010, 08:09, edited 9 times in total.
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #19 made 15 years ago
by PistolPatch
Man, I am never going overseas again! Been back a month and am still finding information to consider here.

Just looked through your photos Bob. Great stuff! I reckon your pics could be used as a photo-tutorial of BIAB. Only one problem I can see - the brewer is a male in a singlet instead of a female ;).

Seriously, very good photos. The only thing I would "argue" against is pouring the grain into the bag first. I had never seen this before and I see that your only reason for doing so is that the bag slipped once using the normal method. It sounds as though you are not too attached to this new method though.

I might be wrong but I reckon maybe have a crack at the normal method. I imagine this would save a bit of hassle. This is only a small point but it is funny how we can change our methods because of a 1 in a million chance (which I think is what happened to you) and other brewers might follow our lead!

I started with a dodgy draw-string bag about five years ago sewn up by my 75 year old neighbour. Lloyd uses it now and it actually is the best stitching of any bag I have seen since. I used it for about 50 brews before giving it to Lloyd and it never slipped once. I now have an elasticised bag and it has never slipped.

Have faith brother and tell BIABrewer about your blog. It is tops! :)!
PP
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Post #20 made 15 years ago
by PistolPatch
hashie wrote:
rocket58 wrote:The Calculator says it is on kettle circumference not opening circumference and your and my data back that up. Interesting to see it proved.

This would also suggest that a lid will not reduce boil off?!?
Yep hashie, despite a lot of home brew folk-lore, putting a lid half-way or 3/4 way over your kettle is not going to make much difference. Doing this will only trap a tad of condensation that will drip back into your kettle. The majority, of course, takes the very easy (non-pressure) route out. Unless you cover your kettle fully (or 90-95% fully) you will see little difference in volumes after a boil.

You can easily test this with a saucepan on your stovetop.

There are many questions to be answered here though that haven't been. A few I have never heard a decent answer too are...

1. If one of the most important functions of a boil is to boil off "nasties" then how much do we need to boil off?
2. What is the best kettle shape for a home brewer to boil off nasties? What if they do too much or too little?
3. Why do commercial kettles have a funnel at the top? Is it soley so as to extract evaporation more easily (in other words a 300 mm chimney is a lot more sensible than a 5 m one) or does this create the perfect boil-off/nasty ratio?

Home-brewing software suggests an average of 15% evaporation rate based on initial volume but we all know that the evaporation rate stays the same regardless of volume.

I think that before we start worrying about trying to conform our evaporation rates to the fictitious 15% (which is way higher than commercial breweries) we really need to answer those 3 questions above.

The only software that suggests using kettle diameter (meaning the widest surface area of your wort in the kettle during the boil) as the most sensible formula to use to determine evaporation rate that I have seen has been The Calculator.

I'm actually a tad baffled where that 15% standard used in other software comes from.

:?
PP
Last edited by PistolPatch on 21 Jun 2010, 23:28, edited 9 times in total.
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Post #21 made 15 years ago
by BobBrews
PistolPatch wrote:
Seriously, very good photos. The only thing I would "argue" against is pouring the grain into the bag first. I had never seen this before and I see that your only reason for doing so is that the bag slipped once using the normal method. PP
PP I am confused? Grinding the grain into the bag works well. The weight of the grain sinks the bag and I never have had a dough ball yet. What is normal? I used to grind the grain into a bucket and then dump that into the bag that was in the water. I just thought I would skip a step?
Last edited by BobBrews on 22 Jun 2010, 04:16, edited 9 times in total.
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #22 made 15 years ago
by Ralph
PP, evaporation may be one thing but energy consumption is another! In one of my photos the lid is partially covering the kettle, not so much to reduce evaporation but to reduce energy consumption by reducing the rate with which heat is lost out the top. Certainly speeds up getting the boil underway but does not drip back into the kettle as it rests on the stove back panel which is slightly lower.
Why evaporation and energy wouldn't be closely linked, I am not sure, maybe I need to talk to a physicist!
BTW, yes, I am a tight arse, how did you guess?! :lol:

Dunno about your three questions though, sorry... :(

Also Bob, yes, I have been thinking of trying that, I find raining in grain a real PITA and grinding the grain straight into the bag does skip a step. I'll let you know how it goes! :P
Last edited by Ralph on 22 Jun 2010, 04:21, edited 9 times in total.
[center]Give me a beer and I will move the world. Archimedes[/center]

Post #23 made 15 years ago
by PistolPatch
Sorry Brad, I think we might have temporarily hijacked your thread. It's Ralph's fault - he's too tight to start another one :)

Howdy Bob,

I would have thought that the bag with grain would be difficult to get into the pot as in that it would be too wide if you get what I mean. I'll have to give it a try next time and see how it goes. I usually do double-batches though. Wonder if it works for that as well? Mind you, I never have a worry raining in the grain but I'll try anything once :)! Do you get flour falling through?

Cheers
PP

Ralph I did read some stuff about boiling on a physics site. I'll see if I can dig it up but it was ages ago so don't hold your breath :).
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Post #24 made 15 years ago
by Ralph
Ah, its just me being economical PP, these are tough times and you know how tight I am?! :roll:

I'll give this a whirl for my weekly TTL, sounds quite promising to be honest. Maybe our good Northern hemisphere friends are teaching us a thing or two after all, ain't that right Bob??!! :D
I reckon slipping the bag into a bucket beforehand should capture any flour losses, then just lift out of that and into the kettle/ mash tun? Any flour in the bucket can go in straight after anyway, or so I was thinking.
[center]Give me a beer and I will move the world. Archimedes[/center]

Post #25 made 15 years ago
by BobBrews
All,
Mind you, I never have a worry raining in the grain but I'll try anything once. Do you get flour falling through?
When I grind into the bag I find that most of the flour goes in with the grist. I small amount will stick to the underside of the mill (static electricity?). A few well placed wackes will dislodge it and add it to the bag (I used it all)! I mostly do 20 liter boils so my grain bag is not that full. 8 KG (17 lbs?) is as high as I have done. I do do double batches but I tire of a beer quickly and feel compelled to brew a new and more exciting beer. (I think I have a problem?) If I brew a BIG beer. I use the traditional (Old fashioned) method. Mash tun and all that bother. It is nice to do it sometimes so that I can remember why I switched over to BIAB. Brew on brothers!
Last edited by BobBrews on 23 Jun 2010, 22:41, edited 9 times in total.
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America
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