Another possible convert!

Well done Jim.

For the record, I still get funny looks when I tell non-brewers that I don't use cans of goop.

I reckon I know how THAT comparison shall go...

This guy across the street from me homebrews and does a kit + kilo of sugar for every batch. He gave me funny looks when I used kits with light malt and finishing hops. Now I have gone all grain, and spend around 5 hours mashing and boiling, he can't believe that someone would go to so much trouble when it's so easy just to use a can opener.

He also gets funny looks from me though. Like the time he told me he doesn't sanitise his fermentor, just gives it a rinse with hot water.

Needless to say, when I go to his place I take my own beer...

I was getting funny looks for a bit, but now have a group of converts who are loving all grain beer, regardless of the method used. When they ask me how hard it is to brew, I organise a brew session for them to watch, and they are amazed that it is so simple to do.

I however, need to see a traditional brew day to compare notes, as I have never been to one to see exactly what is involved, but I am sure my method is quicker!

Matt

dick wrote: Needless to say, when I go to his place I take my own beer...

Yep, no matter what, I always take a few of my own samples to stepson's- K&K @ mid-high- 20s, pretty disgusting stuff without fail. Strangely enough, never seem to get to trying his before we depart... oh well, one day!

Some brewers just want grain to brain as quickly and easily as possible (or goop to brain is more accurate). Local Kit n Kilo guy here loves my BIAB brews and bemoans the fact that he can't afford an electric urn etc etc. I was round his place a couple of weeks ago and he showed me his brand new gas BBQ - $1200 worth. During the drinking session he finally admitted that he's a lazy bastard and opening a can of concentrate suits him just fine.

I shouldn't be too judgemental, he's giving me his old BBQ that still works ok

Yep BB, perhaps he'll be bemoaning even more when you start knocking out stovetop/ stockpot BIAB batches on it! /duck!

Matt,
I am pretty sure that BIAB isn't all that faster than traditional All Grain brewing. It's just much easier and uses less gear.

I get pissed off when i have to convince my LHBS guy to mill my grain twice. I explain that i need a fine crush for a BIAB brew and he gives me this funny look. I've been getting excellent efficiency for some brews. I buy my grain from three different LHBS and I'm quite sure the crush isn't the same for all the grain i buy.
the next beer $$$ will be spent on a grain mill. I want more control over my crush.

BIAB for me is faster than traditional when you include the cleanup. I can have it all done and packed away in 4 hours, a mate doing traditional takes at least 6.

+1 on milling your own grain. It gives you much better control, so you can work out how much to mill to gain the best efficiency vs time to mill.

Matt

BIAB is faster for me. I spent 20 minuets “vorlaufing” trying to clear a wort. When I think of it now it would be full of trub and hops anyway later on? I also save cleaning my mash tun. I hauled it to the backyard to dump and clean. I would then scrub it to get the sugars out to keep from attracting ants. Now I just dump the bag contents into a bucket to feed the in-laws horses and rinse out the bag.

Someday I should do a comparison of my traditional method and my new BIAB style. I could time them and later on try a taste test? I guess I am too lazy to do that!

BobBrews, it is great to have someone on the forum who has gone from traditional brewing to BIAB. There are very few of us as very few people who start traditional brewing are willing to try a different routine/set-up. Those that have, like yourself, are extremely happy with the change. I too still have all the gear necesary to do a traditional batch-sparge but can't think of a single reason why I should ever batch-sparge again.

I did do some side by sides a few years back of BIAB versus batch-sparging and in one case, actually had about a dozen experienced brewers try and taste the difference in a triangular* tasting. Only one brewer got it right and he thought BIAB was, "less atringent but slightly thinner." (This should not be taken as gospel about BIAB versus batch-sparged beers as other brewers wrote similiar differences between the same beers!)

Time-wise, BIAB is definitely less hands on in prep, clean-up etc, etc, etc. It is also an easier method to use if you want to shorten a brew day. However, if you want to mash-out etc, the actual theoretical time will end up being close to a traditional brew. Practically, it often works out a lot quicker as there are less things that can go wrong and less things to monitor - things basically go more smoothly.

I think that anytime a BIABrewer has a chance to see a traditional brew day, they should go along and have a look and then let us know what they think. One of the biggest practical and unappreciated advantages of BIAB is that it is a single tier set-up!!! A single tier traditional brewery requires a pump. The alternative traditional brewery is three tier and still requires the lifting of the kettle to a height at which it can be drained into the fermenter. These are both hard work in cleaning/lifting.

Do you miss the cleaning and lifting BB?
PP

* Triangular testing is where three glasses of beer are offered to the taster. Two glasses have the same beer and the third glass has a different beer. The job of the taster is to taste which is the "odd" beer. If 12 brewers did a triangular tasting, three should get it right by guessing alone.

PistolPatch,

I don't miss cleaning or lifting the mashtun. I don't miss “vorlaufing” trying to clear a wort. I don't miss heating water separately to mash out. I am happy to have learned using the traditional method but BIAB is my way now.

Yup I've been to a few brew days now, and although I can see the advantages and fine control offered by a HERMs system you either have to be quite financially well off or an engineering geek to get a good HERMs system going. On the other hand the few brew days I have attended where they are using picnic coolers for the mash tun, a big pot on a Rambo Burner and a similar pot precariously balanced on a heap of milk crates as the HLT, the poor buggers have been busier than a one armed bricklayer in Baghdad. I really felt for them as they juggled the three vessels. My brew days usually consist of lots of sitting around drinking, with the occasional few minutes of mad activity like doughing in, bag hoisting etc.
Yesterday I walked round and had a couple of jugs with my brew mate round the corner - that was during the 90 min. mash - and watched a Blu-ray during the boil with an occasional duck out into the brewery for hop additions. The stuff virtually brews itself