Hello,

I live in a rural area about 40 miles outside of St. Louis, Missouri home of Budweiser beer.While I still drink the occasional AB product my tastes have changed to ales, specifically Pale and IPA from various craft breweries. I tried extract/steeping grain brewing 15 years ago and made 3-4 5 gallon batches but the results were less than stellar and I hated all the bottle washing and carrying that 5 gallon glass carboy up and down the stairs from the kitchen to the basement.
I've been wanting to start brewing again and have been reading a number of online forums and believe that BIAB is the direction I want to take. More specifically looking at 2.5 gallon finished size batches that I can brew in my 5 gallon kettle on our built-in induction stove. I still have the turkey fryer propane burner if the induction stove doesn't work out. Thinking of buying a 3 gallon Brew demon "conical fermenter that I can put in a spare refrigerator controlled by an Inkbird controller for a fermentation chamber. Also looking to get 2.5 gallon torpedo kegs to avoid the bottling and force carbonating. I found this forum from a post on another forum as I sought more detail on the BIAB method.

My hope is that I'll find others who brew at this scale who can offer help with converting recipes to this size, offer suggestions on equipment and technique. First attempt will be a Bass Ale clone, my wife's favorite beer. Success with that would go a long way towards getting her buy-in for this hobby. (An important goal that i've learned in 35 years of marriage)

Looking forward to reading and learning from this site.

ShorePoints wrote: ↑

7 years ago

Greetings, timi.
You are coming to BIAB from the large side of the spectrum with a 130 L (34.3 gallons) kettle! Most of the time someone (Scott) will recommend a larger kettle - not in this case, I bet.
Make sure to get the proper bag with regard to thread count and handles for lifting. There is a Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olq9mlVaeQ8 that shows a BIAB bag holding about 54 kg of sand, so your 19 kg plus water in the wet grain should be OK. You might need an overhead pulley or other means to help lift it.
Read lots on this forum, especially about 90 minute mash, mashout and 90 minute boil times. Get the BIABacus http://biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1869 and post your file if you would like feedback before starting.

I don't use bag at all, that's why I told it is no-sparge technique. I have false bottom in my MLT.

of course, and thank you guys for that!

that is the main reason why I actually joined! :D :D :D

Hi All,

I am to be part of a panel at HomebrewCon17 in Minneapolis in June. And I have been given a list of questions about home brewing in Australia. One of which was titled Regional Innovation.

So being a member of AHB I thought well BIAB and No-chill would be prime candidates for Aussie innovation. So I have spent the last few hours reading the threads on AHB about BIAB which has lead me here.

Now for some more enlightenment.

Cheers
Peter

Hi All,

New member from Los Angeles. Moving to all-grain. Current gear 10-gal BK (w/valve, thermometer, recirculating wand), chugger pump, plate chiller, temp controlled fermentation chamber (modified freezer). Was going to invest in 2 more vessels to go with a RIMS mash tun setup, but Bobbie @ brewhardware suggested I look into BIAB. Looking forward to trying it out!

Hello,
I am located in Central Florida having moved here from New England to retire. I have been primarily and extract/partial mash brewer using a
32 qt turkey fryer. Once I moved to Florida I no longer had access to cool basement where I could ferment my beer. Luckily my wife didn't like
the side by side refrigerator/freezer in the new house so I converted it to kegerator / fermenter. I belong to a local brew club and a fellow
member suggested that I try the BIAB method as an introduction to all grain brewing. I am eager to get started and compare the differences
between extract and all grain beers.

Hello everyone!

I'm a newbie brewer hailing from Vancouver BC. A friend and I brewed our first homebrew a few weeks ago and we're bottling tomorrow! It's a malty pale ale from a recipe recommended to us by the owner of the local homebrew shop using a DME and a set of steeped grains. As beginners, we've got a very basic stove-top set up going without much room for growth in terms of an electric or propane burner for producing larger batches. But, since we don't want to be stuck depending on extracts forever and also don't want to invest in a multiple vessel setup, a progression to BIAB seemed like the logical conclusion. We're planning to brew a nice and fruity IPA next and I'm sure this forum will be a great (the best) BIAB resource we'll find. (Any recommendations on a recipe are also welcome!)

Hi

Darryl from Melbourne here. Some years ago I was brewing from kits and extracts. Due to general family business I packed it all away. Recently starting thinking about getting back into brewing but want to take the quality to another level so been checking out all grain brewing. Then found this site. Have started getting my gear together and excited about the future!

1st post...

I've been brewing just over a year, starting with kits, moved onto extract and just started BIAB.

From the main post:
1. Where are you from? Essex, England
2. How did you stumble across the site? searching for info regarding BIAB brewing
3. What you think of it so far? - brewing? love it. Drinking? doesn't need answering... BIABBrewer.info? Full of useful info.
4. Have you brewed at all before. If so, for how long and what method are you currently using? brewing just over a year, recently started doing small batch (10L) BIAB. I still do kits for the full 5 gallon and ease of producing a good beer with minimal work. I do a fair amount of small batch extract brewing.
5. Do you work? Are you retired or maybe you run a household? I work full time, shifts. No children (thankfully), gives me time to enjoy a decent pint.

Hi,

I'm from Brisbane, Australia and have been using a biab type method for several years. I love its simplicity and have had great results.

My vessel is only 21L and I'm looking to buy a larger pot in the coming months. I predominantly do concentrated boils and use a small amount of extract as well.

My mash is generally done at a rate of 2.8L/kg of grain and I leave the grain bag in a large colander as wort heats up. Then I top up volume with boiling water. I don't sparge or squeeze the bag.

Looking forward to making full volume worts with no extract in the future. That said I have enjoyed making good beers with such basic equipment.

Cheers
Dave

Scott wrote: ↑

7 years ago

"Welcome to the Club", Dave...

Your pot size would be very limiting if you drink as much beer as I do. Being constrained to smaller batch sizes... Sounds like you have some work-arounds figured out... Hope you hang out here enough to help folks in that similar (to you) situation.

Anyhow, glad to have you! Let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks Scott.

I still manage to do full size (23L) batches. I just simply swap a percentage of the base malt for extract to keep my grain bill below 4.5kg. Usually only need to add a kilo or two of extract to get the gravity I'm chasing. I might add the extract at the beginning or end of boil depending on my concerns at the time (relating to wort darkening and hop utilisation).

What is a the recommended vessel size for full volume biab with batch sizes of 23-25L into the fermenter?

Cheers
Dave

Hi All,

Greetings from the far north. I live in Reykjavik, Iceland - originally from England, so I have a constant yearning for warm, flat ale...

I am extremely pleased to have found this site and look very much forward to using the extensive information and advice from many people in my first attempts at brewing. I recently picked up some basic equipment and wish to keep things simple.
Stove-top Biab seems the way to go due to limited space and funds.

And the ridiculous price of alcohol is a main driver for me. Although the range of beer available has increased a lot recently and there are now some very fine local brews.

I work as a tour guide and if anyone wants advice about visiting this crazy land, then feel free to contact me.

All the best, Kelso

Hello all,

I am new to brewing. I have "helped" (used loosely) a buddy do a couple multi-vessel brews, and I have one solo BIAB brew under my belt. I currently have an eBIAB setup.

I came to this site after listening to the BIAB legacy podcast. I have found that podcast and this site to be very informative. I am grateful to all those who so willingly share their knowledge and experience... saves us newbies a lot of frustration. Hopefully with time I'll actually know a thing or two so I can contribute.

Cheers!

I ended up buying a Brew-Boss controller and 15 gallon kettle. I am currently using a bag instead of their system.

I was originally planning on building my own controller since I'm always looking for arduino type projects. Ultimately due to time constraints and my past history of projects I take on taking longer than expected , I decided to splurge. Basically I wanted to be drinking homebrews this summer, not next summer