Welcome, moorejl57m, HAP-BR3W and Naivar. You have the far reaches of the globe covered!
BIAB brewing is easier and enjoyable and simple. I get lots of advertisements for shiny equipment and I shake my head as I ask, "Why would I want that?"

Ravian - If you bottle instead of kegging, a NEIPA presents a challenge. I make one that tasted good enough, but one minute after pouring from the bottle it always turned a sad gray color. I don't mean to say that you shouldn't try, but let me know it your bottles escape from this problem.

HAP-BR3W - plan out all the steps before you jump into your brew day and it will go smoothly. Keep the kids away from the grains - they will eat enough to throw your weights off.

Ask questions if you have them - before and after, as well. Somebody will get back to you with an answer. Maybe not during your brew day, but soon. Try the BIABacus, it works. (see Scott's post on this page)

Greetings, David (EQArtimus) and Tom (LilPuddin914).
Simplicity reigns - you can mash in the kettle, pull the bag and drain it to the same kettle, then boil away. After that, one (or two) fermenting vessels and packaging are all you need for containers.

David, you can also use Section W of the BIABacus (use the search icon in the upper right for 1869) for bigger beers and do a sparge (~2L) if you wish. It works for me up to 1.070 OG wort. You do not have to use a finer crush.

Tom - I know where the 914 in your name comes from as I used to live in Putnam County, and worked in Westchester, NY. You know what they say, "If you want something done, give it to a busy person." I don't know how you can fit brewing into your day, but the rewards are great. Go for it.

EQArtimus wrote: ↑

3 years ago

"high gravity beers without extra grain to compensate for no sparge. Other than that, I think this BIAB thing is pretty nice..."

Hey David,

I have a couple ideas that I want to toss out, in addition to ShorePoints' thoughts.

We should confirm what you are using to track your brew day, and that you are using our free BIABacus file. Certainly you do not have to, but it works great and most of us use it religiously every time we brew. ShorePoints had some advice for you, but his advice makes the assumption you are using our BIABacus file... I do not see that you confirmed that you use BIABacus or something else...

Second thought, most of us here would consider BIAB to be a "continuous sparge", rather than "no sparge"... It is all about Grain contact time with heated water. Conventional 3V brewing uses a mash with less water and then a sparge with added water to rinse grain. Traditional BIAB has full contact time with all of the grain and all of the water, not adding sparge water later to rinse the grain, as it is not needed when you have continuous contact with all the water & grain simultaneously. It should be more efficient to use BIAB if running a 90-minute mash (mash and continuous sparge), than batch sparging in particular.

When I brew, using propane and a brew kettle outside, after turning off heat and adding grains, I mix the grains thoroughly using a potato masher and sometimes spoon, put lid on and cover with blankets and sleeping bag. Hold heat for 45 minutes the pull insulation off, check heat - normally have dropped a couple degrees so slightly pull bag, heat for a couple or three minutes - turn off heat, stir again, check temperature, cover again and let sit for another 45 minute time.

There are people that speed their brew day up and cut the mash time back hugely, and it certainly produces beer, probably good beer, but they will pay the price in lost efficiency (and have to add more grain, etc.) because of less grain contact time with heated water. I am more of a traditionalist...

Let us know how it goes... And good luck!

Hello @gsoroos , and welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you have some questions... The ball valve is most certainly not a requirement for making good beer. I have one with my setup and it simplifies some aspects of my BIAB operation, but is one more thing that I have to ensure is super well cleaned.

The BIABacus file is super helpful, along with the terminology page (CBT - Clear Brewing Terminology).

Let us know what all questions you have and we will help.

Welsome, Nick / Lampros. Yes, you can do this. The whole effort of gathering equipment, raw materials and time for brewing results in good beer that you can share with others. What more can one ask? The learnings along the way are also rewarding.

Hello, MrYBear. While recent activity levels here have been slow, the information and advice on this site still provides for BIAB success. Good thing you can scale from 10 to 20 L mash volume batches with All Grain BIAB. The BIABacus can help you scale to whatever size you wish. viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1869
and Clear Brewing Terminology can help, too. CBT - Clear Brewing Technology page: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2685
Your 23 L fermenters do not need to be filled to capacity right away. Keep reading and ask questions when you have them.

Greetings to Caticehurst. Gedney Drove End to Boston in the UK is about the same as Quincy (Massachusetts) to Boston in the US.
BIAB is simple but you can accumulate lots of shiny things in your kit to make beer. RO water is devoid of some things that prove to be necessary, so do some reading and spike it with some minerals as needed. Ask questions when you have them.

Hi @DocAnna ,

Welcome to the forum! Thanks for posting enough info that we can see where you are coming from. It’s always interesting... Not just beer, but wine too. That’s cool!

So you are brewing with a Robobrew/Brewzilla. Just pulled it up to remember. It’s one of those automated electrical systems. You’ll have to let us know how you like it. I’ve always used propane outside but can see the day in the future where I change to electrical and “reduce my circles” of space needed to travel when making a beer.

Wassail is a Northwest USA Winter Ale from Full Sail Brewing in Hood River, Oregon (a 2.5 hour drive away from me). It is a good one, as is Deschutes’ Jubel Ale. Magical time of the year when these come out.

Give the BIABacus a go. You will want to review the Clear Brewing Terminology post as well. (It will make more sense once you do). If you have questions after inputting everything feel free to make a new post and ask questions. Please attach copy of the BIABacus so we can see where you are at.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Welcome Cybeer
Sounds like you are on the right path. Take a look around and read over some of the introductory topics. Ask whatever you need and we'll be happy to help.

Hello @chayes (Chris),

Welcome to the forum. Glad to hear you are back brewing again!

I had done something similar when I brewed some from 1990 to probably late 1996, then stopped brewing until 2012 or so... Then after getting kegging equipment, and proving that I could consistently make solid extract brew made the leap to “whole grain” at the end of 2014 - going BIAB and began to be active on this forum. And here I am now, approximately 75 BIAB batches later! The last half of them being larger batches, like 8-9 gallons (Volume Into Packaging).

Again, welcome to the forum, be sure to post how it goes, and let us know how we can help!