BIAB Pot Size

[Rusty Chch]

Hey,

Are there any BIABers on Realbeer? I've got a 40l pot and I'm planning on trying a BOAB AG. I'd like to try and figure out what kinds of beers I'll manage comfortably.

Will I be able to get a 23l batch of 1060ish for example?

[Daron]

I got the same stuff from Spotlight in Panmure. Had a seamstress in Ellerslie sew it up and told her the seam needed to be super strong as I didn't want it to burst with the weight of the wet grain and splash 65deg water all over me ! She sewed some fancy French stitch and said it would hold an elephant.

Make sure you use nylon thread ! Cotton thread holds bugs and will deteriorate (thx Garrick for the tip)

[Reviled]

Man, where are all the AKL Biab'ers :-/

We need to organise an interisland case swap me thinks...

[Stu H]

Heh, a little late on this thread... But yeah, I'm an AK BIAB'er!!

A wee question... I've been getting pretty awesome efficiency ever since I started, but I do wait for the bag to drain out for ages (it takes ages, and is really freakin' heavy), and I squeeze the bag. Is squeezing practically every last drop out of the bag a big deal? Should I just let it drain naturally and not squeeze it?

[Reviled]

Main thing you need to take into account is grain absorbtion, about maybe .75litres per kilo of grain, so in your case only about 1.5 litres give or take... because youre only doing a partial all rules go out the window really because youre not mashing the full volume, you wont need the full volume... Dont worry about topping up a couple of litres in the fermenter, I do this too :o)

Ive actually found doing full AG batches, my figures are roughly about 25-27 litres of water brought to mash temp, with about 4-5kg of grain added in a 30 litre pot, then when I mash out, I half lift the bag out of the pot, and then sparge it with some near boiling water out of the jug, then when I put the grain and bag into a bucket, I sparge it again with more water... Ive found by adding a sparge step, and having less water in the initial mash has actually led to a higher efficiency of about 75-85% (all depending of course)

Can I ask why youve decided to do a partial? Its probably going to be just as complicated..

If you still want to do it as a partial, id probably mash the 2 kg's with about 12-15 litres of water, you wont need any more, then when you pull the bag out, have a few litres of near boiling water handy in a jug and add the sparge if you want as to not waste any precious sugars :o) lol

Sorry that turned into a rant pretty quickly, hope some of it is usefull...

[Reviled]

Yum, I took a keg of Okkie away camping and it was a fave with my mates, I love a good okkie :o)

Dont worry too much about things going bung, itll be a thing of beauty, just wait till you smell the mash :o) mmmm Best of luck with everything bud, hope it all goes mint!

[Pilgrim]

I use the dunk method of sparging Rev. I have a pulley system rigged up over the pot and lift the bag out, let it drain and then dunk it back in and jiggle it up and down like a tea bag. I do this three times, then let it drain until there is no longer a constant stream of wort running off. I then dump it in a large 20l plastic bucket for a while and then pour the last wort drained into the bucket back into the boiler.
I give the grain to a mate who runs a couple of pigs on his place. They love it, especially if he lets it ferment for a few days. Hic.

[Daron]

Totally agree with Reviled. If you using only a couple of KG of grain and a couple of KG's of LME the extract can be added in after the grain comes out.