[beerlord]

I've been doing BIAB for 3 years, the last 2 outdoors, usually 6 gallons each time.  I use a nice, strong mesh strainer and remove about half of the grain into another bag in a 5 gallon bucket.  It takes maybe 10 minutes max to remove half or more of the grain and then, with my nifty and beautiful orange heat gloves I can work with the original mash bag as well as the 'strained' bag removing the liquid from each.
I routinely get 78-80% efficiency and love the ease of BIAB.
But there are times like tomorrow when I am doing 11 gallons and 26 lbs of grain that it may take me 20-25 minutes to remove the grain and it may not be the best method for extra large amounts of grain.

[S. cerevisiae]

No cult. No compound.

But a bumper crop of salmon this year!  Well, that's at least what was reported on National Public Radio the other day.  I was surprised that they mentioned Klickitat because I never heard of the place before joining this forum.

[S. cerevisiae]

If I were assisting somebody make the jump from extract to all-grain, I would first ask how much they want to make. Less than 3 gallons, I would show brew in a bag, ~5 gallons + I 'd show them Denny's batch sparge techniques. I like BIAB for small stove top batches, and it is a razor thin margin.

I would do the same thing except that I would recommend continuous sparging instead of batch sparging for larger batches. Becoming a proficient continuous sparger ensures that a brewer will most likely never have to learn a new sparging technique if he/she decides to become a professional brewer.

With that said, what we are doing when we promote our favorite technique is acting as evangelists.   There will come a time when someone in the U.S. steps up to the plate and evangelizes BIAB like Denny did with batch sparging.  It is just a matter of time.  I do not want swell Denny's head, but without his evangelism, batch sparging would be just another way to sparge.  I remember when batch sparging was not part of the home brewing lexicon.

There are product manufacturers who are already jumping on the BIAB bandwagon by making products that are designed to brew larger batches using the technique.  UTAH Biodiesel is offering large stainless steel mesh baskets for BIAB brewers.

http://utahbiodieselsupply.com/brewingfilters.php#biab


With that said, I see a day when five gallons will no longer be the standard batch size.   The batch size was chosen mainly due to the availability of 5-gallon fermentation vessels.  What we will see is a migration to larger and sub-5 gallon batches.  The ratio of 10+ gallon brewers to five gallon brewers is much higher today than it was when I started brewing.  I remember when Jim Busch (BURP and Victory Brewing) was the talk of the town because he had a one barrel brewery. Today, a barrel-size system is nothing special.

The thing that has taken me completely by surprise is the rise of the 1-gallon all-grain brewer.   On the other hand, it is amazing that it took this long for the concept of brewing 1-gallon of all-grain beer at time to take hold.   It seems so logical considering that it can be accomplished with normal kitchenware.

[klickitat jim]

No cult. No compound.

But a bumper crop of salmon this year!  Well, that's at least what was reported on National Public Radio the other day.  I was surprised that they mentioned Klickitat because I never heard of the place before joining this forum.

Thats what I hear. I didn't fish this year. Record run but not biting.

[klickitat jim]

No cult. No compound. And only one person in my brewing club. So, I'll admit that my pool of data is somewhat limited. But its what I've been observing

Just being silly anyway, Jim.  Long week !

I'm kidding too. Of course I live in a compound. It is EASTERN Washington after all.

[jimmykx250]

Im still realitivley new to the brewing thing with 6 months under my belt but i have been doing 5 gal batchs via BIAB. I understand the weight of the bag consideration but with that said you are still doing all your brewing in one vessel vs 3 so for clean up that has to count for something right?

[reverseapachemaster]

The thing that has taken me completely by surprise is the rise of the 1-gallon all-grain brewer.   On the other hand, it is amazing that it took this long for the concept of brewing 1-gallon of all-grain beer at time to take hold.   It seems so logical considering that it can be accomplished with normal kitchenware.

It shouldn't be too surprising that it took so long for the smaller batch to become popular. Prior to maybe three or four years ago all you heard was about how you would start at five gallons and always go bigger. There was quite a bit of resistance to the idea of going the other direction. Think about how long it took for aluminum pots to become widely accepted.

[pete b]

Im still alliterativey new to the brewing thing with 6 months under my belt but i have been doing 5 gal batchs via BIAB. I understand the weight of the bag consideration but with that said you are still doing all your brewing in one vessel vs 3 so for clean up that has to count for something right?

"alliterativey" new? Beginning brewers bring boku brains and bluster to brewing in a bag but benefit from batch sparge bliss.

[hopfenundmalz]

I am waiting for someone like John Blichmann to come out with a home brew mash press. That way we can all argue over the 100+ efficiency, amount of work involved, and quality of the beer. It will be good training for working at the few breweries with mash presses (Alaskan and Griffin Claw to name a couple).

[pete b]

I am waiting for someone like John Blichmann to come out with a home brew mash press. That way we can all argue over the 100+ efficiency, amount of work involved, and quality of the beer. It will be good training for working at the few breweries with mash presses (Alaskan and Griffin Claw to name a couple).

I have a small cider press I might try out with my bag of grain at the end of mashing just to see how much efficiency improvement and any effect on taste. I don't want to add something to clean, that would be against the point of biab for my purposes anyway, so any improvement would have to be big to make me use one.

[denny]

One cannot achieve better efficiency with batch sparging than can be achieved with continuous sparging when using a properly designed lauter tun and good technique.  If that were true, every major brewer in the world would switch to batch sparging.  The times savings alone would pay for the equipment.

See, there's part of your problem right there.  There is no reason to assume that what commercial brewers do has any bearing on what homebrewers do.  Commercial breweries have an incentive to design a perfect lautering system.  In the homebrew world, such systems are few and far between.

[HoosierBrew]

One cannot achieve better efficiency with batch sparging than can be achieved with continuous sparging when using a properly designed lauter tun and good technique.  If that were true, every major brewer in the world would switch to batch sparging.  The times savings alone would pay for the equipment.

See, there's part of your problem right there.  There is no reason to assume that what commercial brewers do has any bearing on what homebrewers do.  Commercial breweries have an incentive to design a perfect lautering system.  In the homebrew world, such systems are few and far between.

I am waiting for someone like John Blichmann to come out with a home brew mash press. That way we can all argue over the 100+ efficiency, amount of work involved, and quality of the beer.

 Yeah, it would get some good debates going !  All the same, I think I'll spend 2 or 3 bucks more on malt and live with 80%.

[pete b]

One cannot achieve better efficiency with batch sparging than can be achieved with continuous sparging when using a properly designed lauter tun and good technique.  If that were true, every major brewer in the world would switch to batch sparging.  The times savings alone would pay for the equipment.

See, there's part of your problem right there.  There is no reason to assume that what commercial brewers do has any bearing on what homebrewers do.  Commercial breweries have an incentive to design a perfect lautering system.  In the homebrew world, such systems are few and far between.

I agree with this. I don't mind adding $2.00 worth of grain to make up for less than optimal efficiency.

[hopfenundmalz]

I am waiting for someone like John Blichmann to come out with a home brew mash press. That way we can all argue over the 100+ efficiency, amount of work involved, and quality of the beer. It will be good training for working at the few breweries with mash presses (Alaskan and Griffin Claw to name a couple).

I have a small cider press I might try out with my bag of grain at the end of mashing just to see how much efficiency improvement and any effect on taste. I don't want to add something to clean, that would be against the point of biab for my purposes anyway, so any improvement would have to be big to make me use one.

At Griffin Claw the grain get hammer milled, the husks are removed, and the fine flour goes into the mash press. That is how they don't get astringency. Homebrew hammer mill needed too.

[pete b]

I am waiting for someone like John Blichmann to come out with a home brew mash press. That way we can all argue over the 100+ efficiency, amount of work involved, and quality of the beer. It will be good training for working at the few breweries with mash presses (Alaskan and Griffin Claw to name a couple).

I have a small cider press I might try out with my bag of grain at the end of mashing just to see how much efficiency improvement and any effect on taste. I don't want to add something to clean, that would be against the point of biab for my purposes anyway, so any improvement would have to be big to make me use one.

At Griffin Claw the grain get hammer milled, the husks are removed, and the fine flour goes into the mash press. That is how they don't get astringency. Homebrew hammer mill needed too.

Good to know, that's a game changer. Although if you didn't press too much I wonder if astringency would be an issue.