[Philbrew]

Yea, I imagine that would work well. If the bag was suspended it would just drip into the kettle.

The dunk sparge thing is nice when brewing higher abv beers or pushing volume. I'm actually brewing 6 gallons today for a 3gallon/3gallon split batch so I'm going to break out the cooler (not sure if my grain and water will fit in the 10 gallon pot for a 6 gallon batch). But anytime I'm doing my normal batch of just under 5 gallons of ~5% beer I just use the kettle.

I'd be interested in what you think after your brew day today.  Could you have done the 6 gallon batch BIAB in the 10 gallon pot?

I'm not sure to be honest - I have 8.5gallons of strike water so I fear adding 10lbs of grain would overflow. If I didn't have the cooler I would have reserved a gallon or two and added it after the mash. 5 gallons normal to low gravity has been no problem but I didn't want to push it.

I may have already mentioned but usually I do 4.5-4.75gallon batches since I ferment in 5 gallon corny kegs. Today's unusual since I'm trying to get a bit more for a wort split (pils/saaz). Gonna pitch abbey yeast and czech lager yeast in different carboys. Sort of like a trappist single and czech pils.

Reserving a gallon or two to add after the mash sounds like a plan for me.  You are comfortable with boiling 8+ gallons in a 10 gallon pot, yes?

That sounds like a really interesting/yummy brew experiment.  I would really like to hear your results when the beers are ready to drink.  Also your recipe.

[BrodyR]

Yea, I imagine that would work well. If the bag was suspended it would just drip into the kettle.

The dunk sparge thing is nice when brewing higher abv beers or pushing volume. I'm actually brewing 6 gallons today for a 3gallon/3gallon split batch so I'm going to break out the cooler (not sure if my grain and water will fit in the 10 gallon pot for a 6 gallon batch). But anytime I'm doing my normal batch of just under 5 gallons of ~5% beer I just use the kettle.

I'd be interested in what you think after your brew day today.  Could you have done the 6 gallon batch BIAB in the 10 gallon pot?

I'm not sure to be honest - I have 8.5gallons of strike water so I fear adding 10lbs of grain would overflow. If I didn't have the cooler I would have reserved a gallon or two and added it after the mash. 5 gallons normal to low gravity has been no problem but I didn't want to push it.

I may have already mentioned but usually I do 4.5-4.75gallon batches since I ferment in 5 gallon corny kegs. Today's unusual since I'm trying to get a bit more for a wort split (pils/saaz). Gonna pitch abbey yeast and czech lager yeast in different carboys. Sort of like a trappist single and czech pils.

Reserving a gallon or two to add after the mash sounds like a plan for me.  You are comfortable with boiling 8+ gallons in a 10 gallon pot, yes?

That sounds like a really interesting/yummy brew experiment.  I would really like to hear your results when the beers are ready to drink.  Also your recipe.

Thanks, 8.5gallons was the total water (not boil volume), I'll loose some from grain absorption so boil volume will be in the 7's and definitely doable.

My recipe's pretty simple:
90% Weyerman Pilsner
5% Weyerman Carahell
5% Weyerman Light Munich

25ibu's from Magnum at the beginning of boil
1/2 oz Saaz at 30m
1/2 oz Saaz at 10m

Hit mash pH of 5.4 using a tap water diluted with Reverse Osmosis. Pitching Safbrew Abbaye in one and Czech lager yeast from a local brewpub in another. The only complexity is water - czech lagers tend to use really soft water while ale yeast likes more calcium. So I'm going to add a bit of gypsum to the Abbaye fermenter to bring up the Calcium and Sulfate. I'm 30m into the mash as we speak - keep you posted.

[stevecrawshaw]

I have just started BIAB (three batches), broadly in line with BrodyR's approach, but I have a slight variation - one pot BIAB. That is: mash, boil and ferment in one pot - a stainless steel 33L stock pot with no tap. I was inspired by Matt Smith's blog. You can see the elements of my process here.

I tend to do 16 litres in this pot, which is mainly because I brew a lot and can't get through my beer if I brew 20L batches. I use a no - sparge process, and no chill, so it's really simple and needs no equipment other than the pot, the bag, a racking cane and silicone tube. I do use a temp controlled HLT as I have one set up, but you could do without it by heating the strike water in the pot. It's convenient for me to use the HLT as this is where i pipe my RO water.

I seal the pot for fermentation with weights on the lid. Its not hermetically sealed but once fermenting the positive pressure prevents air ingress. My temperature control is simple again - a water bath and aquarium heater. I  fine with gelatin and keg but obviously you could bottle direct from the pot.

I have brewed a saison and an APA with this method. I have an APA fermenting now. The APA came out too bitter but that was due to my hopping schedule and trying to optimise the steep component of the bittering. I can't detect any other flaws like astringency, DMS etc that might arise from the BIAB, no - chill or one - pot aspects of the process. There is a lot of trub, but racking off it is not a problem - I tilt the pot and rack from the high side.

What I like about this approach is its simplicity. Minimal cleaning on brewday and brewday can be done in 3 hours. Sanitation is less of a worry because you are fermenting in a pot that has been boiled for an hour.

It's my go - to approach now. I still have my 3V which could be used for barley wine \ RIS etc but I brew few of these styles.

cheers
steve

[pete b]

I have just started BIAB (three batches), broadly in line with BrodyR's approach, but I have a slight variation - one pot BIAB. That is: mash, boil and ferment in one pot - a stainless steel 33L stock pot with no tap. I was inspired by Matt Smith's blog. You can see the elements of my process here.

I tend to do 16 litres in this pot, which is mainly because I brew a lot and can't get through my beer if I brew 20L batches. I use a no - sparge process, and no chill, so it's really simple and needs no equipment other than the pot, the bag, a racking cane and silicone tube. I do use a temp controlled HLT as I have one set up, but you could do without it by heating the strike water in the pot. It's convenient for me to use the HLT as this is where i pipe my RO water.

I seal the pot for fermentation with weights on the lid. Its not hermetically sealed but once fermenting the positive pressure prevents air ingress. My temperature control is simple again - a water bath and aquarium heater. I  fine with gelatin and keg but obviously you could bottle direct from the pot.

I have brewed a saison and an APA with this method. I have an APA fermenting now. The APA came out too bitter but that was due to my hopping schedule and trying to optimise the steep component of the bittering. I can't detect any other flaws like astringency, DMS etc that might arise from the BIAB, no - chill or one - pot aspects of the process. There is a lot of trub, but racking off it is not a problem - I tilt the pot and rack from the high side.

What I like about this approach is its simplicity. Minimal cleaning on brewday and brewday can be done in 3 hours. Sanitation is less of a worry because you are fermenting in a pot that has been boiled for an hour.

It's my go - to approach now. I still have my 3V which could be used for barley wine \ RIS etc but I brew few of these styles.

cheers
steve

I guess the problem I would have with that method is that the brew kettle is then tied up until packaging day.

[BrodyR]

Interesting approach Steve. I guess you pitch the yeast the next day?

[stevecrawshaw]

@pete - yep, that's true. I guess if you are wanting to brew every week and all you've got is a one - pot BIAB, that's a problem. 

There are times when I want to brew once a week. Still got 3V for that, but as I say, I struggle to get through my batches (but I keep trying!)

@Brody - yes pitch next day. For a sealed "no chill" i.e. in a plastic jerrycan you can leave for days and weeks but one pot BIAB isn't truly sealed so optimal pitching time is as soon as it's cool enough. Nothing to stop you using an IC with this approach but I like to keep it simple and save water.

cheers
steve

[Pricelessbrewing]

Hey guys, new to the AHA forum but I'm pretty active on the BIAB section of HBT as well as r/homebrewing (u/pricelessbrew)

Anyways, there's no reason you can't batch sparge with BIAB as well. I often do something I call 'equal runnings biab', where the volume after removing the bag is equal to the sparged volume, and you can find a thread on homebrewtalk with that title as well where I show some of my findings using a batch sparge simulator modeled after Braukaisers batch sparge efficiency analysis.

I have a BIAB mash calculator that has a bunch of nice features on my blog over at Http://Pricelessbrewing.github.io/BiabCalc and a testing page at http://Pricelessbrewing.github.io/BiabCalc/TestingO if you'd like to look at the lauter efficiency model, I have an updated version that hasn't been published yet.

Can't get your links to work.

Thanks not sure what was going on there, the forum seems to have doubled up on the http:// part of the url, if you google priceless BIAB it'll come up otherwise, copy and paste that into your url. http://Pricelessbrewing.github.io/BiabCalc/TestingO


I've done no chill as well, and while it's sometimes convenient I'd rather take the 15 minutes or so to chill the wort, but I'm in the great lakes region so no lack of water around here.

There's no reason you can't use a BIAB bag in a cooler mash tun, it might have a slow drain though if you plan on draining it like a traditional mash tun with braid, but if you lift the grain bag it'll flow very quickly, then you can do your batch sparging as normal and lift again.

[Philbrew]

Thanks, 8.5gallons was the total water (not boil volume), I'll loose some from grain absorption so boil volume will be in the 7's and definitely doable.

My recipe's pretty simple:
90% Weyerman Pilsner
5% Weyerman Carahell
5% Weyerman Light Munich

25ibu's from Magnum at the beginning of boil
1/2 oz Saaz at 30m
1/2 oz Saaz at 10m

Hit mash pH of 5.4 using a tap water diluted with Reverse Osmosis. Pitching Safbrew Abbaye in one and Czech lager yeast from a local brewpub in another. The only complexity is water - czech lagers tend to use really soft water while ale yeast likes more calcium. So I'm going to add a bit of gypsum to the Abbaye fermenter to bring up the Calcium and Sulfate. I'm 30m into the mash as we speak - keep you posted.

What will be your ferment temp/schedule for the ale?