[802Chris]

You enjoyed the "BIAB style"? Does that mean you used the malt pipe as designed or put a bag inside the malt pipe? Or even bypassed the malt pipe altogether? I got my M&B right before knee surgery so I haven't used it yet and these questions float around my head. 
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Using the malt pipe is still BIAB.
[/quote]

Yes and yes. I have used it with the (ill fitting) bag from my square cooler and I brewed a batch without the nag. The only difference I noticed was the bag was slightly easier to clean up, but that's because it was freezing out. In the summer I can hose down all my equipment outside so I wont be using the bag. The malt pipe works great on its own, even with my ridiculously crushed grain.

[jrector]

Yes and yes. I have used it with the (ill fitting) bag from my square cooler and I brewed a batch without the nag. The only difference I noticed was the bag was slightly easier to clean up, but that's because it was freezing out. In the summer I can hose down all my equipment outside so I wont be using the bag. The malt pipe works great on its own, even with my ridiculously crushed grain.

Cool! Thanks for the info. I'll probably try the malt pipe first time out. I'm in TX so being too cold shouldn't be an issue. Hoping to try it next weekend or the weekend after next depending on how this new titanium knee is doing. It will be my first all grain attempt!

[802Chris]

Yes and yes. I have used it with the (ill fitting) bag from my square cooler and I brewed a batch without the nag. The only difference I noticed was the bag was slightly easier to clean up, but that's because it was freezing out. In the summer I can hose down all my equipment outside so I wont be using the bag. The malt pipe works great on its own, even with my ridiculously crushed grain.

Cool! Thanks for the info. I'll probably try the malt pipe first time out. I'm in TX so being too cold shouldn't be an issue. Hoping to try it next weekend or the weekend after next depending on how this new titanium knee is doing. It will be my first all grain attempt!

Unless it's 20 degrees F, you should be good! Good luck, you should get great results, this is a very simple system and well made at that!

[802Chris]

Yes and yes. I have used it with the (ill fitting) bag from my square cooler and I brewed a batch without the nag. The only difference I noticed was the bag was slightly easier to clean up, but that's because it was freezing out. In the summer I can hose down all my equipment outside so I wont be using the bag. The malt pipe works great on its own, even with my ridiculously crushed grain.

Just a quick point of clarification and caveat for all who read this thread. I had a ridiculously stuck mash yesterday with a larger grain bill, crushed fine as usual. I ended up transferring the entire batch @ 200 degrees into my old kettle, running it through the brew bag on the way there, and pulled out about two cups worth of grain particulate. It was not pretty and added two hours to my brew day. I will be ordering a form fit brew bag today. All said though, I still recommend the M+B for someone who wants an affordable all in one electric brewery

[tommymorris]

Yes and yes. I have used it with the (ill fitting) bag from my square cooler and I brewed a batch without the nag. The only difference I noticed was the bag was slightly easier to clean up, but that's because it was freezing out. In the summer I can hose down all my equipment outside so I wont be using the bag. The malt pipe works great on its own, even with my ridiculously crushed grain.

Just a quick point of clarification and caveat for all who read this thread. I had a ridiculously stuck mash yesterday with a larger grain bill, crushed fine as usual. I ended up transferring the entire batch @ 200 degrees into my old kettle, running it through the brew bag on the way there, and pulled out about two cups worth of grain particulate. It was not pretty and added two hours to my brew day. I will be ordering a form fit brew bag today. All said though, I still recommend the M+B for someone who wants an affordable all in one electric brewery

I am curious about your stuck sparge. If you stirred the mash while sparging, would it have flowed? I have had to do this a few times when batch sparging. Stirring while sparging makes for very turbid wort, but, it moves things along.

[802Chris]

I am curious about your stuck sparge. If you stirred the mash while sparging, would it have flowed? I have had to do this a few times when batch sparging. Stirring while sparging makes for very turbid wort, but, it moves things along.

I think it may have, but I cant be sure. I tried like hell to suspend the mash. I added an extra gallon and stirred and it didn't really make a dent. The water level outside of the pipe stayed the same, it just got deeper in the pipe. It wasn't 100% stuck, even with the extra water though and me doing my darndest to get it to flow by stirring, poking and prodding, it too about 30 minutes to drain into the pot once I lifted it. I ran into the same issue when I went to rinse the grain bed, it just filled the pipe and no amount of stirring would get it to drain faster. Once I had waited and it finally drained, I had to run the whole batch into my old kettle with a filter bag. It wasn't just turbid, it had at least 2-3 cups worth of grain particulate in it AFTER I skimmed what I could off the top.

Again, I think this may have been my fault. I did not follow the recommended strike water to mash ratio and I have not adjusted my mill since switching away from MIAC with a bag. Time will tell, but I still think this is a pretty solid and fairly priced unit.

[Sinbad28]

I need some help, I just used my Mash and Boil for the first time last weekend.  Using the calcs in the manual, I ended up with just over three gallons on a kit designed for 5 gallons.  The grain bill was small so when I calculated the water for the mash and for the sparge, it was not even four gallons.  After boil, less.  Will I always end up with less than 5 gallons when I have a recipe with under 11 pounds or so of grain?  Do people tweak the amounts of water when the grain amount is lower?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

[tommymorris]

I need some help, I just used my Mash and Boil for the first time last weekend.  Using the calcs in the manual, I ended up with just over three gallons on a kit designed for 5 gallons.  The grain bill was small so when I calculated the water for the mash and for the sparge, it was not even four gallons.  After boil, less.  Will I always end up with less than 5 gallons when I have a recipe with under 11 pounds or so of grain?  Do people tweak the amounts of water when the grain amount is lower?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I don’t have the Mash and Boil. I have Grainfather.

I always use the same total amount of water for my batches regardless of the amount of grain. If you figure out how much water you need for a batch with an average amount of grain you can just use that all the time. You can either always use the same water volume for mash and sparge. In this case the mash will be thinner for small grain bills. Alternatively, you can decrease the mash water volume for small grain bills to keep a consistent water to grain ratio. In this case you will increase the sparge water volume accordingly.

TV = MV + SV
TV - total water volume
MV - mash water volume
SV - sparge water volume

Hold TV constant for all batches. Adjust MV and SV if you like.

After boil if your batch volume is too small, top up a bit. If your batch volume is too large, roll with it or decrease TV if it is happening consistently.

* Note: for extremely large batches or very large amount of hops, you may need more water. I don’t brew those.


- formerly alestateyall.

[Sinbad28]

Thanks TommyMorris for the help.  I was wondering if I could play around with the water amounts or if it was best to always stick with what the unit manual says/calculates.  No problem with the bigger brews but it is summer and time for lighter beers and filling kegs half way makes me sad.  My next batch will come out with 5 gallons based on your suggestions.  Thanks!

[raybilyk]

Yes and yes. I have used it with the (ill fitting) bag from my square cooler and I brewed a batch without the nag. The only difference I noticed was the bag was slightly easier to clean up, but that's because it was freezing out. In the summer I can hose down all my equipment outside so I wont be using the bag. The malt pipe works great on its own, even with my ridiculously crushed grain.

Just a quick point of clarification and caveat for all who read this thread. I had a ridiculously stuck mash yesterday with a larger grain bill, crushed fine as usual. I ended up transferring the entire batch @ 200 degrees into my old kettle, running it through the brew bag on the way there, and pulled out about two cups worth of grain particulate. It was not pretty and added two hours to my brew day. I will be ordering a form fit brew bag today. All said though, I still recommend the M+B for someone who wants an affordable all in one electric brewery

Did you end up ordering the custom sized (form fit) Brew Bag? Do you recall what your measurements were?