[robdogj]

I never realized that I never posted on this board so here is my first post - I have been coming here tips & advice all of the time - I have been doing the BIAB method for about 3 years now & homebrewing for about 12 years - this was the first time I scorched my bag for the first time  - now I am considering purchasing a 5 gallon water cooler to use as a mash tun - one positive I got an OG of 1.086 & I was trying to get a 1.067

[Bob357]

Here's how you keep from scorching you bag:

https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1826.htm

[BrewBama]

I agree you need something to keep it off the bottom. While I certainly don’t want to take a sale away from Bobby, there are other (cheaper) options as well. 

https://www.amazon.com/Cooling-Racks-Round-Baking-Tools-Accessories/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A289721%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A2847614011

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[TeeDubb]

Just a caution that some of the plated ones on Amazon can rust over time at the joints.  Mine did after about 7-8 brew sessions.  Will be upgrading to a stainless spacer soon! Worth the extra expense from my perspective and the height adjustment is a nice feature.

[Steve L]

I made my own for about $5. Doesn't take much to do the job effectively.

[robdogj]

Thanks for all of tips. I feel like a noob. I made a BIAB batch before so I felt very comfortable. I had an issue which made me leave the grains in the mash stage for about two hours. I only reheated my pot for like 10 minutes, but that is I believed I failed. I am going to do some research, but I am leaning towards getting a 5 gallon water jug and using that for my mashing.

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[Steve L]

Thanks for all of tips. I feel like a noob. I made a BIAB batch before so I felt very comfortable. I had an issue which made me leave the grains in the mash stage for about two hours. I only reheated my pot for like 10 minutes, but that is I believed I failed. I am going to do some research, but I am leaning towards getting a 5 gallon water jug and using that for my mashing.

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Definitely can't go wrong there. My Gott cooler is my go to mash tun. I only direct fire if I'm step mashing or doing a brew that I plan to recirculate during the mash. I much prefer my cooler! It holds my mash temp typically to within 1 degree of target for a 30-60 minute mash. For added insulation, wrap it in a beach towel and throw another towel over the top.

[robdogj]

Thanks for all of tips. I feel like a noob. I made a BIAB batch before so I felt very comfortable. I had an issue which made me leave the grains in the mash stage for about two hours. I only reheated my pot for like 10 minutes, but that is I believed I failed. I am going to do some research, but I am leaning towards getting a 5 gallon water jug and using that for my mashing.

Sent from my LG-VS985 using Tapatalk

Definitely can't go wrong there. My Gott cooler is my go to mash tun. I only direct fire if I'm step mashing or doing a brew that I plan to recirculate during the mash. I much prefer my cooler! It holds my mash temp typically to within 1 degree of target for a 30-60 minute mash. For added insulation, wrap it in a beach towel and throw another towel over the top.

Thanks for another reason to get this cooler

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[Lazy Ant Brewing]

If you don't try to reheat the mash, you won't scorch your grain bag.  And if you heat the water to strike temperature, stir in your grain, turn your burner off, and insulate the kettle a bit you shouldn't need to reheat it unless you're brewing in extremely cold temperatures.

I bought a vegetable strainer originally to keep the bag off the bottom of the pot, but now I don't even bother using it. 

Their was an article on one of the brewing magazines that trying to reheat  a mash in BIAB wasn't very workable because of the physics of thermal mass.

If you like the BIAB process, buy or make another bag and just make sure you don't try to heat the bag with grain in it.

[robdogj]

update - Instead of buying a cooler, I have stitched up the hole where I scorched my bag & it works - I just brewed a batch w/ that stitched up bag & it did the job - Thanks everyone for their input on this tread

[Pope of Dope]

I have used a cooler and now I am back to the bag. Recently there have been some challenges in efficiency that I blamed on the BIAB method but it turned out to be faulty equipment milling the grains. Now that the problem has been corrected I've been getting really good results. In the process of troubleshooting this problem, before I knew what the cause was, I tried to experiment. I tried longer mash times, lower/higher mash temps, recirculation, squeezing bag, not squeezing of the bag, and mashing out. None of these methods improved my results in any significant way.

So, what I'm saying here is that you shouldn't be burning your bag because you shouldn't be using fire when the bag is in there. I bring my strike temp to the desired temp then pour my grain in and cover up. Done. I have gone to extremes to insulate the kettle, I use some customized reflectix, three insulated moving blankets, and a tarp. My temp stays dead on balls, but before this, I would lose some temp, even come back and find it had fallen into the 140's. Again, there was no noticeable difference in the end. Keep it simple and spartan, that's what's so great about BIAB. Here is a good article about chasing temps: https://www.brewinabag.com/blogs/news/147-164-mash-temp-sacrificing-enzymes-or-will-the-brew-bag-melt?utm_source=Accept+Marketing&utm_campaign=63277b7f76-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_02_10_08_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1306bfb6a3-63277b7f76-7362537&goal=0_1306bfb6a3-63277b7f76-7362537&mc_cid=63277b7f76&mc_eid=135d8230a1

[Pope of Dope]

And obviously, a 2-hour long mash isn't necessary. You could get it done in 45 mins, but one hour will do.

[robdogj]

I was looking on craigslist & found a good (almost brand new) 5 gallon Rubbermaid cooler. I am going to use this for my BIAB process so I can achieve a higher efficiency. Thanks everyone again for the feedback.

[BrewBama]

And obviously, a 2-hour long mash isn't necessary. You could get it done in 45 mins, but one hour will do.

It depends. My mash is rarely complete at 60 min. It could take 120 minutes, or 45, or ??. I’ve measured the last 8 batches and each batch took 90 min until I was no longer measuring an SG increase.


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[Richard]

Their was an article on one of the brewing magazines that trying to reheat  a mash in BIAB wasn't very workable because of the physics of thermal mass.

I don't know about that article. It might be correct when applied to flame heating, but it is definitely not correct when applied to an electric kettle. I insulate the heck out of my kettle, and I could get by without heating and not have much temperature change, but I can do even better with a little power. During the mash my controller runs at 2-4% of full power and I have a Blichmann Boil Coil which has very low watt density, so there is no danger of scorching the bag. I can hold a mash temperature within a small fraction of a degree this way.