How to go from Extract to AG for < $10.00

[SuperflyMD]

My mother-in-law improvised the tabs, but I really like them. She super-stitched the material in that area, so I'm not too worried about it pulling out. Plus, the concentric hoops should , in addition to holding the mouth open, also distribute the load very evenly while compressing stitching and preventing (hopefully) unraveling.

[leftnut]

I tried the brew in bag method yesterday on a one gallon batch (trying a new recipe). Everything went really well. I got 87% efficiency. Seems too easy. Are these the numbers I can expect? I really like the method and if my results are pretty consistent, I really can't see going back to my mash tun and sparging.

[Thirsty Boy]

87% is fairly damn high. Did you do any sort of sparging or rinsing?? I suspect something is slightly mis measured.

But - in small batches where you have a large surface area to volume ratio in the bag, it drains pretty dry and you get a good efficiency. So who knows.

I wish I could tell you to expect that high an efficiency every time and on full size batches .. but I doubt it will happen. More likely to settle somewhere in the 70s. Lower with big beers and higher with small ones.

Too easy is why I like it -

cheers

TB

[Lord Fortney]

I wonder if you didn't want to sew, you could use multiple large grain bags like you would for mini mash. Maybe you could probably get some for about the same price.

I'm sure it's just a short matter of time as this technique takes off before perfectly manufactured, ultra fine mesh, super large grain bags become available commercially.

[ericm]

I've done this a couple times now with 4 gallon batches and averaged around 85% efficiency each time. The large surface to volume ratio of the draining bag might be helping.. I think the extreme crush I've been using has helped as well.

[leftnut]

I did a 10 gallon batch yesterday and got about 74% eff. I think this is probably more realistic than my 87% on the one gallon batch. It worked great though, I think this is the method I will stick with. I milled my grain the night before, but on brew day, it only took 5 hours from the time I started heating mash water to when I pitched yeast in cooled wort. I thought this was pretty good for a 10 gallon batch.

[SuperflyMD]

I have fifteen minutes boil left in my first BIAB all-grain. Unfortunately, the only ale kit I had available was a "low carb" that I was planning on using down the road to make my wife happy. If I don't like it I won't know if it's due to my process or if I just wasn't gonna like it.

I just couldn't wait any longer.

Here's the bag over the bewpot


Today's other "innovation" (that I'm sure others have tried) is a homemade copper pre-immersion-chiller-chiller, itself immersed in icewater.



Don't know if it will speed up chilling or not. (I know, Thirsty, I should give up chilling entirely, but I like it)

SF

[Thirsty Boy]

no no no - I don't think anyone should give up chilling.

Rapid chilling of wort is the tried and true, gold standard method and it works wonderfully well.

I don't do it, I no-chill and I like my brew day better as a result - but that doesn't mean I think other people should stop chilling.

If and when the drought goes away here - and putting may litres of water down the drain no longer feels like (or in some cases is) a criminal offense - I might re-evaluate my immersion or plate chiller

But I might not either.

Bubba - about using multiple bags. Its not something I would recommend. The multiple smaller bags would be constraining the mash... and you don't want to do that. You might be brewing in a bag.. but you are mashing in a pot, that just happens to be lined with a bag. The bag is only for lautering - it shouldn't play any role at all in the mashing process. So if it confines the mash, interferes with the way the grin and wort move about etc etc ... its not a neutral player. Multiple bags actually "work" its just that people have tried it - and if I remember correctly they got really lousy efficiency. At any rate, I think they either changed to a more traditional way of mashing or they changed to a bigger bag.

One commercial source of possibly suitable bags is "wine press" bags - I haven't clapped eyes on one personally, but I think they might be OK. They come in course and fine grade - I suspect you will want fine grade. If yo could use it as a hop bag for pellet hops.. probably jut about OK???? not sure. When I eventually get a look at one I will report back.

Nice to see this working for a few people - spread the word.

TB