How to go from Extract to AG for < $10.00

[max]

Hi

I have just acquired my own 50 litre Keg and grinded the top off.

I was toying with the idead of drilling a 15mm hole in the side (bottom) then using Durafix weld rods to weld in a 15mm copper tube and fit it with a ball lever to make tranferring the wort easier once the boil/chill was over.

Only thing stopping me is the fear that the applied heat may remelt the weld (low flux temp of approx 392 c/ 795 F). Anyone wise in the ways of my proposal (or is it just as easy to shiphon ther wort into the fermentor)?

Also for my first BIAB brew has anyone got exact grain requirement & water requiremnts to end up with approx 25 litres of wort after the boil?

Cheers

[SuperflyMD]

Hi

I have just acquired my own 50 litre Keg and grinded the top off.

Cheers

I recently obtained a keg from a friend and am getting ready to de-cap it. Out of curiosity, did you cut a circle out of the top or cut the whole top off?

SF

[max]

Do not cut the top off you want to keep the handles intact...(I mean you could cut the top off, as it would be easier and quicker, but then it would be a bugger to try and carry/move around).

Get a 115mm grinder and cut a circle out. You can get very close with a small grinder, then change the disc over from a metal cutting disc to a grinding disc and you can get a really good finish (no burs or anything). You will probably go through 2 or 3 cutting discs and 1 grinding disc

When you initially puncture the top, gas will escape (still under pressure) and when you have cut a big enough hole dry out the residual beer (to stop all the shavings getting stuck)

Good luck

[Thirsty Boy]

Do not cut the top off you want to keep the handles intact...(I mean you could cut the top off, as it would be easier and quicker, but then it would be a bugger to try and carry/move around).

Get a 115mm grinder and cut a circle out. You can get very close with a small grinder, then change the disc over from a metal cutting disc to a grinding disc and you can get a really good finish (no burs or anything). You will probably go through 2 or 3 cutting discs and 1 grinding disc

When you initially puncture the top, gas will escape (still under pressure) and when you have cut a big enough hole dry out the residual beer (to stop all the shavings getting stuck)

Good luck

Generally good advice .... BUT

If you are planning on brewing BIAB, then in my experience you will have an easier time of it if you cut the whole top off and leave yourself with a more or less straight sided pot.

When you pull the BIAB bag out of the kettle - you get the monkey fist effect happening - ie: the bag swells out to as big as the sides of the pot, and has to squeeze through the smaller opening. It makes it harder to physically pull out, and can make wort run down the sides of your pot.

This doesn't happen when the opening is the full width.

But handles are good to have as well. So I suggest you follow max's advice, but be prepared for the fact that you might experience a couple of problems (not really severe I'm guessing) - and if you do... cutting the whole top off will solve them for you

[SuperflyMD]

Generally good advice .... BUT

If you are planning on brewing BIAB, then in my experience you will have an easier time of it if you cut the whole top off and leave yourself with a more or less straight sided pot.

When you pull the BIAB bag out of the kettle - you get the monkey fist effect happening - ie: the bag swells out to as big as the sides of the pot, and has to squeeze through the smaller opening. It makes it harder to physically pull out, and can make wort run down the sides of your pot.

This doesn't happen when the opening is the full width.

But handles are good to have as well. So I suggest you follow max's advice, but be prepared for the fact that you might experience a couple of problems (not really severe I'm guessing) - and if you do... cutting the whole top off will solve them for you

My current BIABag is gently tapered, thanks to my mother-in-laws mad sewing skillz. I'm hoping that if she does the new one with the same design I shouldn't have too much trouble with swelling.

[SpillsMostOfIt]

My current BIABag is gently tapered, thanks to my mother-in-laws mad sewing skillz. I'm hoping that if she does the new one with the same design I shouldn't have too much trouble with swelling.

The swiss voile I use is a bit elastic - being plastic - and so even a fairly radical taper would present problems. I guess you can always get more bags made if your MIL is happy to do the work.

Tapirs on the other hand present little problem to BIAB brewers.

[amcn]

I've been AG brewing for 10+ years and my last batch I got my first ever stuck mash/sparge. It's funny how a stuck sparge focusses your attention back to the details, and brings back to mind several of the more exotic swear-words you thought you had forgotten years ago.

I am definitely going to try BIAB.

However I have to ask, has anyone tried the bag method in traditional mashing, ie lining the tun and using a finer grind and even batch-sparging it etc? Can this improve mash efficiency?

I have a vested interest in this because my sanke has a 12 in hole cut out which fits a nice pan lid I use during the boil, and I don't fancy grinding this lip off. I get the point re lifting out the bag throgh a lip on the top.

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Thirsty Boy, a couple of other brewers and I once brewed a batch using a mash-tun made from a 135-litre plastic storage bin. We put a layer of washed, crushed rock on the bottom as a false bottom and lined the whole thing with voile. We kinda batch sparged. It worked fabulously.

I reckon that lining mash tuns with voile might make emptying them easier, but otherwise I expect you would encounter all the qualities of a normal mash-tun and the value of the voile would be questionable.