What do you use when you squeeze BIAB?
- Thread starter Shawn3997
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
meatcleaver
Well-Known Member
I have a strainer basket that fits inside a pot. I put my bag of grain in the basket, put a large bowl (or another pot) that fits inside the basket on top of the bag & then press down with all my weight.
I estimate I lose less than .1 gal water / lb. grain
I estimate I lose less than .1 gal water / lb. grain
I have a grill from my kegarator that I put over my kettle and then I use a pot lid to push down. I also use a basket.
I use a colander, and it works great (much better than a grate 
) A pair of silicone gloves is a must have as well.
Edit: get a colander that is slightly larger in diameter than your BK. Too much bigger, and you'll still have slop problems.
Brew on
) A pair of silicone gloves is a must have as well.Edit: get a colander that is slightly larger in diameter than your BK. Too much bigger, and you'll still have slop problems.
Brew on
I also use a colander. I set it ontop of my round 5 gal cooler and using a coffee cup in each hand I PRESS DOWN AS HARD AS i CAN. I only do 2 gal batches so there is not to much grain which cause leakage around the edge of the cooler.
Black Island Brewer
An Ode to Beer
My BIAB bag hangs from a pulley suspended over the pot by a frame that rests on the edge of the pot, so when I pull it out, I just let it hang and drain while the wort comes to a boil, and by the time I squeeze, it's cool enough to gingerly squeeze by twisting the sack and wringing out the grains.
Know
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2013
- Messages
- 39
- Reaction score
- 9
I string up my strainer basket with my brain bag in it over the brewpot using a carribeaner and rope, hung from a ladder. I press down on the bag to squeeze with a cake pan until it's dry. It works great, but pressing on the grain bag forces it through the dime sized holes in the strainer basket which is starting to damage my grain bag.
Next time I'll skip the strainer basket and jut hang the grain bag. Not worth buying another grain bag every couple of cooks.
Next time I'll skip the strainer basket and jut hang the grain bag. Not worth buying another grain bag every couple of cooks.
Brute force. I find that when I suspend my BIAB from the rafters with a pulley as long as my elbows are above the bag I can just squeeze.
View attachment 1481612826125.jpg
View attachment 1481612826125.jpg
A three bucket system: one bucket has holes drilled in the bottom, the other two are fully intact. The drilled bucket goes inside another bucket while the bag goes in the drilled bucket. The space in the lower bucket isn't enough to hold all of the runoff and pourover sparge water, so the drilled bucket gets switched back and forth as necessary. The actual squeezing part, I vary my technique - sometimes twist and squeeze by hand, sometimes with some kind of object, once or twice I've actually put the idle bucket on top of the bag and sat on it to press out the wort. The downside with the three bucket system is that a lot of the squeezed wort ends up coming out of the top of the bag and then draining right back into the grains, rather than going down through the holes drained in the draining bucket. The upside is that it's a functional system for a stovetop brewer like me who doesn't have enough headspace to hang the bag or even drain it in a colander on top of the kettle.
Murphys_Law
Well-Known Member
I do the same.
I built a frame from 1/2 pipe bought from Home Depot to support the pulley. it has an extending arm to hang "stuff" and can easily be broken down for storage.
I twist more than squeeze.
Since I only do BIAB in smaller batches on the stove when it is really cold outside and am not set up well for BIAB, this is the reason I do not like doing BIAB. I use a collander, silicone gloves and try (usually ineffectively) to not make a mess. I can't imagine trying to do a 5 gallon batch without a basket system.
Silicon pot holders and my man-hands
I kind of milk it like a giant beer-filled cow after twisting it a bit.
I kind of milk it like a giant beer-filled cow after twisting it a bit.
+1 hang and wring method. I brew in the basement (induction burner) and have a pulley over my brew bench. Very easy to just hold on the top of the bag and spin it both directions. Gets a little hot on the hand, but not bad.
I really need to rig some kind of a hanger*. I wear insulated rubber BBQ gloves and just twist and squeeze, which is kind of hard to do while also holding it at shoulder level (on top of the stove) and supporting all the weight. So far the most I've mashed at a time was 11 pounds of grain.
*probably a tripod that would hold the bag over a bucket to drain. I'll make a bit of a mess moving it from the stove to the hanger.
*probably a tripod that would hold the bag over a bucket to drain. I'll make a bit of a mess moving it from the stove to the hanger.
LLBeanJ
Well-Known Member
I do pretty much the same thing. I brew in my garage and the bag is hoisted/suspended by an eye bolt in a ceiling rafter. I employ a small cold water sparge, which helps with sugar extraction and provides the added benefit of cooling the grains enough to make squeezing by hand simple, quick, and painless.
I hang the bag over a 5 gallon pale to drain while I get the pot up to boil. I just twist the bag and press the sides lightly with bare hands before dumping into the pot. I don't bother trying to extract every last drop, as doing this in the past has (for me) produced lower quality beer.
I do something similar, but without a sparge. I have a Wilser bag with a ratchet pulley, after the bag has drained a few minutes I twist and squeeze with some silicone grill gloves.
Weezy
Well-Known Member
I hold it up and squeeze with hands. I use deep fryer gloves. They're a lot heavier then the brewers gloves.
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2013
- Messages
- 4,302
- Reaction score
- 5,123
Colander - set a panini press on top of it .. that and gravity seems to be enough.
2trout
Well-Known Member
+1 on the gloves, but my bag removal and squeeze is different from any other method I've seen.
I remove the bag by essentially winding it into a 2x2 cross.
One member of the cross is about 1 1/2 times the diameter of the pot, and the other is just a bit wider then the diameter.
|
|
|
___________________
|
|
|
Kinda like that above.
You simply wind up the bag onto the cross, make sure that both cross members are on the pot rim, and allow to drain. I also wrap the bag up on to the top of the 2x2 and push down hard on it.
I remove the bag by essentially winding it into a 2x2 cross.
One member of the cross is about 1 1/2 times the diameter of the pot, and the other is just a bit wider then the diameter.
|
|
|
___________________
|
|
|
Kinda like that above.
You simply wind up the bag onto the cross, make sure that both cross members are on the pot rim, and allow to drain. I also wrap the bag up on to the top of the 2x2 and push down hard on it.
+1. i do small batches in kitchen and found a small hole in the range hood that fits a small hook. i hang the bag from the hook, let it drain and cool for 10-15 minutes and then its fairly easy to squeeze by hand.
stella_tigre
Queen of the Upper Mississippi
We use a SS canning rack in the 10 gal kettle, tie the bag closed and hoist it up. Also fits in the grannyware canner, used as hot liquor vessel and dunk sparge pot. Squeeze bag with hands.
When we use the 20 gal kettle, the 10 gallon becomes the hot liquor vessel/dunk sparge pot. We use a pulley system and swing the bag into the smaller pot, into the canning rack.
There are several sizes, and some brands are not a flat grid. But they hang on the pot, kind of down inside, so less droozle problems.
When we use the 20 gal kettle, the 10 gallon becomes the hot liquor vessel/dunk sparge pot. We use a pulley system and swing the bag into the smaller pot, into the canning rack.
There are several sizes, and some brands are not a flat grid. But they hang on the pot, kind of down inside, so less droozle problems.
Tried a few different ways, but I just end up hanging it over another bucket and giving gravity time. I give a couple half-hearted barehanded squeezes just a few minutes before the pot begins to boil. It is plenty cool at this point. But that only adds 1.5 cups or so more.
dstockwell
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2015
- Messages
- 994
- Reaction score
- 139
I also use a colander, sitting in a bucket, gloves to squeeze.
Bag hangs above pot, let gravity do its thing and then put on my BBQ pork pull'en gloves and squeeze it till the cows come home.
When I squeeze I use a colander in a pot with a plate on top. But mostly I just let it drip dry and add to the boil over time.
stever1000
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2014
- Messages
- 822
- Reaction score
- 49
Those of you with the BIAB-basket, are they generally strong enough to apply force downwards on the grain to help drain/squeeze the wort out? I use as much pressure/force as possible on my bag, but I am wondering if the mesh/basket can also withstand the same force?
Depends how strong you are
I recall reading of a basket failure where the wire handle spread while hoisting a large grain bill.
Am I one of lazy few that just prefers to let the bag drain for 20 -30 minutes and give it a light squeeze to get the last half pint?
Gravity works well and is free....try it, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Exactly my method.
I would like to do it that way, but I don't have a sky hook in my kitchen. I'm not sure Wife would like me putting an eye bolt in the ceiling.
greeze
Garage brewer
Two metal framed tennis rackets lashed together opposite of the handle ends. It squeezes like a vise! I only have .09 grain absorption using this method.
I will say to the gravity guys, there is a lot more in there. even after the big squeeze I let the bag hang another 12 hrs and only get 2000ml usually, enough for a starter !
I will say to the gravity guys, there is a lot more in there. even after the big squeeze I let the bag hang another 12 hrs and only get 2000ml usually, enough for a starter !
daygobrewer
Well-Known Member
Oven rack over brew pot, colander on top of rack, bag in colander, lid the same diameter as the colander to push the liquid out.
Per my refractometer I get an extra 12% or so efficiency from the squeezing, but right now it's messy. I like the bucket idea because I'm good at sitting on things.
Can you show the math for a 12% efficiency gain from squeezing? I've done a lot of lautering simulations (with a validated simulator), and the difference between squeeze and no-squeeze (for BIAB) maxes out at about 6% (maybe a little more for large grain bills.)
Brew on
Winch the bag out of the pot with a cable winch... spin it around and around - wearing a rubber linemans glove (1 armed so don't need 2 gloves) as the bag tightens I just squeeze it so the "sweet nectar" runs from the bag. My effeciencies are pretty good so I'm happy with the process.
radwizard
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2015
- Messages
- 725
- Reaction score
- 325
I let it hang and drain. I do a light sqeeze 15-20 minutes later but there usually isn't much there.
When I was in the kitchen, I pulled the bag and set it in an empty bucket and sqeezed it hard. I would work with two buckets alternating between tge two and dumping the wort into the kettle.
Much easier now...
When I was in the kitchen, I pulled the bag and set it in an empty bucket and sqeezed it hard. I would work with two buckets alternating between tge two and dumping the wort into the kettle.
Much easier now...
makisupapolice14
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Messages
- 229
- Reaction score
- 36
Grill grate that fits over my kettle and thermal gloves and press/squeeze. Easy to do by myself with no spilling and I get almost every drop out of the grains. I'm in my 30s though so lifting and squeezing a hot grain bag isn't an issue yet
Black Island Brewer
An Ode to Beer
I did hang and drain for my first few BIABs, but after letting it drain, then putting it aside for the boil, I could see, after a couple of hours, 2 or 3 more pints of wort in the bottom of the dump bucket, and if I squeezed the now-cold bag, could get, from most average grain bills, a gallon more. So I became a squeezer (more of a hang and twist, but still...)
Still, I appreciate your lazy approach for its ease and simplicity!
