New to BIAB

[jdmcavoy]

I've been extract brewing for a couple years now and have decided to make the jump to all grain. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no storage space in my house for traditional all grain. Hence, I've decided to try BIAB. My fermentors are a 6G better bottle (primary) and 5G better bottle (secondary). I want to make a 5G batch so I ordered the "Dead Ringer IPA" all grain kit from NB for my first one. My brew kettle is a 42qt (10.5G) pot with a basket from Bayou Classic. My question is, will a 5G paint strainer bag from Lowe's have enough space for all of the grains? It actually fits inside my pot perfectly and touches the bottom of the strainer basket (which I will probably use to help lift the bag out. As this is my first one, any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[brewmcq]

Do a dry run.. dump the grains in the bag-lined basket.

But it should all fit.

 

[NivekD]

Looks like your grain bill is about 12 lbs...could be a tight fit...I use the 29x29 bag from MoreBeer and it works great. You could also start with less water in the boil and top up your fermentor after cooling.

 

[wilserbrewer]

While a little small, the paint strainer should handle a 5 gallon batch. Using a basket and a smallish bag is not ideal IMHO because ALL the water is not mixed with the grain, a fair percent is outside the bag and under the basket. I would try to raise and lower the basket a few times after the mash to attempt to have all the water rinse the grain. Sort of like dunking a tea bag will make darker tea, the more the mash water runs through the bag the better the rinse.

Basicly you want to try and mix all the water with the grain to help rinsing after the hour mash.

 

[Grinnan5150]

Looks like your grain bill is about 12 lbs...could be a tight fit...I use the 29x29 bag from MoreBeer and it works great. You could also start with less water in the boil and top up your fermentor after cooling.

Thanks for that tip. My LHBS only has 18x32. The one you use will help get more of the grain into more of the water

 

[wilserbrewer]

Fwiw, I would pour sparge water through the grain bag in the basket before topping the kettle with water.

Not that there is anything wrong with topping with water, but if you can avoid the practice, I would.

 

[jdmcavoy]

Thanks for all the tips. I brewed yesterday and I think it went pretty well. I didn't end up using the basket because it just seemed too small. My OG ended up a little lower than I hoped. I was shooting for 1064 and ended up with 1061. I think it will still turn out though.