Making the transition

[Gizmo]

So I've been BIAB brewing for a couple years (well, a few years ago for a couple years) and I've ordered a bunch of pieces to make the switch to doing grain without the bag after my next batch. Outside of the potential improved efficiency with the sparge, and clarity with the filter transition between mash and boil, what else should I expect to be different? What equipment am I overlooking that I should get ahold of?
I will have:
-cooler with filter and ball valve drain along with hosing to run it back to the boil pot.
-Current boil pot and additional sparge pot (though no good valve for transitions, yet)
-Same Mr. Beer fermenters for 2.5 gallon batches

Also will be getting grain mill attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer, so I can order bulk and crush to order without awaiting orders of crushed grains!

[John Sand]

I use a sort of hybrid BIAB, a bag in a cooler. I used to just mash in the pot, but I bought the cooler to mash bigger batches outdoors. It works well. I don't worry about clear wort before or after the boil, my beer is always clear anyway. Read the reviews or search HBT about that Kitchenaid mill, some say it isn't up to crushing pounds of grain without straining the mixer. There are heavier duty Kitchenaids, but I don't think I have one. I simply use a Corona mill, hand cranking while my strike water heats.
Good luck with your new setup, keep us posted.

[bpgreen]

I've got one of those kitchenaid attachments. I've used it to crush up to about 4 lbs of grain, but I don't know if I'd try crushing much more than that with it. Even for that amount, it takes a while. One plus is that you can grind to a coarse flour if you want (for example, if you want to dry the spent grains and use them in cooking). But the hopper probably holds less than a pound at a time and it isn't all that fast.

I think you can get a cereal killer or barley crusher for about the same price and I think those are much better for larger amounts of grain.

[mashani]

I use a sort of hybrid BIAB, a bag in a cooler.

Hmm... this is apparently one of those "obvious things I should have thought of a long time ago, but did not"...

This is a good idea. That would let me mash a lot more grain then can fit in my pot right now and not any more trouble.

[Gizmo]

I was thinking about doing that too, just to make it easier to pull the grains out for disposal.

[Kealia]

Gizmo, I made the move about a year and a half ago myself. I was doing BIAB exclusively and decided to move to a mash tun (cooler).

What you can expect is to add some time to your brew day
For me, it added time for sparging. Not a lot, maybe an extra 30 minutes in my day, but some additional time nonetheless.

It then started to raise questions that I never thought of when doing BIAB like, "How fast should I sparge?"

For me, the change was just what I needed to spark a renewed interest in brewing. I was brewing great beers before and I wouldn't say that my beers are any better now, but the process is a bit different and that brings me some enjoyment - which is what I was aiming for.

So, as you prepare for that first day - or even DURING the day - reach out here for questions. I found myself asking some that were really basic but that I had never thought of before.

And congrats- learning something new is always fun (for me at least).

[berryman]

Good deal Gizmo. Keep us informed, I for one am interested in your progress on your new endeavor.

[MrBandGuy]

Yes, good luck! I have yet to find the desire to move away from what works for me. (Cue FedoraDave in 3...2...1...). After reading the Brewing All stars book, I remain steadfast in my process.

I do, however, get your desire to try something new, which is why I'm playing with my water. Learning is fun, and following your progress is just as good!


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[FedoraDave]

I hop around between techniques. Since I do both 2.5 gallon batches and 5g batches, my process depends on batch size.

For the larger batches, I use a mash tun with a false bottom. I upgraded from a 5g tun to a 10g tun when I had some difficulty making bigger-ABV recipes.

For the 2.5g batches, I began doing BIAB, but I grew tired of the way I was doing it, so I've taken to using the bag inside the 5g tun with the manifold removed. I had been doing it in a pot and wrapping the pot with towels for heat retention. I still sparge with this technique, though. I just like the idea of rinsing out the grains at least once, to ensure efficiency.

You'll find out what works for you, and you know you can always come here to ask questions.

[natural320]

whatever works for you...best statement made! I thought I was missing out on something by using only BIAB, so I bought and bastardized a cooler that I used all of twice now. and I made it it in like 2014. I had grand thoughts of big batches or super high OGs or multiple batches or partigyle...

yeah I didn't do any of that.

for me I "lost" some wort to the cooler that simply wouldn't drain out during the sparge, so I realized I had to alter my recipes a bit. then the added time. then realizing that I had to shuffle my big heavy pot around a few times to heat/dump/heat/dump/collect/bring back to stove (yup. doing all this in my kitchen proved a bit of a hassle and a tad messy). wasn't nearly as much fun as I thought it was going to be. now if I had a true system and things were either in line for gravity or pumps, sure my thoughts would probably be different. I also kind of need at least another big pot for this to go smoother!
I also realized that my friends and family were not drinking as much as I thought they would. while I love variety, let's just say they are content with a lot of the same. so the need for the cooler when I noticed that I had to scale back to 3-4 gallon batches, well, there wasn't much need.

but I still have it, and maybe I can break it out more in the future. that being said, I am not trying to deter you, just relaying my experience. I hope that you love it and it is a perfect fit for your brewday!

[FedoraDave]

It definitely comes down to Brewer's Choice. There may be a lot of wrong ways to do this, but there's absolutely no ONE RIGHT WAY.

I may have missed it before, but I think Mr.BandGuy was cueing me to impart The Hat's First Rule of Homebrewing: If you like the beer you made, you did it right. One of the worst traps homebrewers fall into is gear-shaming and process-shaming. I've been guilty of it, and I see it from time to time here and there.

You don't have to have the same stuff the other guy has. You don't have to do it the same way the other guy does it. You just have to do it and produce a beer that is good. I doubt anyone could distinguish between my mash tun batches and my BIAB batches. For that matter, I doubt most people could distinguish between my AG recipes and my extract beers.

It's difficult and challenging to make a transition from one process/set of equipment to another, but that's what places like The Borg are for. And if you come in here and ask questions to ease your way, you'll get a lot of helpful suggestions, and you can take it from there.

But no matter what you do, or how you do it, if you're getting a good result, YOU DID IT RIGHT.

[John Sand]

And whatever you do, let us know. Maybe we'll do it too.

[Gizmo]

Thanks everyone! Still waiting on one important piece to arrive (hard to get things through the mail over here!), the connector between the spigot and the mesh filter/screen. Once that comes, I can put together the mash tun. I'm hoping it arrives this week, as I'm planning on doing an Oktoberfest next Saturday. In the meantime, family is visiting this week, and I've got 2 batches to bottle as well.

[Gizmo]

So it's in the boil as i type. Had a bit of an issue with the KitchenAid mill, as others mentioned I might. But after getting a first run (about a quarter pound) of way too ground grains, I took apart the mill, and was able to "loosen" the grinder part and get more coarse grinds.

I still have to tweak things a bit, either in the grind or mash settings, as my pre-boil gravity has me only at about 60% and not 75%+ efficiency as I was hoping. No worries though, I'll still have some beer in a few weeks!

[John Sand]

Tweaking things is half the fun.