First BIAB, far from a disaster

[John Sand]

Holy smoke! My whole boat is made of wood!
I'm careful inside too, also to keep my wife happy. But I think you might be over cautious here. A little water won't hurt the floor, in the unlikely event that any spills. If you're already brewing inside, the risk of steam damage or spilled wort is far worse than possibly spilling a little cool water on the floor. I'm pretty sure people mop floors with water. If you don't leave the room while chilling, a simple turn of the faucet will stop any leaks. But if your happy with ice, carry on with it.

[RickBeer]

Showerhead is mounted in a tiled shower.

My wife has a rusty grapefruit spoon and is a quick runner...

[John Sand]

Is "rusty grapefruit" some kind of sex act?
Just kidding, of course.

[BlackDuck]

Showerhead is mounted in a tiled shower.

Most likely it is "mounted" by simply screwing it on tightly with a little teflon tape...and no leaks!! I see your point about the tiled shower vs wood floors, but my point is that if it's installed correctly with quality parts you shouldn't have any leak problems. Hell, your kitchen sink is in the kitchen, with your wood floors. No leaks there right?

I'm with John on this one...I think you might be over cautious. We all know that whatever you decide you're going to research the hell out of it to make sure it's done right and you're measurements will be within the thousandth of an inch, I'm confidant that you can do it right.!!! And in the end, it will be AWESOME!!!

[Inkleg]

Since your bringing the wort up to boil as you pull the grain bag there is no need to do a mash out when doing BIAB.

[bpgreen]

Depending on the size of your brew pot, you might be able to chill it with an ice slurry in the sink. That's what I usually did with smaller batches and partial mash batches with late extract additions. An ice slurry chills faster than ice alone, and you can get it to chill even faster by pouring salt on the ice.

[mashani]

Since your bringing the wort up to boil as you pull the grain bag there is no need to do a mash out when doing BIAB.

From an enzyme stopping reason this is true for sure.

From a full volume/no-sparge BIAB (like I am doing in the Mash & Boil) reason, having it get and stay between 170-180 for about 10-15 minutes and stirring it during this timeframe, without it going much above 180 and pulling theoretical tannins or what not from the grains (never has happened to me but supposedly it can), you will liquefy/release more sugars then if you simply pulled the bag, especially if you stir it. At least it works for me.

Because of the way the Mash & Boil works (6 degree temperature variance) the one thing that got my efficiency to jump greatly was kicking up the target mashout temperature to 173-174 degrees instead of simply setting it at 170. Setting it at 170 didn't work so well, because it doesn't stay there long enough.

I stir it after the burner kicks off, then wait for it to cycle again, and stir it again before pulling the basket (which is my "bag"). My mash efficiency went up a lot using the same grains (as in same malt / all crushed at the same time) in the next batch just by doing that. Between that and nailing my mash PH by pre-adjusting, I'm currently hitting 15% or more higher efficiency then I was the first batch every time now. As in somewhere in the 80%+ mash efficiency range the last 6 batches, vs. the upper 60s/low 70s. I hit 90% theoretical last batch (but I blame that extra jump and call it "theoretical" more on that it was mostly Maris Otter).

[RickBeer]

My kitchen faucet looks like this:



While I've seen rubber adapters that can go over a regular faucet, I've not seen ones that would fit over this faucet. The aerator is not designed to be removed (per manufacturer), and the hose that connects to the wand is clearly not designed to be removed repeatedly. If I was going to hook up a water hose, I would hook it to the cold water line in a similar fashion to the way the dishwasher hose is connected, replacing the cold water shutoff with a dishwasher shutoff, which would provide the extra connection for the chiller, and then another valve so that I can disconnect the chiller yet leave the cold water valve on and not have to recap the tee each time. I may go that route at some point.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Tee off the cold water line with hose connection at the end of the pipe with a shutoff valve between tee and hose end in the pipe. Shark Bites are so simple to use, takes longer to cut the pipe than use the fittings, you could even use plastic pipe and fittings (same type as SB fittings). So many different ways to tap into cold water correctly inside the cabinet under the sink.

[John Sand]

What about duct tape?
Just kidding. It looks like tying into the supply line would be best. Could you chill it in the bathtub?

[RickBeer]

My goal is to not carry a pot full of just boiled wort any distance. I could carry it from the kitchen into the laundry room, but I'm not doing that, risk of spills and impact to bad back. Lifting off the stove and moving it to the counter or into the sink is not a problem. There is no bathtub or shower on the first floor.

Running a long length of hose from the laundry sink through the kitchen is a long distance and too much risk of leaks/drips with the floor, and too long of a race back to the faucet to cut it off if there is a problem. So if I do this, it would be to modify the valve setup on the cold water line to include a second valve and necessary adapters to fit a chiller line. I'm sure by taking a picture of what I have and going to Home Depot / Lowes I'll be able to find the necessary pieces.

[BlackDuck]

So if I do this, it would be to modify the valve setup on the cold water line to include a second valve and necessary adapters to fit a chiller line. I'm sure by taking a picture of what I have and going to Home Depot / Lowes I'll be able to find the necessary pieces.

This to me sounds like the most viable option. If you have CPVC piping, you're in luck. Those things are a breeze to work with. Like Steve said, Shark Bite's are amazing. But if you don't want to go that route, all you need is a little glue from a company called Oatey. You simply cut the pipe with a hack saw, which is like going through butter. Apply the glue and insert your tee valve. Let dry for an hour or so and voila, your in business!!!

Here's how quick and easy it is: CPVC Glue Connection

[bpgreen]

I mentioned the option of an ice slurry earlier (the approach I used when I was doing partial mashes), but I didn't mention the approach I'm using now.

Once I got the M&B, the ice slurry in the sink wouldn't work. What I did was I repurposed a semi-submersible pump that was leftover when I switched from an evaporative cooler (aka swamp cooler) to central air conditioning. I put ice water in the sink and use the pump to recirculate the water through the chiller. I think for my next batch, I won't recirculate the first few minutes, because the water coming out is so hot. I use a pump designed for a swamp cooler, but that's because I already had it. You could also use a pond pump (I think pond pumps are completely submersible).

[mashani]

I'm just going to toss out that slow-chilling in the pot overnight (with a lid on) or in something like the Mash & Boil like I've done is also a potential option if it comes to a pinch. It works fine, I've been making great beer doing it while trying to save up for a very $pendy immersion chiller that will fit in my Mash & Boil. Only trick is to tweak the hop schedule to account for the extra AAU utilization. Even after I get the chiller, I might keep slow-chilling in the cooler months so I don't waste so much water.

[John Sand]

BPG, that's a good suggestion that requires no plumbing.