BIAB Style Brew in a Bag Larry Stein with thanks to Brad Smith Presented to QUAFF on July 23, 2013
What is it? • BIAB is basically “one pot brewing” • You mash with the full session volume • No mash tun • Sort of “batch sparging”
Equipment Traditional Traditional BIAB
New? • No • Started in the early 80’s • Gained popularity in Australia and New Zealand • Method used by the “auto” systems you may have seen. • The Braumeister, 10 liter to 500 liter brew systems • Brad Smith did a presentation at NHC 2012 • Gaining popularity here
Basic Method • (details to follow) • Calculate total water quantity and add to pot • Bring water to mash-in temp • Put bag in pot • Mash-in • “Sparge” • Remove bag with grain and let drain • Boil and complete as normal
Grain and Water • Since there’s no possibility of a stuck mash, many brewers will double grind the grain to get a bit better efficiency. • Since the grain is compressed when you lift the bag out it retains less water than a normal mash tun: • BIAB: .3qt/lb, .075G/lb (I use .08 since ProMash won’t go to .075) • 10# of grain absorbs about .75 gallons of water • Mash tun: .5qt/lb, .125G/lb • 10# of grain will absorb 1.25G of water • No mash tun deadspace loss
Example Brew • Jamil’s “Call me Blonde” • 11.5# Pale Malt 2-row • 0.5# Crystal 20L • 1oz Willamette, 60 min • .5oz Willamette, 0 min • Yeast, WLP001, Cal Ale • Stan and I brewed this together twice. Stan used the traditional brewing and I used BIAB. We had to re-brew since we drank most of the first round.
How much water? • Desired final volume: 5.50G • Grain absorption • 12# at .08G/# .96G • Kettle and pump loss: 0.75G • Sub-total before evap: 7.25G • Accounting for Evaporation, 15%: 7.25/.85 = 8.5G total water at start
Mash • Since you’re mashing with the full volume of water there’s a lot of thermal mass you only need to heat the water to 4°-7° above your desired mash temp. • Target 153°, heated to 158° • Put bag in pot • Use binder clamps to keep it secure • Mash in
Easy way to mash in Thinner BIAB mash
Time to Sparge • This is the hardest part in BIAB brewing • You need to lift the bag from the pot and let it drain. • 12# grain, + 1# water, + several gallons of water to drain • Easily 25-30 pounds to lift out and 20 to hang. • Need to find a good way to lift the bag and then have it hang for until done. Stan testing for full conversion.
Hanging methods • If you have a place to brew where you can attach an arm and pulley.
My Method • I brew in the backyard and don’t have a place to hang a pulley. • This is a piece of medical equipment used to lift people out of bed or a wheelchair. • Repurposed for brewing.
Finishing • At this point it’s brew as normal. • Boil • Add hops • Flame out • Chill • Pitch yeast • Ferment • ……………………..or is there another option?
No Chill Method • Can be used with BIAB or traditional brewing methods. • After flame out the hot wort is transferred to a food safe and high heat tolerant plastic container. • Left to cool on it’s own. Could take a day or more. • When you feel like it, you transfer to a carboy and pitch your yeast. • This is very popular in Australia. It’s not uncommon for people to brew several batches of beer and then store them for months before pitching.
No Chill Sterilize Chillin ’ Purging oxygen Pump Wort (upside down)
No Chill Consideration • Because you’re not doing a quick chill there are a couple things that some people are concerned about: • No cold break • This could cause some chill haze since the proteins don’t precipitate out. Online research and experience do not show this to be a problem. • DMS • Since you’re not chilling below 160° quickly there’s a possibility of not allowing the DMS precursor to evaporate and you may get some DMS. • Again, this does not seem to be a big issue. If you have a good boil you should evaporate most of this off. • Some people noticed some DMS in the blonde that we tested. I think you may want to take this into consideration when you brew. Some styles you may want to chill and some you’re probably fine using no chill.
Cooling Light fixture grid panel cut to size for the bottom. Keeps stuff from PVC joiners to make a base support touching the base. PC fan for air circulation.
BIAB Considerations • Pot size • This takes a bit bigger brew kettle. You need to account for the total water plus the grain. In a 10G pot you can make a beer with up to 10 pounds of grain. I use a 15G brew kettle for 5G batches. • Grain milling • You can double grind or mill your grain finer. No chance of a stuck sparge. • Bag • This is critical. Some people make them from shower curtain liners. I think it’s easier to buy one. • Lift • As previously mentioned, you need a way to lift and drain the bag.
Resources • Bag • www.bagbrewer.com • He will make a custom bag to fit your pot. $35 • I suggest you get a slight taper at the bottom. • Bottle • www.usplastic.com • 6G Winpak $17.17 • Rated food grade and high temp
Warp Up – How’s the beer? Pro Mash Projected Actual Original Gravity 1.055 13.55bx 1.062 15.2bx Efficiency 70% planned 75% Final Gravity 1.012 3.07bx Alcohol 6.6% ABV Final Volume into Carboy 5.5G 5.0G (from winpak to carboy) Total brew session 11:30AM to 2:50PM <3.5hrs * Note: Brewed on Wednesday and pitched the yeast on Saturday
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