Hey folks!
I’ve been brewing extract kits for a few years now, and I’m trying to transition to BIAB. Are any All Grain kits able to be brewed via BIAB, or are there certain adjustments I need to make? Specifically, I’m looking at purchasing the NB Pumpkin Spice Latte Stout kit, but I want to make sure the instructions provided in the All-Grain kit ould work for BIAB.
Thanks in advance!
Not sure what the directions say but the recipe is the same no matter which way you brew it. The only difference is how you mash.
Get any all grain kit you want then pop on the forum and we’ll answer any questions
Much appreciated!
I have everything I need for my first BIAB brew day except for a propane burner.
Anyone ever use a gas grill instead of a standalone propane burner? Pros/cons?
So here is my initial take on your question:
You are going to let us know how big of a batch you’re brewing. When I did my first BiaB, I used a recipe kit and it made 3 gallons. I always thought this was because a 5 gallon kit would be quite voluminous and heavy, might be tough for a standard bag. I could be wrong though, it was always my assumption.
The all grain recipe kits on northern brewer are all 5 gallons, I believe. If you are going to make a 3 gallon batch, then you’ll obviously need to scale every ingredient by 3/5. This includes all of your grains/malts, hops, etc. You can still use the same amount of yeast as normal.
If you are going to make 5 gallons, then you have no issues, just buy any all grain kit and go to town. I’ve only made 3-4 BiaB brews though, then I swapped to using a mash tun and such… So I could be all wrong here. Just my 2 ¢
I’ll be brewing the 5 gallon kit as is. I think my autocorrect switched “three” for “the”. Sorry for the confusion.
Ok so the instructions are basically the same. Here’s the very basic stuff:
Add hot water ( aka strike water) to grain, (water temperature and amount is recipe dependent), do this with a bag inside a big pot
Let sit for about 60 minutes
During this 60 minutes, use a second pot to make more hot water (aka sparge water, temperature and amount also recipe dependent).
Use this new water to wash over grains again after 60 minutes is up. Normally, I like to have a third pot or vessel. After the 60 minutes is up, lift the bag with wet grains out, and place the bag in the third pot, making sure to leave the wort behind in pot 1. Then wash over the grains with hot water in pot 2. Then combine contents of pot 1 and pot 3, should be something between 6 and 7 gallons. Bring to a boil, then do hop additions as told in the recipe. Boil for 60 minutes, you should be left with between 5 and 5.75 gallons after volume has boiled off, then cool down and add yeast, etc.
Again, I’m generalizing a lot of stuff, but that’s the basics.
5 gallon batches are no more difficult then 3 gallon batches. Your pot size is important though.
How big is your pot? I exclusively do BIAB now but I will get some DME/LME to boost gravity past what I can get comfortably in my 8 gallon pot if I am going for a high gravity wort.
It depends. Burner wise. On how many. Btu. Your grill. Gives. So bassicly. Your wort does not take forever come to a boil. Or your mash water. I would invest. On a separate. Burner. For your beer brewing.
I’ve been using an 8gal kettle for my extract brewing, but I just picked up a 15gal for BIAB assuming my 8gal wouldn’t be adequate.
I started on an 8 gallon kettle… Then to a keggle then to a fancy 20 gallon kettle… I like the ability to just brew… not worry about boil overs… Will it all fit kinda stuff…
Sneezles61
15 gallon will be nice. What kind of bag did you get? I got the https://www.brewinabag.com/ got a lot of miles on it. It has a bunch of patches in it Ive mashed 25lbs grain bills with it.
Spend millions… Get a brew basket… 
Sneezles61
I have been doing biab exclusively without sparging for a few years now. I would recommend starting your batch with 7 and 3/4 gallons of water no matter how you are heating it. Took me a while to dial this in and it worked with the propane burner and with my current electric system. It was also very unclear and took me a while to figure out the approximate amount of water to begin a batch with. Start with a similar amount and you will cut the learning curve dramatically after a few batches without any need for software. 7.5 gallons could work as well but 7.75 has been my speet spot
You can read the directions before buying.
I have a basket for my 20gal pot but I don’t use it much anymore. For 5 gallon batches I prefer the simplicity of the bag
I found about 7.5gallons is what I use but I do a rinse over. But I collect and treat 8 gallons and have some leftover in case I need to top up on a big grain bill
I didn’t much care for the struggle using a bag…
I did do a 5-er in mine… Barely works… I do have an idea to get a 10 gallon kettle for smaller batches… Don’t always need 10 gallons…
Sneezles61
Yes, I always read the directions before I purchase the kit. I just wasn’t sure if there wad anything I needed to keep in mind regarding BIAB. This will be my first BIAB, so I’m not used to reading All Grain instructions versus extract instructions.
Once you start doing all grain you won’t need instructions just the recipe really. Don’t actually need the kit either for that matter. Save your money for a mill. Before buying bulk I used to buy double everything I needed for a batch then I would have enough to do it again if it was good. Usually what happened is I wanted to tweak it a bit so might pick up some more ingredients and brew it. Eventually you have your own recipe to your specifications.
