I’ve purchased a 10 gallon brew pot with a spigot for BIAB. I plan on mashing in with this pot, then sparging the bag in my 5 gallon pot, and finish boiling the wort in the 10 gal pot.
My question is regarding chilling the wort and sanitization issues with the spigot sitting in my ice water bath. I plan on using the spigot when I get ready to dump the wort into the fermentation bucket. How do those who don’t have a wort chiller and use an ice bath deal with keeping the spigot clean and sanitized? Is it as simple as spraying it with Star San once it cools down?
And another question. Is it worth buying a SS nipple with barb for a tubing to dump into the bucket? I wasn’t as I was just going to dump it thinking this would help aerate the wort.
Thanks in advance.
You should invest in a wort chiller. One of the best investments to be made on the preferment side of the process. Without I would douse the spigot inside and out with Starnsan and use the recommended 30 sec kill time.
I wouldn’t bother sparging in another pot. You barely need a sparge. I use a tea kettle at 170f. A ratcheting pulley is super handy during the drip phase.
Interesting comment about the tea pot. I was thinking of using our electric tea pot for sparging. I thought I’d put the bag in the strainer, hang it on my 5 gal pot, and rinse using heated water poured from my tea pot. Probably won’t make a huge diff in my efficiency, but thought I’d try it.
My first try at BIAB is only 8 lbs of grains. Assuming ~1 gallon of absorption this bag will weigh ~12-14 lbs when I go to pull it. But, it will a hot ~12-14 lbs. I’ll see how easy it is to manage before rigging up my garage 
For what it’s worth, I was going to try NB’s American Wheat all-grain for my first BIAB. I’m looking at possibly using the Omega kveik yeast with this recipe. I’m just not certain how it would work with the American Wheat flavor profile. I think it would go well with the flavor notes of the Willamette/Cascade hops used as the Voss Kviek has citrus profile too.
I would not recommend a wheat beer for your first BIAB. The wheat really gums up the drip/squeeze part of the process. If you do want to go wheat then I strongly recommend you get a 1lb of rice hulls to break up the grain bed. The Kriek strains have no profile, citrus or otherwise, unless they get abused and then just barely. I’m using the Voss strain today for a Double IPA and plan to pitch the yeast at 90 degree in order to get something out of it.
For your wheat you should think about the Weihenstephan Weizen strain
https://www.wyeastlab.com/yeast-strain/weihenstephan-wheat
While Wyeast only recommend to 75F I find some of the most fun flavors at 75-80.
Probably a PITA sink chilling with a spigot. But it’s a good time to upgrade to a immersion chiller.
It is a PITA, I have tried. I also once stuck my kettle in the sink with the chiller in it to try and harness some of the lost chiller water as an additional cold source. It did not really speed things up. The chiller is efficient enough on its own
@squeegeethree made a valid point with the wheat kit being your first BIAB. Although it is a simple kit, the wheat can get really gummy without using rice hulls. I would buy an immersion chiller asap and then decide what kit you want to try first.
I would get a nice stainless steel valve, and barbed fitting… Do look at getting 1/2" silicone tubing… and the barbed fitting to match… Sneezles61
Thanks! And Thanks! I ordered a SS immersion wort chiller today. After reviewing these comments and thinking of how stupid it is to try and move 5-6 gallons of hot-a$$ water, etc. it seemed like a wise $60 investment. Even though our summer water temps out of the spigot are probably 75-80F this will work nicely preventing having to move/spill it.
Great insight on the wheat beer for my first BIAB. My thoughts were based on simplicity for my first attempt. Just for clarity. Does the wheat grain bed just get like a brick and make getting the last of the wort out difficult?
Interesting about the Voss Kveik. The Omega website talks about citrusy notes, etc. I’ll probably be fermenting in the mid 70’s-80’s in another month.
My lovely wife isn’t into the hop-forward IPAs. Could anyone recommend a not so hoppy, maybe some citrus, IPA? Or a nice ale for a first time all grain BIAB? I’d also like to include the kveik yeast in that recipe.
Thanks for any recommendations.
@sneezles61 I dumped this thing yesterday after leak testing. The nipple with the barbed fitting is a must. I have a SS304 ball valve with the pot and when you open it there’s no control. The tubing will help direct it into the bucket safely.
Lots of great info!
-Wheat and Rye turn into a gelatinous goo/glue during mash. It is common practice to use rice hulls to loosen the grain bed. During BIAB these clog up the mesh.
-Omega really is trying to sell these strains so they give what is a modest yeast profile an inflated ego. An Omega rep came to my LHBS and gave a talk, that’s how I got to the pitch at 90F info.
-I would recommend that you see if your wife likes lower IBU but higher hops aroma/flavor NEIPAs. My sister in-law describes all hop forward beers as soapy tasting and there just is no convincing otherwise. Most people just protest the IBU side of hops. I think a Wheat or Saison would be a good offer and these yeasts can also survive nicely at 80F. Check out some of the Saison flavor descriptors here…
They are also a bit inflated but these yeast are actually selected for flavor where the Kviek strains are more of an unstoppable force of yeasty nature.
Yeah her issue is with the IBU or bitterness. She doesn’t mind, in fact, likes the nose from the hops aroma. But twists her face into a knot with the higher IBU beers.
I have a light beer I’m getting ready to bottle with an IBU of 15. This is her beer. I’ve respectfully named it Billie’s Beer 
I personally like the bitterness and so the challenges of bitterness or happy wife - happy life and finding a happy medium.
Make her a cream ale with extra aroma hops
This is why we home brew. Build a beer to your or her liking. Instead of trying to find a beer you like design one. This is art man
I’d love to build my own recipe. I’m just not sure I know enough to do that yet.
I’m wanting some simple and tried/true for my first BIAB to learn the process. I’ll drop by the local brew shop and see what they might help me with too.
Sure you do. Just look at some recipes online and think maybe I want more hops or less or this hops or that. Then you can play with this malt or that. Change one thing at a time. Pretty simple really. You sound like you have be doing your homework just jump in. What’s the worst thing can happen? The beer won’t be what you envision? It’s still going to be good as long as you don’t add something crazy. That comes later
And, if you take enough notes… you’ll decipher how to change it up for the next trial and error… The benefit? Drinking a mistake!
To help you understand the “potential”… ABV… look at points per pound for your barley… Once you can get your head wrapped around that… You recipe building then turns to the flavor… be it, hops, malt or yeast… We are always here… Sneezles61
All right I’ve accepted the challenge and after a little research and reading I’ve come up with a recipe that leverages on a simple pale ale recipe with cascade and centennial hops that I’m familiar with and won’t blow my wife’s head apart 
. I’ve tried to keep it very simple to use this first time to get the BIAB process down. I’ve listed my references below that I used for grains, calculators for strike volume, temp, IBU, SRM and process. Look forward to your comments and thoughts. So here goes;
AZ001 Pale Ale
Batch Size 5 Gallons
OG 1.047
FG 1.013
ABV 4.47
SRM 7-8
IBU 35-40
GRAINS (8.75 lbs)
6 lbs Rahr American 2-Row Pale Malt 1.8L
2.5 lbs German Munich 10L
.25 lbs Briess CapaPils 1.5L
HOPS (2 oz)
1 oz Cascade 7AA
1 oz Centennial 7.8AA
*See brew notes below.
YEAST
Omega HotHead Ale OYL-057
Attenuation: 75-85%
Flocculation: Med-High
Temp: 72-98F
PRIMING SUGAR
5 oz Corn Sugar
WATER
7 gallons of spring water. Source: Six Springs, AZ
BREW NOTES
Crush grain
Mash Schedule:
Strike Water Volume: ~6.8 gals
Strike Temp: 165-170F
Mash/Sacch Rest @152F for 60 mins
Mash Out @170F for 10 mins
Sparge Water Temp: 170F
Wort:
Pre-Boil Volume: 6 gals
Boil Time: 60 mins
.5oz Cascade/.5oz Centennial Hops @ 60 mins
.5oz Cascade/.5oz Centennial Hops @ 10 mins
Final Volume: 5 gals
Assumptions
Grain Absorption Rate: 0.1 gal/lb of grain
Boil Off Rate: 1 gal/hour
75% efficiency
Room Temp 78F (based on my HVAC settings here in AZ)
PROCESS
- Clean/Sanitize all brew equipment.
- Fill 10 gal kettle with 6.8 gals of water and heat to strike temp 165-170F
- Once strike temp is reached remove heat. Put the BIAB grain bag into the water (keep from touching the bottom of kettle). Stir in grains to remove any lumps/dough balls. Cover and rest maintaining temp at 150F for 60 mins (cover with a towel/blanket and check temp often & stir).
- After 60 minute rest raise temp to 170F for 10 mins for mash out
- After mash out remove heat and tie off the bag and remove from the wort allowing the bag to drip before transferring to the 5 gal pot and stir.
- Heat ~.5 gals of water to 170F and sparge/rinse the grain bag in the 5 gal pot. Return this sparge water to the wort for boiling.
- Boil wort in 10 gal kettle with cover off for 60 mins.
a. .5oz Cascade/.5oz Centennial Hops @ 60 mins
b. .5oz Cascade/.5oz Centennial Hops @ 10 mins - 5 mins before the boil is complete insert the clean/sanitized immersion wort chiller into the boiling wort. (Insure the input/output hoses don’t melt.)
- Cold Break – After the 60 min boil remove heat. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes and turn on the water the wort chiller. (Check the output to insure the water is HOT.) Monitor the temp and chill the wort to 80F (~20-30 minutes).
- Transfer the chilled wort to the 5 gal fermentation bucket. Check the Original Gravity with hydrometer (1.047).
- Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast at 75-80F wort temp (check yeast instructions). Seal the fermentation bucket and insert the airlock (fill airlock with sanitizer). Store at room temp ~78F.
a. Primary ~2 weeks at room temp ~78F.
b. Secondary ~1-2 weeks (optional) – transfer from primary using racking cane to 5 gal carboy. Insert bung/airlock and store at room temp ~78F. - After fermentation is complete (~4 wks FG <=1.013) bottle the beer.
a. Boil 5oz of priming sugar in 2 cups of water to create a simple syrup. Let cool.
b. Pour the cooled priming sugar solution into the bottling bucket.
c. Rack the beer from the bucket/carboy to the bottling bucket. Stir gently avoiding aerating the wort to distribute the priming sugar into the beer.
d. Bottle the beer and cap (leave ½-1 inch bottle headspace). - Bottle condition the beer for 10-12 days (longer is better).
REFERENCES
Northern Brewer http://www.northernbrewer.com (recipe examples, priming calculator, grain information) and forum http://forum.northernbrewer.com
Brewer’s Friend http://www.brewersfriend.com (IBU, SRM calculators)
Golden Triangle Brewers http://www.gtrbrewers.com (OF/FG calculator)
American Homebrewers Association http://BrewersAssociation.org (Brew in a Bag (BIAB) paper for determining strike water volume/temp and variable assumptions)
The Complete Handbook of Home Brewing – Dave Miller (various references used in this book).
Omega Yeast http://www.omegayeast.com
Nice process sheet! The only thing I would add is when I bottle, I stir again gently every nine bottles or so…the concern being that the sugar may sneak out of solution with time and concentrate in a few bottles, not sure if that happens or not, but can’t be too cautious.
The only time I had bottle bombs was not from this step…it was from bottling a beer in which fermentation had stalled and I was an idiot.
There you’ve done it. That should be a nice beer
