10 gallon BIAB?

I have been doing 5 gallon brew-in-a-bag and am very pleased with the process on brew day and the results. Effeciency is 80% (plus or minus 1%) so no complaints there. Only problem is that I’d love 10 gallons of beer instead of 5. I’m a little concerned about lifting 25+ pounds of wet grain (plus the 12# of additional water trapped in the grain). The bag I use says it is good for 100# of sand (with accompaning video… impressive) so that shouldn’t be a problem. I just am hessitant to go to 3-vessel for some reason and would like to stick with BIAB. Anyone do 10 gallon BIAB?

I avoided the problem of lifting the bag by using a 15 gallon SS Steamer Pot with an internal basket. I put the bag inside the Basket and then lift the basket with the grains and bag. However, a 10 gallon batch of grain is 25 lb DRY. It will be considerably heavier when wet, you had better have a hoist to lift the much. :slight_smile:

Grain holds a pint per pound, so thats another 25lb of water in 25lb of grain. If you can lift and hold that much more power to you, but I’d rig something up to hold it while it drains. You ought to be able to rig up a small block and tackle to help you lift the bag up.

Honestly though, I really like the dennybrew cheap-and-easy cooler mashtun.

Thanks for the endorsement, Lennie!

To the OP…I don’t want a big system either, but I found BIAB unworkable for me for larger batches. Sure, people will say you can build a hoist, but is that really easier? Take a look at :wink:

Considering I’ve built five now (3,6,10,15 and 25gal), I figured I should spread the word.

I’ve done large BIAB batches in my 25-gallon BK, no sweat. When I do anything larger than a 5-gallon batch I’ll split the grain up into several bags. I use 5-gallon paint strainer bags, and fill each with 5-7 pounds of grain. It’s MUCH easier to manage 4 small bags in a 20-gallon batch than trying to wrangle one huge sticky mess of a bag. Fill each bag with grain, drape the top of the bag over the rim and clamp it to one of the kettle handles.

I just built a new 70 qt., so I’ve got a 48, 70, and 152 qt.

1 kettle to heat water and boil the wort.
1 cooler to mash in.
1 plastic fermenter/bottling bucket to drain the wort in.

You don’t need 2 large pots and propane burners to do AG brewing. :wink:

A buddy of mine brews only 15-gallon batches BIAB. His grandma made him a giant grain bag, which he has connected to a pulley system in his garage. Mash the grains, pull the bag and let drip, bring to boil in a giant keggle, etc. It can be done. It is done often at his house. I believe he brews 2 or 3 times per month. He has a lot of friends and gives most of his beer away to friends, family, and also charity – he often contributes cases as raffle prizes at his church, etc.

But is it easier than building a cheap’n’easy mash tun?

Do you drink the beer that fast that you can’t just brew more often instead of bigger batches? I like brewing so much that I’m going smaller so I can brew more often. Besides, you don’t get tired of a beer at a certain point? I do about half way through a 5 gallon batch and start getting excited for the next one on deck.
I’d just recommend building a cooler mashtun to go bigger.

Go Grandma!

[quote=“Beersk”]Do you drink the beer that fast that you can’t just brew more often instead of bigger batches? I like brewing so much that I’m going smaller so I can brew more often. Besides, you don’t get tired of a beer at a certain point? I do about half way through a 5 gallon batch and start getting excited for the next one on deck.
I’d just recommend building a cooler mashtun to go bigger.[/quote]
I’ve made a lot of friends since I started brewing. Its my version of tying a pork chop around my neck so dogs will play with me.