Even though I’m just starting on my brewing endeavor, I’m already thinking about the near future. My first one gallon batch will be bottled Saturday. Plan on brewing two 1 gallon batches this weekend, one of which will be a BIAB clone of SNPA, which I talked about in another thread.
For the BIAB brewers, what size batches do you brew and what size kettle do you have? I am looking at a 10 gallon kettle to brew 2.5 gallon batches and maybe 5 gallon batches. Would a 10 gal kettle be too big for 2.5 gal batches and too small for 5 gallon batches? I will probably never brew more than 5 gallons so just want to make sure I get the right equipment now vs having to get something else down the line.
I haven’t even tried my brew yet and I’m already addicted. Hopefully I’m not the only one like this. I spend hours in the evening reading on the net trying to gain knowledge about this addiction. My other addiction is smoking meat so brewing and smoking should work well together.
Just need to find the time to show some attention to my wife. LOL.
I do anywhere from 1 to 5 gallon BIAB, or at least I did before getting my mash tun to drain properly. 2.5 gallons in a 10 gallon pot is just fine, but your chiller might not be fully submerged. Not a huge problem, though.
You say now that you won’t be doing anything larger than 5 gallons… Be warned! :lol:
I did 5 gallon BIAB batches in a 9 gallon Kettle for a couple years. I don’t do full volume BIAB though. I mash in at more like traditional grain/water ratios then sparge by running water through the grain bag after pulling it to get my full volume.
I now have a 2 vessel BIAB setup with 2 16 gallon kettles. I do 5 and 10 gallon batches on this setup.
Couple years ago I would have told you I’d never do 10 gallon batches…of course I probably wouldn’t have believed I’d have two beer dedicated freezers and 10 kegs either… :shock:
[quote=“ed_brewer”]Even though I’m just starting on my brewing endeavor, I’m already thinking about the near future. My first one gallon batch will be bottled Saturday. Plan on brewing two 1 gallon batches this weekend, one of which will be a BIAB clone of SNPA, which I talked about in another thread.
For the BIAB brewers, what size batches do you brew and what size kettle do you have? I am looking at a 10 gallon kettle to brew 2.5 gallon batches and maybe 5 gallon batches. Would a 10 gal kettle be too big for 2.5 gal batches and too small for 5 gallon batches? I will probably never brew more than 5 gallons so just want to make sure I get the right equipment now vs having to get something else down the line.
I haven’t even tried my brew yet and I’m already addicted. Hopefully I’m not the only one like this. I spend hours in the evening reading on the net trying to gain knowledge about this addiction. My other addiction is smoking meat so brewing and smoking should work well together.
Just need to find the time to show some attention to my wife. LOL.[/quote]
All of my AG batches have been BIAB, and I’ve never done anything less than 5 gallons. I too use a 10 gallon pot, and I’ve had no issues. Just make sure that you have a few bags on hand that are large enough to accommodate the grist of a 5 gallon batch. I’ve found that when you are mashing in 10+ pounds of grist, the bags tend to wear out and tear easily after a few runs.
Otherwise, no other considerations, and happy brewing.
BTW, I too have a similar brewing / 'queuing addiction. My advice: make it a point to make queue and brew that your wife likes; that’ll hopefully get you off the hook! 8)
[quote=“S Wagner”][quote=“ed_brewer”]Even though I’m just starting on my brewing endeavor, I’m already thinking about the near future. My first one gallon batch will be bottled Saturday. Plan on brewing two 1 gallon batches this weekend, one of which will be a BIAB clone of SNPA, which I talked about in another thread.
For the BIAB brewers, what size batches do you brew and what size kettle do you have? I am looking at a 10 gallon kettle to brew 2.5 gallon batches and maybe 5 gallon batches. Would a 10 gal kettle be too big for 2.5 gal batches and too small for 5 gallon batches? I will probably never brew more than 5 gallons so just want to make sure I get the right equipment now vs having to get something else down the line.
I haven’t even tried my brew yet and I’m already addicted. Hopefully I’m not the only one like this. I spend hours in the evening reading on the net trying to gain knowledge about this addiction. My other addiction is smoking meat so brewing and smoking should work well together.
Just need to find the time to show some attention to my wife. LOL.[/quote]
All of my AG batches have been BIAB, and I’ve never done anything less than 5 gallons. I too use a 10 gallon pot, and I’ve had no issues. Just make sure that you have a few bags on hand that are large enough to accommodate the grist of a 5 gallon batch. I’ve found that when you are mashing in 10+ pounds of grist, the bags tend to wear out and tear easily after a few runs.
Otherwise, no other considerations, and happy brewing.
BTW, I too have a similar brewing / 'queuing addiction. My advice: make it a point to make queue and brew that your wife likes; that’ll hopefully get you off the hook! 8) [/quote]
She enjoy’s my que but she has not gotten into the craft brew yet. She did try a Kolsch at a LBHS and liked it so it’s on my list to brew in the near future. Hard to get someone to convert when they drink Mic Ultra.
When I started to get into BIAB brewing besides my 10 gallon Spike brewing kettle purchase my mash bag I bought from http://www.bagbrewer.com/ has worked great. It’s strong and built to last. I have brewed 3 gallon batches up to 5 gallon batches on my 10 gallon kettle with no issues. The most grain I can fit in my kettle using the BIAB method is around 13 pounds of grain and that’s the limitation of BIAB for most people is if you’re going for a really big beer like a imperial stout / barleywine you should go with either a bigger kettle or a traditional AG setup IMO. I usually start with 7 gallons of water for my mash (5 gallon batch) then once mashing is completed i’ll rinse my grain in a separate bucket with a gallon of warm water around 155 degrees and let that sit for around 15 min. I don’t think you’ll have an issue with a 2.5 gallon batch in a 10 gallon kettle just make sure your bag is long enough to hit the amount of water you’re starting off with for that small of batch.
I started doing partial boils in a 5 gallon kettle with extract, and recently purchased a 10 gallon kettle for my AG set up(i do not do BIAB). I’m glad that I purchased the 10 gal and not the 8gal. There’s plenty of room in it for full boils of 5 gallon batches, and boiling smaller batches in it would be no problem either.
I haven’t been brewing for a whole year yet and I find the hobby not only fun, but rewarding. It certainly becomes addicting when you hold up your pint glass with the tasty beer that YOU made. :cheers:
I also do 5-6G BIAB in a 10 gallon kettle. Works great. If you invest in a good burner, you can do really quick brewdays. I have a 10-month old and am considering doing an APA Thursday night after work.
One other tip I can give you is once you have your 10 gallon kettle, get yourself a nice new Weber grill grate that will fit over the top. What I do is I’ll lift my grist out of the kettle, put the grill grate down on top, and place the grist on the grate to squeeze and sparge with about a gallon of hot (170 degree) water. Works great, and you don’t need to dirty any other kettles or buckets.
The 10 gallon kettle from Spike Brewing is the one I want. I looked at the bag from bagbrewer.com and also from brewinabag.com. The bag from brew in a bag has the straps that go all the way to the bottom. It’s probably over-kill as it can support 100 lbs of grain. Way more than I’ll ever need.
If your into small scale batches, I’ve done 1-gallon batches with a BIAB with a 2-gallon cooler and a 2-gallon pot on the kitchen stove for sparging. Its a pretty easy setup that allows for very fast experimental batch runs.
Downside is you only get about 9-10 bottles with a 1gallon batch, but hey if you brew every weekend you do end up with a quite a bit of different types of beer at the end.
Clean up is fast and its not an all-day endeavor either…
I currently only have the setup for 1 gallon batches but i’m thinking about upgrading to do 2.5-5 gallon batches.
The largest pot I have is a 3 gallon el cheapo stainless pot. I am planning on a brew Saturday, which is 1.4 and it calls for 2.81 gallons water. That would put me over the top with almost 3 lbs of grain.
I really do not want to go out and buy a 5 gallon pot for one brew since I am already looking at getting a 10 gallon pot soon.
So i’m thinking about reserving 1/2-3/4 gallon of the 2.81 gallons and do a sparge into 5 gallon bucket or small ice chest then transfer to my kettle to finish the boil.
Would this be a good idea?
I have the 10 gallon Tall Boy kettle from NB/Midwest and I do 5 to 5.5 gallon batches. Gotta be careful how big the grain bill is. With almost 9 gallons of water and 14 lbs of grain for the mash, my kettle is pretty close to maxed out (that gets me up into the high 1.060s gravity wise, maybe 1.070). If I ever do decide to do anything higher gravity than that, I’ll have to do a sparge step to get to my pre-boil volume, but my setup has worked great for the batches I’ve done so far.
I do 2.7 gallon batches using a 5g pot (The NB starter pot which I’m pretty sure holds a bit less than 5 gallons). Instead of mashing right in the pot, I use a 5 gallon round drink cooler with a paint strainer bag to hold the grain. Works like a treat. If I even move up to 5 gallon batches I will probably do the same thing, just in a 10g cooler instead.
The 10 gallon kettle from Spike Brewing is the one I want. I looked at the bag from bagbrewer.com and also from brewinabag.com. The bag from brew in a bag has the straps that go all the way to the bottom. It’s probably over-kill as it can support 100 lbs of grain. Way more than I’ll ever need.[/quote]
Not overkill at ALL to order from Jeff @ Bagbrewer he is the man. I have done about 35 batches with the first one i bought from him and it still works great. The straps are great too.
My process for ‘lauter/sparge’:
-Hold all straps together in one hand
-twist/spin bag like a produce bag before tying it
-rubber band/otherwise cinch the bag
-place in spare ale pail or fermenter you will be using for that batch
-pour 2 gallons or so of 170* water over it, let sit for 10 minutes while I heat the ‘first runnings’ still in the kettle
The cinching also allows you to effectively squeeze the bag to get more wort out. +1 to a weber grill grate, or even better, a canning rack that can fit over your kettle.
