Been doing it for 2 years. Use a strainer right over the brew pot.
I lift 50lb boxes of paper every day at work. And 15lbs of grain soaking wet coming out of a mash tun is not 50lbs. Just sayin.
[quote=“dobe12”]Been doing it for 2 years. Use a strainer right over the brew pot.
I lift 50lb boxes of paper every day at work. And 15lbs of grain soaking wet coming out of a mash tun is not 50lbs. Just sayin.[/quote]Yeah, I hit the “5” instead of the “3”. 
You can handle 30 lbs and so can I, but a lot of homebrewers have bad backs from carrying a keg belly out front, plus unless you have the strainer, or a way to suspend a big bag of grain over the kettle, it’s easy to just pull the small bags one at a time and dunk in the sparge water (if sparging) and then hold them over the kettle to drain.
[quote=“Shadetree”][quote=“dobe12”]Been doing it for 2 years. Use a strainer right over the brew pot.
I lift 50lb boxes of paper every day at work. And 15lbs of grain soaking wet coming out of a mash tun is not 50lbs. Just sayin.[/quote]Yeah, I hit the “5” instead of the “3”. You can handle 30 lbs and so can I, but a lot of homebrewers have bad backs from carrying a keg belly out front, plus unless you have the strainer, or a way to suspend a big bag of grain over the kettle, it’s easy to just pull the small bags one at a time and dunk in the sparge water (if sparging) and then hold them over the kettle to drain.[/quote]
I’m not arguing your system. I’m simply offering up other options to the OP’er. For me, it would be easier to lift a single grain sack, put a strainer under it, and then set the sack back down. It takes a whole part of 5 seconds. I don’t have to hold multiple sacks of grain up and let them drain. Again, not tying to argue. Just giving an alternative to the guy/gale who asked.
Who doesn’t have a strainer? You don’t ever cook pasta?
[quote=“dobe12”]Who doesn’t have a strainer? You don’t ever cook pasta?[/quote]Don’t make enough pasta at one time to warrant owning a strainer big and strong enough to cover a kettle and hold the grain.
I’m just tired of people dismissing the method because they’ll “need a winch” to pull the grain so I suggest the small bags as a starter. I want people to give it a shot, particularly when someone wants to move to AG but is intimidated by a mashtun.
I’m not intimated by a mash tun, I’m just cheap The BIAB seems like a workable method to me. I just wish I had a bigger brew kettle. This should be fun though.
[quote=“cryptologic”]I’m not intimated by a mash tun, I’m just cheap :cheers:
I recently did a 5 gallon batch with my 3 gallon BIAB system. I used 7.5lbs of grain and mashed in 6 gallons of water. After I lifted the bag and rested it on a big colander, I poured my sparge water over the grains with a coffee mug until I had about 6.5-6.75 gallons. I used fermcap and had no boil over on my turkey frier. I achieved 81% efficiency and an O.G. of 1.045. I don’t see why you couldn’t do this for almost all 5 gallon batches, I would think the only downside would be less efficiency the higher the gravity.
I am planning on using this same method to make the Sustanor2 this weekend, fingers crossed.
Did it this technique work for your Sustanor2? I came across a post elsewhere on the interwebs where a guy just puts the grain bag in a plain old square cooler with hot liquor then simply drains from there. While it adds an extra thing to clean seems like it would allow all the grains and water to fit in a plain old square cooler. I wonder how well that works?
[quote=“cryptologic”]While it adds an extra thing to clean seems like it would allow all the grains and water to fit in a plain old square cooler. I wonder how well that works?[/quote]Works just like doing it in a kettle plus you don’t have to worry so much about insulation, but you can’t add direct heat. It’s a nice way to try out AG brewing without having to mess with a manifold right away.
LMAO!
I strongly recommend you stop watching that show until you can read at least the first three books…
LMAO!
I strongly recommend you stop watching that show until you can read at least the first three books…[/quote]
The show can stand alone without having to be compared to the books. It’s regarded as one of the best shows on television. You don’t need to read the books to watch and follow.
I personally don’t read fantasy books. I lose interest quickly… but I love shows/movies like Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, etc.
I’m kind of leaning toward the cooler method because my 7.5gal kettle isn’t big enough for a 5gal BIAB batch.
Sure it is. I use a 30qrt (7.5gal) pot all the time. Of course I max out at around 14-15lbs and my efficiency suffers (65% or so), but it’s very possible to brew 5 gallon batches in that size pot. If mashing 10-12lbs it’s very manageable, but up to 15lbs or so is possible.
EDIT: If 10-12lbs of grain, I routinely hit 75% efficiency.
