Going to try my first BIAB with a 7 gallon pot. What is the maximum grain weight (assuming 1.5 qt per pound I think?) that I can adequately handle?
About halfway down the page.
Huh. Thanks for the reply. So I can do NB all_grain kits in my 7 gal pot. Thought I needed a 10 gal. Sweet!
[quote=“Zube42”]So I can do NB all_grain kits in my 7 gal pot. Thought I needed a 10 gal. Sweet![/quote]With BIAB, you add ALL of you water (strike+sparge) to the kettle and your grains.
A 7 gallon kettle will not be big enough, I don’t believe.
You can sparge in a bucket, or you can do no-sparge and take a slight hit in efficiency. Also, you’ll be starting with 6gal preboil so you’ll probably need Fermcap S to avoid boilover. Alternatively you can start with a concentrated wort and dilute when it goes to the fermentor, this will also result in a little hit to the efficiency but it can be done.
[quote=“tom sawyer”]You can sparge in a bucket[/quote]Never seen the sparge in a bucket with BIAB.
I thought the whole point of it was to do it all at once in the same vessel.
In my opinion a 10 gallon kettle is the ideal size for single vessel BIAB. I use a 10 gallon kettle and with 13.5 lbs of grain and 8 gallons of water I am pretty full at mash. Here is a photo of my kettle last weekend with these amounts. I had to really watch for boil overs for the first 1/2 of the boil…
I use a 6 gallon aluminum to mash and I sparge in a 7 gallon SS kettle. Pour first runnings into the SS pot where the second runnings are and that’s it.
I get grain absorption of .07 gallons per lb of grain generally with BIAB so less mash/sparge water needed than cooler style.
[quote=“NewToTheBrew69”]I use a 6 gallon aluminum to mash and I sparge in a 7 gallon SS kettle. Pour first runnings into the SS pot where the second runnings are and that’s it.
I get grain absorption of .07 gallons per lb of grain generally with BIAB so less mash/sparge water needed than cooler style.[/quote]
+1. I mash in a 5 gallon pot, sparge in a 7.5 gallon pot. The sparge is nothing more than dunking the mashed grains in the second pot and giving it a good stir. I let it sit at 165-170 for about 10minutes. Pour both pots of wort into one and boil. I get pretty solid efficiency at 70-80% using this method. I usually use about 1/2 as much sparge water as mash water.
I did a batch with a 14# grain bill in an 8 gallon pot and had beau coup room - I could have easily put a few more #s of grain and still gotten most or all of the water for a 5 gallon batch in.
