BIAB element cover

[Oliver]

So, I've got my 40L Birko urn and a pulley, rope and bag in preparation for my foray into BIAB.

The urn is exposed element so I will need to place something over the element to keep the bag off it during mashing just in case I need to give it a burst of heat.

Cake racks seem to be a popular and sensible choice, but the ones I have seen don't sit up high enough.

Others use a colander, which I can see would have its attractions.

Any thoughts? Or pictures of one or the other, or another idea altogether?

Cheers,

Oliver

[bullfrog]

I use a 40L Birko and don't cover the element. Get yourself a yoga mat from Clark's Rubber or similar, cut it to shape and duct-tape in place for permanent lagging. Works a treat. I only get ~1 degree drop in a 90 minute mash for a full batch.

If you're wanting to add heat for stepped mashing then it'd be worth considering decocting as an alternative to using the element.

[Oliver]

Thanks BF. I will try just leaving it the hell alone and see how I go.

Cheers,

Oliver

[big dave]

Hey Oliver

My setup is gas-fired. I bought a big old stainless saucepan lid, and cut and bent three legs into the sides, so that it sits a centimetre or so off the bottom of the keggle, and just keeps the bag off the base. I have found that on a warm day, I don't need to add heat during the mash, and generally only lose a degree or two over the 90 minutes.

What is your set up for lifting the bag?

My bag is a pretty fine weave, and regardless of the crush, I find pulling the bag needs to be slow with lots of squeezing. For this last brew, I used a suspended ratchet tie-down, which was terrific, as I could alternately raise the bag a click or two and then squeeze, without spilling hot liquor everywhere. Do you have insulated gloves?

Let us know how it goes.

[Oliver]

Hi BD,

Thanks for the info. As mentioned I think I'll give it a shot without any covering and see how I go. Perhaps as winter approaches I might need to rethink.

I will be doing my brewing under a verandah where there is already a hook positioned perfectly thanks to the previous occupiers. I have bought a 50mm pulley and some sash cord (the pack of which intriguingly has a picture of a rock climber on the side, overlaid with text saying "Not suitable for climbing" Those crazy Chinese).

I figured, hopefully correctly, that sash cord was more likely to hold a knot than nylon rope. It has some ridiculously high breaking weight so I don't think it's going to snap in a hurry.

Cheers,

Oliver

[big dave]

You should be fine Oliver. The first one is always interesting, but the beer is amazing. I thought my extract brews were pretty good, but they do not come close to what I have done with BIAB. Keep us posted!

[bullfrog]

I don't bother with a hoist system at all. I made a colander that fits perfectly into the top of my urn (drilled a billion holes into the bottom of a plastic wash basin I found at bunnings.)

So now all I do is lift the bag slowly out of the liquor, slide the colander under it and let it drain for a bit. Element takes a little while to ramp up to rolling boil so I use this time for drainage.

This method is also good for if one is inclined to batch sparge their BIAB - just heat up the sparge water towards the end of the mash and add it to the bag whilst in the colander.

I'm in the same boat as Big Dave, too, when it comes to the difference between extract and BIAB. I made some stunning beers with extract and they became killer when done AG.

[BribieG]

Welcome to the dark side. A couple of points about element covers: with an urn, doing a single infusion mash you really never need to apply heat while the bag is in the urn if you use good lagging such as a sleeping bag + doonah. I've gone onto a sleeping bag that's then surrounded by a sheet of that metallised foam from Clark Rubber, pulled in tight with a cord wrapped around it and I would lose maybe a degree over an hour.

If you want to do things like step mashing or heat the mash to mashout 78° then an element cover is great so you can apply heat with the bag still in place, while stirring (preferably pumping up and down with a paint stirrer that looks like a giant potato masher - from dulux stores) and holding a thermometer into the mash. I found an ideal bit of kit is a curved roasting rack from a kitchen shop, about $15 and tie some brickies twine to it so you can fish it out after the bag is removed. I've done probably 30 brews like this so far and no problems with the bag fouling the element. Fits neatly into a Crown and would be perfect in a Birko - it actually "cups" the bottom of the bag in its natural shape, I'd imagine that with a cake rack the bag might bulge down over the sides and maybe touch the element at some point.

[Oliver]

Thanks for all your comments, guys. I will go without the cake rack/roasting rack for now. No doubt I will be keen to try something different like a step mash in the not-too-distant-future so I will keep a lookout for something suitable.

Oliver

[Oliver]

I will go without the cake rack/roasting rack for now

Famous last words ... today I picked up a Davis & Waddell non-stick roasting rack from London & American Supply Stores in Melbourne. It fits perfectly and sits about a centimetre above the element at its closest point. The Birko element doesn't sit quite as flat as the Crown element appears to in BribieG's photo.

It is just like BribieG's, except non-stick and possibly a bit smaller.

Oliver

[BribieG]

For a Crown Urn, although you can't tell from my photo, the element is fairly high as it enters the base of the urn, then is lower for it's "business" section so I put the rack with this orientation and it keeps the bag well off the element. Excuse the kindergarted quality drawing