Brew in a bag

[earle]

Put me down for 1 tonne of quality chinese hops. You'll fit that in your carry-on luggage won't you??

[bullfrog]

"Quality Chinese hops" will definitely fit in his carry-on luggage as, seeing as they don't exist, they don't weigh a thing!

[earle]

Exactly

[speedie]

tell corby about that

[matr]

Ok so I did some more on it today & it's more or less complete but untested.

Here are some pics showing the keggle & SS mesh bag / basket.



Don't look at the naming on top of the keg..



Inside the keg



The basket. It's hard to see but it has a slightly conical base.



Inside the basket. Bottom of the basket shows the thermowell. Will be using an STC-1000 for temp control.



Basket in the keg..

Fingers crossed it works ok.

Cheers, Mat.

[Planner]

Along with this I've got a 50L keg with a 2200W element, SS 2 piece ball valve, SS fittings & a SS pick up tube. Keg is insulated with 2 layers of 10mm camping mat around the side & 1 layer underneath.

Mat

How well does the 2200W element go in the 50l keg? I'm on the hunt for a keg at present to replace the 20l urn currently in use. I was going to gas fire it, seeing I already have a burner and suitable regulater, but have been considering going electric recently (especially with the price of elements at present). Does the single element bring to boil in a reasonable time, or do you use an imersion heater as well?

By the way, like the stainless bag.

Planner

[matr]

How well does the 2200W element go in the 50l keg? I'm on the hunt for a keg at present to replace the 20l urn currently in use. I was going to gas fire it, seeing I already have a burner and suitable regulater, but have been considering going electric recently (especially with the price of elements at present). Does the single element bring to boil in a reasonable time, or do you use an imersion heater as well?

Planner

Hey Planner, I haven't really tested it properly but have read that it will bring on a rolling boil. It seems there are a few out there using them. The element is from Craftbrewer.

Will probably give it a test run full volume this weekend.

Cheers, Mat.

[Planner]

Thanks Mat, keen to hear how it goes.

[big dave]

Nice work! Keep us appraised. Have just this minute got in from picking up a keg myself, so this is good stuff.

[speedie]

becareful that you dont get busted for having stolen property

[hirns]

Mat, what is the timber that you've used at the top of the basket, from the top down pic it looks like MDF. If so I see a big problem in that it will fall to pieces with the steam from the brew.

Looks the goods otherwise.

Cheers

Hirns

[matr]

Thanks Mat, keen to hear how it goes.

Just an update to let you know how it went. I didn't keep exact times as I was busy doing other stuff.

Added 26L to the kettle and brought up to mash temp. Took about 30 - 40mins (This was only so I could get a rough idea on mash temp to boil time)

From mash (67C) to boil took another 30 - 40 mins, I chucked a piece of Aluminium foil in the top to give it a hand. Once there it maintained a nice rolling boil.

Kept it boiling for 60mins to get an idea of boil off loss. From approx 26L ended up with approx 18L in the bucket & approx 2L left in the kettle. With this I have adjusted beersmith to account so I don't fall short. I'm also not worried about the time taken to get to strike temp either as it will be on a timer set the night before.

So it's a thumbs up for the 2200W element ($40 from craft brewer) I think insulation makes a big difference as it did not even look like it was going to boil when I gave it a quick go after installation without the insulation.

becareful that you dont get busted for having stolen property

It can just be our little secret speedie..

Mat, what is the timber that you've used at the top of the basket, from the top down pic it looks like MDF. If so I see a big problem in that it will fall to pieces with the steam from the brew.

Yeah mate it's MDF. Have thought about it. Will prob get something to seal it before first use.

Cheers, Mat.

[Planner]

So it's a thumbs up for the 2200W element ($40 from craft brewer) I think insulation makes a big difference as it did not even look like it was going to boil when I gave it a quick go after installation without the insulation.

Thanks Mat, looks like an element will be the next purchase, now just need to "source" a keg.

[Geoff]

Single vessel theory - reminds me of the JFK single gun theory.

[Bum]

Always hoist back and to the side.

[speedie]

bum is that your bag that you are hoisting

[Geoff]

Seems to me that the advice is of universal application.

[BribieG]

My couple of 40L urns 2400w handle a rolling boil nicely and not even up to full power on the dial, so should just about do for a 50L keggle. However the main problem is not the boil as such, it's getting the wort UP to the boil and I'm tempted to get an over-the-side element to speed things up. The lagging helps as well. If designing a system from scratch I'd definitely look at an over the side booster both for bringing strike liquor up to temp and for bringing up to the boil later on, then remove it and run on the main element for the boil itself.

[Oliver]

Hi chaps,

I went to the brewing demo at Grain and Grape this morning, at which they were doing a BIAB. (As an aside, drsmurto's name was mentioned a few timesduring the course of the morning.)

So it's got me inspired. I've got the mashing/boiling vessel so during my holidays over Chrismas I'm going to buy an electronic thermometer and immersion heating element, and make myself a bag, then get to it.

Seems pretty straightforward. I say now

Any tips from anyone?

Grog, how did your beer turn out?

Cheers,

Oliver

[warra48]

I don't want to unnecessarily endorse other brewing forums, but there is an Aus forum devoted to purely BIAB.
My brewing is done with a 3 vessel set-up, so I'm not in a position to offer advice.
However, for what it's worth, here's the link.
http://www.biabrewer.info/