Stovetop BIAB

[kenny10]

Hey, I am looking to go AG and stovetop BIAB is what I want to do. I am looking to do 5-6gallon batches and want to know if anyone out there does this. If so what are some things that would make the transition a success for someone who is new to the AG world.

[dean2k]

That's a difficult volume to do on a stove. Or on my stove anyway.

[pet lion]

Yep.

Check out the BIAB subforum:
http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=43" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This thread is a good start:
http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... =43&t=1989" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Two Wheeler]

I successfully boiled 6 gallons on my stove the other day. It wasn't very vigorous, and it took forever, but I did it. It's a crappy Frigidaire stove, I had to put the kettle over two burners.

[GuingesRock]

I can describe my experience with stovetop BIAB if it might help.

I started with 5 gallon batches and now do 12 gallon BIAB batches on the stove top with my setup pictured below. I haven't heard of anyone doing more than 5 gal on a stovetop, but maybe someone on here also does that. I have seen pictures of people doing BIAB in a wide based pot on a small stove, utilising all four rings, and I think that might be a good thing to look into.

With the 5 gallon batches, I used to pull the bag and rest it on a strainer on top of the pot, but I always found I spilt some on the ceramic hob and that stuff is very hard to clean off when it's burnt on.

With the 12 gallon batches I no longer pull the bag out, but instead let the wort drain through a ball valve to my second pot (boiling pot) on the floor. My wife and I then lift the pot from the floor to a chair. Then we both stand on chairs and lift it the final leg to the stove. It's about 13 gal and quite heavy at that point but can be managed by two people, although my wife is pretty strong from all her Yoga. At least it isn't boiling at that stage and is only around 140F so not particularly dangerous.

As I only have a 16 gal pot I do a sparge as well. My initial strike water for the mash is 12 gal. I will heat that to strike temp and then stir in the grain. After 90 minutes I will drain that out to the pot on the floor, close the tap and add 4 gallons of 170F sparge water (which I heated in a separate pot) and leave that sit for 10 minutes with some stirring before draining that to the second pot as well. I guess that's called batch sparging and I didn't notice any loss of efficiency when I added in the 4 gal sparge. While I'm bringing the wort up to the boil the last of the wort is still draining from the mash pot into the sparge water pot, and I'll get another gallon or two to dump in the boil pot before the boil starts.

I love it. I can brew in all weathers. I hook up my PVC cooling lines at the sink. The sink and dishwasher is there for cleaning, kitchen scales, anything I need basically is there in the kitchen.

The downside is it takes about 90 minutes to get the strike water up to temperature, and another 120 minutes to bring the wort up to the boil. I don't mind that and go about whatever else I have to do. I'll often heat the strike water to near boiling the evening before, and with a little temperature adjustment in the morning, either heating or scooping out a pot or two of hot water and replacing with cold, it will be ready for the mash. I think the boil rate is fine. Another downside is the kitchen can fill up with steam during the boil, but I leave the door open a bit and that solves the problem. I do that in the winter as well and don't mind it as otherwise the kitchen gets a bit hot with the stove and the boil going.

That's a Maytag 5 ring ceramic cooktop. The rear element I have been using is 2700 watt heat output. With ceramic hobs you aren’t supposed to have pot with a base that’s much bigger than the ring as it voids the warranty. Mine is a bit over the limit but haven’t had problems and I figured the manufacturer would build themselves in a safety margin.

…and that’s all I know