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Title is pretty clear, but I'm hoping current BIAB guys and gals will chime in. My kettle is 50qt with a 5500W element installed and I'll be looking to order a bag from Jimmy and a lid from amazon. I'm wondering about:

1) insulation
How do people insulate the mash? I'm looking at the foil bubble wrap from Central to create a "jacket" for the pot.

I will add more questions as I have them.

1) That's what I do. I fasioned a jacket with reflectix, tin tape, and velcro strips. I think my current one is two layers while the one for my old keggle was 1 layer.

Insulation or no insulation, make sure your temp probe is calibrated and work on hitting your strike temp right off the bat (which could take a few brews on a new system).

I am contemplating this right now for my upcoming build (yes, the one I started last October). I am going to be using a HERMS system, however I'd like to still insulate the mash tun (and the HLT and possibly the kettle too) to save as much electricity as possible. I'm toying around with the idea of wrapping the vessels in Roxul Stone Wool Insulation, then reflectix to hold it on (using velcro to secure the reflectix to itself). It may be a bit of overkill but roxul is mold/mildew resistant, fireproof and easy to work with (I've been using it in my houses for the past 7 years consistently). Even though it's an electric system, with a HERMS, I figure the extra $60 isn't going to hurt. Just my thoughts.

http://www.roxul.com/products/residenti ... 7n%27sound" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - it's only 3" thick

Could you enclose the Roxul with Reflectix to make a layered "blanket"? Reflectix/Roxul/Reflectix. Then seal the edges/seems with relectix tape.
Wrap the vessel then hold in place with velcro.
This might save spills from contacting the Roxul and help hold it together too, maybe a bit more money.
I use reflectix, it's prone to melting near the propane burner which you won't have, but it works very well.

2) Recipe formulation
Is it much different or am I using a similar recipe to sparge systems and just thinning the mash?

Recipe would be the same, the only thing you need to adjust is your efficiency and water volumes (which you would do regardless of what type of system you are using). With BIAB you would typically add all of your water during the mash instead of doing a sparge. Some people will leave a bit of the water out from the mash and do a dunk sparge - it's really personal preference.

Jimmy wrote:Recipe would be the same, the only thing you need to adjust is your efficiency and water volumes (which you would do regardless of what type of system you are using). With BIAB you would typically add all of your water during the mash instead of doing a sparge. Some people will leave a bit of the water out from the mash and do a dunk sparge - it's really personal preference.

How long does it usually take to drain the goodies out of the bag once you lift it? I'm curious if it's much faster than the cooler/sparge method as the main reason I'm thinking of doing it is time constraints on my current system (~5-6 Hour brew days)

It only takes minutes to lift the bag from the pot with most liquid drained. From there, I put the bag in a colander on top of the kettle and let it continue to drain as everything heats up. Typical brew day (propane outdoors) including cleanup and putting gear away in basement is 4 to 5 hours.

Bag drainage speed can depend on a few factors.

- Bag porosity. A finer mesh bag will drain slower but let less trub through. Ok, you will still get lots of trub anyways, who am I kidding?
- Grain crush. A finer crush will drain slower but can also yield higher efficiency. A really fine crush can gum up the bag a bit, related to the first point.
- Size of your grain bill. A lighter grain bill is easier to drain because it's easier to lift out, easier to squeeze the bag (if you're into that), and the wort has less grain to pass through.

My 11-12 gallon batches take way longer to drain and I get less efficiency partly because the huge grain mass is so unwieldly and too large to squeeze effectively.

I think I'll actually invest in a 70qt extreme cooler and buy a BIAB bag for that and try doing increased volume mashes with a single sparge.

RubberToe wrote:My 11-12 gallon batches take way longer to drain and I get less efficiency partly because the huge grain mass is so unwieldly and too large to squeeze effectively.

I thought you were running a single vessel? How are you able to do 11-12 gallon batches? Or did I miss an upgrade?

bluenose wrote:

RubberToe wrote:My 11-12 gallon batches take way longer to drain and I get less efficiency partly because the huge grain mass is so unwieldly and too large to squeeze effectively.

I thought you were running a single vessel? How are you able to do 11-12 gallon batches? Or did I miss an upgrade?

Yep, bigger pot.

RubberToe wrote:Yep, bigger pot.

Ah so...