Thanks to a wonderful birthday gift (BIAB Bag) from my girlfriend, I will be making my first jump into all grain brewing tomorrow and figured that I would share my pulley rig with those who might be looking for something similar. I couldn't find a "ratchet pulley" at my local HD, Lowe's or Harbor Freight for suspending the bag over my kettle so I put something together that I think will work well. I already have a large steel strap which is bolted to the joists on my garage ceiling that I will attach the spring lock to. Attached to that will be the tensioner and I picked up 10' of 550 paracord to run the whole system. I snagged all of this for $9.xx at my HD tonight. I'll make sure to report back with results!
Word of warning, don't go too heavy on the grain. The pulley should hold, but the bag may not. Looks great though, I'd like something similar.
Echoing ssam's statement...... BIAB bags can range in strength / design quality. It's a good idea to test the weight capacity of the bag / pulley system first with something other than 150F wet grain. Perhaps bags of sand, sugar, sack of dry grain etc? Don't forget to account for the water weight of the wort that your mash grain bill will absorb.
Personally biab was a less intimidating step into all grain since it's basically the same process as steeping specialty grain. One less technique to learn at the very beginning. But yes, it is no less of a PITA than a traditional setup.
