All grain or biab

The short answer is, "it depends."

We'll need to know if you have any $$ or space limitations.

 

They're both all-grain. BIAB is a subset of all-grain. Generally BIAB is a lot cheaper and easier to get started because you don't need a cooler or special sparge equipment or valves or anything too fancy, just a big bag. I've been brewing in a bag for many years. A lot of folks like myself stick with it for the long term because it's so cheap 'n' easy. Look into it. I think you'll really enjoy it.

 

Yes, you can certainly do 5 gallons and use the regular kits. The biggest question for BIAB is whether you have a vessel big enough to hold all the grains and all the wort at the same time. You can use a cooler for this, or a very large kettle or "keggle", or you can also move the bag between the typical 6-gallon plastic buckets to do a rinse or "sparge" and then combine the worts after the mash and sparge in the kettle. There are probably a thousand different ways to BIAB, and all of them are cheap 'n' easy.

 

Have you thought about your 'mechanism' to lift and drain your bag full of wet grain? Below is a video where this person built a hoist system using a step ladder.

Cheers!

 

I purchased a bag from this site for BIAB. http://www.brewinabag.com/ It's held up well over about 15 batches, and there are no signs of it wearing out. The built-in handles for lifting it are priceless.

FWIW, I also use one of these to help with draining my bag. It sits perfectly on my 8 gallon pot. I still have to keep a hand on the bag to keep it from falling over, but it allows me to relieve most of the weight of the bag. http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2870780&KPID=4083487&pla=pla_4083487

 

What is your process here? Do you lift the bag out with one hand and then slip the 'sieve' underneath with the other hand?

Cheers!

 

You still need to lift the bag and let it drain out.

Or will you just not drain the bag after the sparge?

Cheers!

 

I do not brew BIAB. I am a Fly Sparge brewer.

It seems to me that there is a fair bit of residual sugars in the wet bag of grains even after a secondary batch sparge.

Maybe you can figure out how to meet your target OG values even if you do not fully drain the bag after the secondary batch sparge?

Cheers!

 

Yeah, that's what I do. My biggest grainbill using this method so far was about 17 pounds, and I didn't have any trouble holding the bag up one handed for a second or two.

 

That is 17 lbs. of dry grains? If so, then needless to say the wet weight will be more than that.

Cheers!

 

Yes, that 17 lbs dry. My kettle is on the ground while mashing, so I haven't had much trouble lifting the bag and holding it one handed briefly. If someone was mashing their kettle up higher, I'd imagine there might be a pulled deltoid or two when trying to life the bag out.

 

I just did a partial mash kit and I found the bag of grains small enough to work with for a small batch . If I were going to use less malt extract and more grains I might have a different opinion. The kettle is quite heavy as well so smaller batches with the grains in small bags makes sense.

 

BIAB is very similar to steeping your specialty grains. It's just heavier and you need to rinse the grains really really well to get you preboil gravity. If you can work around those two variables, you're good to go and you don't need to spend much money at all to try an all grain recipe.

 

http://biabbags.webs.com/
Check out Wilser Brewer for bags. I have one and think it is well made and very durable. I mash in my kettle with 2/3 of my total water then do a dunk sparge in a bucket with the other 1/3. The dunk sparge is only 10 minutes and I stir a bunch during that time. When I pull the bag I squeeze it like it owes me money and there is very little sugars left behind.
Gloves for squeezing.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01E...one+gloves&dpPl=1&dpID=51cI5NpHf3L&ref=plSrch
Using this method I have no problem hitting 85% efficiency on beers 1.060 and less. This is also with milling my own grain to .027".

 

And this is easier or less equipment than all grain?

I bought a Coleman 70qt Xtreme Cooler replaced the spigot with a ball valve faucet... basically this though its not the site I copied mine from

http://brulosophy.com/methods/diy-cooler-mlt/

That was all I need to go all-grain, and this idea of needing a lift to move your soaking grain bag sounds like just as much work...