I'm relatively new to home-brewing. I've recently done a couple of extract kits, but now I'd like to move up to doing some all-grain brews. I've been researching some of the various methods that people use to extract the sugar from grains (BIAB vs mash tun). I love the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of the BIAB method (little additional equipment, no need to purchase or build a mash tun, etc). The only aspect of it that I don't care for is the use of additional propane to keep the mash at temperature during the production of the wort. I had one thought, though. Let me know if this sounds ridiculous. I currently own one of those 60qt, igloo coolers on wheels (like here). I'm considering buying or making a BIAB to fit this cooler, then mashing the grains inside of the bag within the cooler like a typical mash tun. However, instead of drilling a spigot in the bottom, I could either attempt to then use the built-in drain plug or just slide an auto-siphon down in between the bag and the cooler wall and pump out the wort in that manner. Has anyone ever attempted anything like this? Can you foresee any potential problems?
If propane is your main concern, then don't use it during the mash. When I was doing BIAB, I would wrap a few towels around the kettle during the mash and only lose a degree or two per hour in the summer and maybe 4 during the winter (Pennsylvania at the time). The option to adjust the initial temperature with direct heat via propane would be a nice luxury to have should you miss your mash temp on the low side. But a bag inside of a cooler should work just fine. You might just need to keep the bag away from the built-in spigot for proper flow. My unsolicited advice would be to mash in the kettle. BIAB is all about simplicity and trimming down the equipment requirements. If you're going to mess around with it, simply go to a more traditional all grain setup.
I agree with this part in particular. The propane that I use to maintain mash temp is nothing compared to what I use to heat up and boil the wort for an hour, and it's not worth the extra hassle of cleaning up the 60qt cooler to save a few cents IMO.
That's exactly what I do. I have a 48 quart igloo cooler that I put the bag in. I got a huge bag from a coffee roaster. The key is being able to wrap the bag around as much of the cooler as possible so you can mash in solo without getting grains outside the bag. Also, the bigger the bag the better efficiency. The bag pictured below is actually my first and smaller bag. Both worked but the larger one worked better. My cooler has a drain plug and when I want to transfer to my boil kettle, while wearing BBQ gloves so I don't burn myself, I quickly jam a tube in the spigot and transfer. It works like a charm. It's a little ghetto but it allowed me to get into All grain and my beers have been significantly better from extract. So much that I would rather have my ipas over the vast majority of commercial ones. If you want a 2nd vessel just because of propane you are saving yourself pennies because all you would need is to turn on the heat here and there. You don't need to leave it on. My boil kettle with a lid on it wrapped in a sleep bag will hold the heat for the 90 min mash. I use a 2nd vessel because my cooler is larger than my boil kettle so I do larger full volume mash, thus, making higher ABV beers.
You could do that, or you could just pull one rack out of your oven. Put the remaining rack at the bottom rung of the oven. Preheat your oven to 175F, or as low as it will go. Put your kettle and liquor in the oven and turn the oven off. Set the timer for 60 min and use pot holders/towels when your pull your kettle. Those handles are HOT! Note, you shouldn't put the cooler in the oven. Turning your cooler into a mash tun costs roughly $50. Most of the money goes into a spigot and a SS toilet hose braid. One advantage of making a mash tun is that your cooler still functions as a cooler. You can still take it on vacation. FWIW, I heat all of my strike and steeping water on the stove and I use propane for boils only.
This is essentially what I do. I do partial mash with BIAB, utilizing my old 20qt pot when I first started brewing with extract. I'll generally mash anywhere from 5-7 lbs of grain (usually 50-60% of the grist). I'll heat the mash water on the stove, add the grain, and then put it on the bottom rack of the oven. I'll set the oven temp to 150F, 155F, or 160F depending on the recipe and targeted mash temp. Very easy.
I ended up doing my first all-grain batch this past weekend. I ended up foregoing the cooler and just doing the traditional BIAB in the pot. I insulated with a blanket for the mash. A couple days prior to the batch, I stumbled across one of these Weber vegetable grill baskets, which happened to sit perfectly on top of my 8-gallon brew pot. I set the bag on the basket to drain, then I did a sparge using 2 1/2 gallons of 170 degree water that I heated up in the house. This got me up to my 6 1/2 gallons of pre-boil water for my 5 gallon batch. I ended up hitting my target gravity right on the nuts, and calculated about 78% efficiency from the grains. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the setup.
This will get you thinking. It's the same lines as posted above. It makes sense to me to combine the two techniques and take advantage of the cooler for the insulation rather than fooling around with the burner or blankets, plus you don't really have to convert the cooler and you can sparge. There's a link to the place that makes the bags to fit you can find it from this web site: Mash Lauter Tun Filter
I did have to goose the temperature once during mash, but that's likely due to the fact that I left the pot sitting in my 20-degree garage for the whole hour. Next time I'll bring it in the house for that duration. I also have some Reflectix insulation on its way in the mail, so I won't have to deal with a blanket. I may go the cooler route at some point, but for now I don't mind this setup. It's nice to not have to transfer the wort around and dirty another vessel.
I have always been an all grainer with a 10 gal Igloo. I recently bought a quality biab bag to try it out. It fits the igloo and my brewpot. In colder weather I plan to use the igloo to conserve heat, then to transfer with tubing to the kettle. With the igloo you can also do a small second sparge. A quick hose rinse should clean the cooler. That is the plan anyway. I will see how it works out on Thursday.
How did it work out? If my setup ever becomes too tedious to deal with, the igloo cooler route is the next iteration of my system that I would likely move to.
