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Brew in a Bag Review

We brewed our first batch of beer using brew in a bag techniques!  I will say that it felt foreign and strange to only have one burner and one pot.  We also only brewed one gallon batches for our White vs. Red Wheat BIAB experiment, so that contributed to the not quite right feel of the day.  What follows is a summation of our impressions of brew in a bag.

Let me start with this caveat before the BIAB hate mail starts coming. Overall, I think we both enjoying trying new brewing techniques. Playing with something like brew in a bag helps put our regular practice of making beer in a different perspective. We will most certainly brew by BIAB again. Homebrewing should be fun first and everything else is second to that. If you LOVE brew in a bag you should do it. We make no qualms about what method is better, because its always been about fun. That said our first pass straight up impressions of brew in a bag were mixed.

First I think we were both expecting a faster brew day. Heating only one gallon of water, no sprage water, no mash tun to clean… Overall I think we spent 3-4 hours doing this. I can normally do a full 6 gallon brew session in about 4.5 hours if I push and I am well organized. So from that point of view, I was surprised.

Second, brewing in the bag wasn’t as straight up easy as I first thought. That lack of insulation in using the pot as a mash tun meant we had to add heat a couple times. I feared scorching the bag to the bottom of the pot so it meant holding the bag up while we applied heat. That was somewhat more labor intensive than a mix and stir approach of single infusion in an insulated mash tun.

We both recognized its sort of unfair to be so critical with it being our first time. (Like I said we will be trying this again. Hopefully several times.) We need more practice. Just like brewing with our normal setup.

Despite those detractors lets be honest. The brew session was indeed pretty straight forward. John and I shot the breeze during most of the process. Maybe that contributed to the slightly longer session that I anticipated! It was a beautiful late summer day when we brewed and that laid back summer aura sort of over took us.

The second big positive is that we certainly can conceive of other small batch ideas to throw your way. Doing small batches is really the strength of BIAB in our opinion. And small batches are really the greatest way to experiment with ingredients and with yeasts or process. We like BIAB very much for that purpose.

Our last take for a brew in the bag review involves brewer evolution. When I finally decided to take the plunge into mashing vs. using extract I did partial mash. Partial mash techniques have served as an ideal way to mash a little bit, but still use extract while you got over the anxiety of heating water and mixing in base malt (never really understood the trepidation that partial mash was supposed to over come for that reason).

I only did partial mash a handful of times because it seemed like a lot of work to still be producing a mostly extract beer. That’s when I went full all grain. John and I both agree that brew in a bag really lowers the barriers to going from extract to all grain. You don’t need more equipment. If you miss your mash temp you can add heat pretty easily as well.
We predict that brew in a bag could (and may) replace the partial mash concept entirely in just a few more short years. If it hasn’t happened all ready.

The best thing is that it keeps it easy. Keeps it fun and keeps brewers brewing. Isn’t that what its all about?

Let us know what you think.
BREW ON!

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4 Comments

  1. brewella deville

    When I was doing 1 gallon BIAB batches, I would set my oven on the lowest temp possible for about half an hour before I was ready to mash. I’d get the water to strike temp on the stove top, add the bag and the grains and stir well. Then I’d turn off the oven, put the covered pot into the oven on the lowest rack, close the door and it was good to go. It was a good, sturdy stainless steel stock pot and never lost heat during the mash.

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  3. I brewed (happily) with only extract for over 20 years. Living in a small apartment with mobility issues makes all-grain impossible. With the BIAB system, I can do all-grain, small batch, or partial mash, on my stovetop. I don’t have to buy, or store, anything additional.

  4. BrewingInID

    While no expert, I have been doing BIAB for some time now. Living in a small apartment and having no garage/lawn to call my own, it really is the only option for me to brew all or partial grain. While the results with a full mash tun may even be better, BIAB is a life-saver for those of us slaving over our stoves in cramped spaces.
    My first impression would tend to agree with the comment that this was your first session – as you do more BIAB, your process will improve. As to some of your other comments: (1) as to suspending a full bag of wet grains, my large strainer holds the weight just fine, which gets at (2) while you do have to squeeze the bag to simulate the sparge process, just sitting in the strainer actually does a lot on its own {depends on how much time you want to leave it}; (3) as for scorching the bag, I have not had any problems {again, I am speaking of using stove-top heat – if you’re using a propane burner, all bets are off}, I do tend to roll the bag back in forth in the kettle to distribute heat and grains better, which probably helps.
    Having never brewed with a mash-tun, I can’t speak to any time-savings but agree that there is a lot of time to read a good book, update your facebook status, catch up with brew-dudes.com… And, my big brews still tend to include some extract, as there is a limit to the practical amount of grain you can fit in a brew kettle. Again, for those with limited space, it’s a life-saver, and a definite gate-way to all-frain brewing for me, and, as you stated, probably for many others who wanted to see how hard all-grain was without adding a bunch of equipment to do it. Keep blogging and keep brewing – Scott.

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