The pinnacle of easy beer making must be Brew In A Bag (BIAB), a single-vessel method developed by those clever Australians that I believe has vastly changed the way many people view all-grain brewing. With little more than a kettle and a mesh grain bag, one can produce delicious beer without the use of extracts. It truly does not get much simpler than this, so I had to try it out.
A couple things before I share my Brew in a bag (BIAB) experiences. First, I still brew primarily using the batch sparge method, not only because it is what I’m most familiar with, but because I often make 10+ gallon batches. With BIAB, difficulty appears to be linearly correlated to batch size. Second, I am a huge proponent of new brewers jumping right into all-grain and skipping extract brewing altogether. I know there are those that may take offense to this, I certainly mean none, but I have yet, in my 10+ years of making and consuming homemade beer, had an extract beer that didn’t taste like extract was used. Now, if that is what you like, more power to you, go for it. Just please don’t use the argument that you don’t have the space or can’t afford to brew all-grain. With BIAB, you absolutely can go all-grain for minimal investment. I often recommend people start by making 1–3-gallon BIAB batches, which usually only requires the purchase of a bag, fermenter, and bottling supplies, as most people have a 4-gallon kettle lying around.
My first BIAB batch.
Back to my experience. For my first BIAB batch, I decided to throw together a 5-gallon Märzen recipe. I had previously purchased a large fine mesh grain bag for brew in a bag that wasn’t getting much use and would do the trick. After collecting my entire water volume in the MLT/brew kettle, I milled my grain directly into the bag.
Using the BeerSmith software, I was able to precisely calculate the temperature of my strike water and once it was reached, I simply dropped in my bag of grains, gave it a good stir, and secured the bag to the rim of the kettle.
It looked and smelled like a typical mash; I figured something must be going right. Once my mash temp was stable, I covered my kettle and threw an old sleeping bag over the top for added insulation. This was sufficient since I was brewing on a 100°F Day, during the winter it might be a good idea to be a little more thoughtful with your insulation. One of the great things about BIAB that I realized quickly is that if my mash temp fell, all I had to do was turn a burner on very low and stir for a few seconds to get it back up to where it should be. I only did this once after dropping 2°F in 40 minutes. Given the large volume in the kettle, it held temperature pretty well. Once my 1-hour mash was complete, I turned the heat on to raise the temp to 170°F for a mash-out step.
My wort.
The wort looked like… wort. I checked my pre-boil gravity and was spot on with what BeerSmith predicted at 70% efficiency. This surprised me, as that was about the same efficiency, I had been getting with my usual batch sparge process. I removed the bag, squeezed it a bit, and began my boil.
Everything proceeded from this point as it would with any other brew– add hops, chill wort, transfer to fermenter, pitch yeast starter, and control fermentation temps. The finished beer was no different than any other beer I’d made, except for the fact it took me nearly an hour less to make and clean-up was a cinch. I was convinced.
A few months later I had the bright idea to pitch some wild yeast collected under a bush in my front yard into a small batch of beer. I didn’t want to use all my regular equipment for a 2-gallon batch, so I decided to do a small scale BIAB. My concern was maintaining my mash temp with such a small volume, so I decided to use a small cooler I bought to take on my boat.
Everything proceeded from this point as it would with any other brew– add hops, chill wort, transfer to fermenter, pitch yeast starter, and control fermentation temps. The finished beer was no different than any other beer I’d made, except for the fact it took me nearly an hour less to make and clean-up was a cinch. I was convinced.
A few months later I had the bright idea to pitch some wild yeast collected under a bush in my front yard into a small batch of beer. I didn’t want to use all my regular equipment for a 2-gallon batch, so I decided to do a small scale BIAB. My concern was maintaining my mash temp with such a small volume, so I decided to use a small cooler I bought to take on my boat.
I added my full volume of slightly overheated brewing liquor to the cooler, allowed it to preheat for a few minutes, dropped my bag of grains in once strike temp was reached, and closed the lid. An hour later, I returned to discover I’d lost 2°F, not too shabby if you ask me.
I then removed the bag of grains, squeezed it aggressively, then poured the sweet wort from the cooler into a 4-gallon kettle to proceed with the boil.
Again, I hit my predicted numbers and all was well. Unfortunately, the finished beer didn’t fare as well… the yeast (and whatever other shit) I’d harvested from my front yard produced a terribly vegetal and all-around unpleasant beer. But it was a fun experiment!
When my brother-in-law said he wanted to start homebrewing in his small Berkeley apartment, I knew exactly what path to send him down. He has now made numerous beers using this method, even scoring well in a local competition with his Mild Ale, and he’s never touched extract, something he has no regrets about.
Common Misconceptions About Brew in a Bag (BIAB)
I’ve heard it said that full volume mashing leads to thin body and mouthfeel. I’m not sure where this idea came from, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Body and mouthfeel are a function of mash temp and ingredients, not water to grist ratios, I’m not even sure what science there is to back this up. In my experience with no-sparge brewing, the beers actually seem to come out with a much more noticeable maltiness and fantastic mouthfeel.
Another misconception is that BIAB is significantly less efficient than fly or batch sparge brewing. While true to some extent, the reality is BIAB actually puts most brewers right where they need to be for the best wort to be produced, in the 70-75% range. One of the huge benefits of this is that the risk of tannin extraction from the grain husks is essentially eliminated. It’s interesting to me when homebrewers pride themselves on getting 90%+ efficiency, as they run a much higher risk of producing a beer with astringent off-flavors, and for what, a savings of a buck or two?
Many folks, especially homebrew shop owners it seems, argue that extract brewing is easier than all grain. I have to believe this is motivated at least some by the fact shops profit more off of extract than grain, which is cheap. Maybe I’m wrong. Trust me, brewing all grain, especially when using the BIAB method, is just as easy as brewing with extract. Check out Brew in a Bag for Beginners. Plus, you get full control over the recipe, as you won’t be relying on condensed wort that some company produced. Tips and Tricks for BIAB (Brew in a bag).
Pros and Cons of BIAB
The pros are obvious: low start-up costs, not much equipment needed, reduced time to brew, and the beer comes out great.
I’m having a hard time coming up with any real cons of BIAB, perhaps the fact you may have to monitor your mash temps a little closely at first, but even that’s not a big deal.
BIAB Upgrades.
Cheers!
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