10L setup, possibly BIAB, any advice?

[KVSV]

now I sold my grainfather and all equipment (after two years and 15 brews), I'm looking to build a smaller setup that would allow more brews of smaller volume, hence enabling me to experiment more.

BIAB is a tempting option, as it's just one vessel. I am considering to buy a 20L boiler from "the homebrew shop". They have two options:

20 Ltr Electric Boiler with Tap, Hop Strainer and Thermometer (£84)
20 Ltr Gas Boiler with Tap, Hop Strainer and Thermometer (£60)

https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.u...er-with-tap-hop-strainer-and-thermometer.html
https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.u...er-with-tap-Hop-strainer-and-thermometer.html

not sure if I should go gas or electric!I guess with electric it might be easier to maintain temperature if I manage to fit inkbird controller (though I will need to find a way to fit a probe), while gas option means I can probably just dump entire boiler into a bath of cold water for cooling down once boil finished?

How difficult would it be to maintain mash temperature on a gas stove?

Anyone had experience of converting it into more grainfather-like setup, with removable grain basket and re-circulation pump?

On the other hand, if BIAB gives decent efficiency, it might be better for a small setup, as eliminates need for additional HLT, sparging etc.

thanks
Vladimir

 

[Sandimas]

I do this using 2 x stock pots, a 12L and a 15L. I do the mash in the 12L one, it fits nicely in the oven which I put on low heat before the mash and then turn off, it helps keep the temp up.

I think dunk sparge in the 15L pot and do the boil in this

You could of course dunk sparge in an FV if you only have one pot, I do it this way because I have the two.

This is a gas setup, I do it all on the hob and it works a treat. Cheap too - stockpot off eBay, less that 20 quid.

 

[Brewed_Force]

I use a Wilko stockpot on my gas cooker. It holds about 13L.
For the mash I have made an insulated jacket for the stockpot from flooring underlay (the type with a foil backing) and I then cover with about 3m of thick loft insulation.
This keeps the mash temperature to within 1 degree C over the hour.
I use 6L of water for the mash (to approx 2kg grain) and dunk sparge in 7L of cold water. This gives me about 11.5L of wort to boil.
I get 10L of beer at the end of the process, but I only do a 30 minute boil and up the hop quantities accordingly.
So far it has worked a treat.

 

[KVSV]

Thank you Darrellm and Andy. Excellent advice. Thank you for sharing your setups! It's amazing how simple it can be, though I probably want to have a tap at the bottom. I think I will go for the gas option without dunking (new term for me!) or sparging. just full volume mash. I like the idea of having just one pot for both mash and boil.

btw, were do you source bags for grain? Which one works the best?

found this one on amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01D53H3W6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
any good?

Vladimir