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marko65

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Afternoon all

Have been using kits for the past year but now looking at doing BIAB in small batches - I've got hold of an 11 litre stockpot and was wondering what the maximum volume I'll be able to brew with this volume pot?

Cheers
 
I reckon you'd be able to boil 8ltrs in an 11ltr stock pot without fear of boiling over. Maybe even 9ltrs.

I'd go with a 2kg grain bill, 6ltrs of water in the mash, and 5ltrs for sparging. You'll lose about 2-2.5ltrs of water to grain absorption, leaving you with 8.5-9ltrs to boil.

I'm basing these figures on one-third of my regular brews as my stock pot is 33ltrs.
 
It depends on how much grain there is in your recipe, your boil off rate and other losses throughout the process. As a very vague guide using my equipment profile for a recipe of about 1kg I would end up with a finished volume of 5 litres, and that's with saving back enough from the pot to use as sparge water so that adding the grain won't overflow it.
 
You could get more beer by using a maxi BIAB technique. You make a more concentrated brew and dilute in the FV. So do as Martybhoy1980 suggests but use 50% more grain. It tends to be less efficient doing it this way but who cares? It's still a cheap way to make great beer.
You would obviously need to up the hops by a similar percentage. You can dilute using bottled water to make things simple.
 
+1 on what duxuk says about increasing the grain quantity and diluting the wort once it is in the FV.
 
I use an 11 litre pot for my partial mash brews. I use it to mash 2kg grain and try I get the water/grain ratio as high as I can... maybe 3.5:1, 4:1 at a stretch. With batch sparging I usually collect about 12 litres of wort. That of course creates a bit of a problem as I now have more wort than my pot can hold! So, I have to split it. I can actually boil 10 litres in the stock pot and as long as you keep an eye on things boil over can be avoided. The surplus 2 litres of wort I put in a second large sauce pan. As I'm also using 50% LME in my 23 litre PM brews I dissolve it and boil together with the surplus wort in this extra pan.

On a good day I achieve around 70-75% efficiency.
 
I used to use a 12L pot but it isn't quite big enough: the brewday takes the same length whatever the volume, and I felt it was too much effort for too little beer so have moved up to a 15L catering stockpot - 17 quid delivered off eBay. I can do 12L BIAB batches with this. I've recently started doing larger-volume brews supplemented with 1kg DME (is this Maxi BIAB?).

I still use the 12L pot but just for the mash: it conveniently fits in the oven, so I can turn it on low for 10mins then turn it off and put the mash pot in there, and it keeps the temp stable during the mash.

Like Expat I get around 70% efficiency with a dunk sparge.
 
OK - maybe a bigger pot is needed - I can take the 11L back for a refund - I like the sound of the 15L stockpot to end up with 12L - BUT will I be able to achieve a boil of this volume on a 3.6kw wok burner on my gas hob?
Cheers
 
My Buffalo induction hob is 3kw and it's a beast, so 3.6kw should be fine.

Remember to factor in water loss due to the boil. I lose 1ltr per 15mins.
 
I like the sound of the 15L stockpot to end up with 12L - BUT will I be able to achieve a boil of this volume on a 3.6kw wok burner on my gas hob?
Cheers

Yes, I don't even have to do use the wok burner on my gas hob, the biggest burner set around 60% will do. Thats the beauty with the smaller volume, less water to heat.

You can always upscale later if you want larger volume brews, but to be honest I get bored with 23L of the same beer, 12L is a perfect volume for me.
 
If you want to do a full BIAB the full volume way without a sparge.

The rule of thumb would be your desired volume x 2. so for a 10l brew you'd want a 20l pot

A lot of people like to do a hybrid method half biab half brew with a sparge normally in a seperate vessel (FV works well for this) which certainly helps with a smaller pot. you can then top up the pot as needed.

Using the second method I find a 15L pot will get a 10L brew

for 23L I do true BIAB with a 50L pot
 
I used to use a 12L pot but it isn't quite big enough: the brewday takes the same length whatever the volume, and I felt it was too much effort for too little beer...
That's my thinking too and the main reason I only ever did a small batch AG once! I actually brewed a 10 litre AG version of a previous 23 litre PM APA. I wanted to compare the AG with the partial which was made up of 50/50 grain/LME. I was keen to see if I was missing out on anything. If there was a difference between the two it was certainly beyond me! The beers tasted near identical. If it was a blind test I doubt I'd have known for sure which was which. So, since then I decided for the same amount of time and effort there really was no obvious advantage brewing a small-batch AG.


I still use the 12L pot but just for the mash: it conveniently fits in the oven, so I can turn it on low for 10mins then turn it off and put the mash pot in there, and it keeps the temp stable during the mash.
Yes, exactly what I do too. Works well. :thumb:
 
Nice one- thanks for all of your help - I'll source a 15L pot and crack on - will surely be back for further advice!!
 
I found some pictures I'd taken of my process, here they are.


  • 1st pic is doughing-in the mash in the bag in the 12L pot.
  • 2nd pic is the mash in the 12L pot keeping warm in the oven.
  • 3rd pic is getting ready for the dunk sparge in the 15L pot (you could just do this in the FV if you don't have 2 pans).
  • 4th pic is the boil on the hob.
  • 5th pic is cooling down the pan in the sink - you need to change the water several times and stir a lot. I get the temp down in 30mins.
 

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