A SIMPLE GUIDE TO BREWING IN A BAG

Including How to Brew an All-Grain, ‘Black Beer,’ Using a Kettle and Nylon Mash Bag

Brewing in a Bag is an all-grain brewing method currently under trial but already producing some splendid all-grain beers.
It is an extremely simple method of brewing requiring a low level of equipment, knowledge and space. It is also highly
flexible and the instructions contained in the BIAB guide can be highly modified to suit the brewer’s resources.

The BIAB Guide is made up of this booklet as well as 4 Excel files. In combination, these files give detailed instructions on
how to brew a, ‘black beer,’ with BIAB.

BIAB is essentially what I will call a, ‘Full Volume,’ brewing method where the entire water volume needed for a brew is
added to the kettle at the start of the brewing process. This alleviates the need for sparging and sparge water calculations.
To simplify the process even further, this guide will also use what I will call, ‘an escalator mash,’ in the brewing instruc-
tions. This is where the grain is added to the full volume of water shortly after heating begins and then the mash (grain plus
the water) is raised to the strike temperature (66 degrees in the case of our black beer) as quickly as possible and then held
at this temperature for 90 minutes.

In layman’s terms, BIAB can be summarized as follows. You put a nylon bag in a big pot of water, pour in some grain, heat
it to a specific temperature and hold it at that temperature for 90 minutes. At the end of the 90 minutes, the bag holding the
grain is removed and then the remaining liquid (hot liquor) is boiled for 90 minutes with hops being added at several stages
during the boil. After the boil, the resulting liquid (now called wort) is cooled rapidly and the yeast pitched. All other stages
of the brewing process should be familiar to those who have done some kit brews.

CREATING A BLACK BEER BY BIAB

The black beer created using the BIAB Guide uses Ross’s Schwartzbier recipe. A schwartzbier is a lager but as we will use
an ale yeast, (the sachet yeast Safale-US56), I have called our beer a, ‘black beer’. In other words, our black beer is an ale
clone of the Schwartzbier. Both Ross and myself have found no loss in taste quality when using the Safale US-56 to brew
this beer. This recipe has been chosen for several other reasons…

A) It produces a high quality beer.

B) It is a very forgiving recipe therefore a new brewer can make some, ‘stuff-ups,’ yet still get to taste a great end re-
sult.
C) It is highly flexible. A lager yeast can be substituted for the ale yeast for those in colder climates or for those wish-
ing to brew their first lager. A beautiful, full-bodied mid-strength beer can also be brewed with the same recipe
using a reduced grain bill.

Let’s get under way…

Before proceeding further, please print out the Excel file called, ‘BIAB Checklist—Black Beer.xls’

THE BIAB CHECKLIST—BLACK BEER.XLS

The BIAB checklists are all in Microsoft Excel format. Many brewers are familiar with excel and so should be able to read-
ily modify the checklists to suit their experience and equipment. The checklist is split into various sections. The next part of
this booklet will walk the brewer through the, ‘BIAB Checklist—Black Beer.xls,’ expanding on any sections where neces-
sary. These explanations and accompanying pictures will provide detailed instructions on how to BIAB a black beer.

The BIAB Guide is very detailed and written for the new brewer. Many sections can be skipped by more advanced brewers.
The checklists allow the new brewer several rests, usually called, ’Checks,’ throughout the brew day where they can stop,
have a break and ensure that they are on track. As the new brewer gains experience, these checks can be deleted and brew
time reduced. Appendix A shows how to fill out the BIAB Checklist.

Brew Summary

The first twenty lines of the BIAB Checklist comprises main brew details, the recipe and important notes. Blank cells
should be filled out by the brewer at various stages of the brewing process. Most of this section is hopefully self-
explanatory but any questions on this or other sections should be posted to the AHB thread, ‘A Guide to Brewing in a Bag.’
Some further explanation follows...

BJCP Style Information: This is contained in Cells J1-J6 of the spreadsheet.

Hops: The AA (Alpha Acid) rating of hops varies from year to year and from supplier to supplier therefore the new brewer
needs to learn how to adjust the weight of hops used to achieve the IBUs (International Bitterness Units) used in the recipe.
Preliminary Notes: This space allows the brewer to jot down notes on what they will do differently from the last time they
brewed.
Errors/Adjustments: Here the brewer can note any part of the brewing process that didn’t go to plan. This helps identify
the reason/s should the resulting brew not be up to scratch.
Notes for Next Time: Essentially this field should be pasted into the, ‘Preliminary Notes,’ field of the next BIAB Checklist
as it should record changes the brewer would like to make or areas they would like to concentrate on when brewing next.

The remainder of the BIAB Checklist is broken up into time stages based on a brew day of Saturday. It begins four days
before brew day and extends right through to the time that the brew can be tasted. These stages are…

Prior

On the Tuesday before brew day, the brewer should finalise what they wish to brew (in our case a black beer) and write
down any ingredients needed that they do not have on hand. These ingredients should be ordered the following day from a
reputable supplier. Unless you have a grain mill ensure that you ask for your grains to be crushed. When the grains arrive,
store them in a fridge until Friday night.

On the Friday night, remove your grain from the fridge, tidy up and clean your brewing area allowing plenty of clear space
to lay out your equipment. Also ensure that you have a clean fermenter.

On Saturday, mix up 5 litres of no-rinse sanitizer in your fermenter. Put lid on loosely and shake. Place the equipment you
would like to keep sterile inside the fermenter. This will depend on your equipment. Personally I put in my aeration hoses,
siphon hoses, a tap or two and my fermenter O-ring.

From your fermenter fill a spray bottle with no rinse and spray your brewing lay out areas. I brew in a one bedroom apart-
ment but still make 3 lay out areas—a dry area, a wet area and a flame area.

The dry area is a drying rack covered with a clean towel. On this I lay out, mash bag, hop sock, large jug, 1 medium jug
(sterilized), 1 small jug (sterilized), 2 bungs, starter bottle, pH paper, hop scales, aeration pump, coffee mug, and 3 small
hop containers. The italicized items can be deleted for the new brewer.

The wet area has the fermenter containing no-rinse, a bucket with auto-siphon and immersion chiller, mash paddle (paint
stirrer), thermometer, various clean nappies, no-rinse sterilizer spray bottle, citric acid, brew sheet, pen and calculator. I
have not italicized the auto-siphon as I personally believe a racking cane is a necessary item. The auto-siphon acts as both a
cane and a siphon. At $15 it is one of the best bits of equipment a brewer can own. Half a dozen nappies or similar sized
toweling cloths also will make your brew day easier and lower the risk of contamination.

The flame area has the bag of grain, a heatproof base, 2 reflectors, a 3 ring burner, a kettle, stainless steel ruler, an adjust-
able regulator hose, a gas bottle, the kettle lid and a filling hose from the tap to the kettle. The heatproof base is because I
am brewing indoors which is a safety no-no for many reasons especially gas leak possibilities. The reflectors are two scrap
bits of shiny metal which are again not necessary items. The adjustable regulator hose allows a better flame but a standard
hose will get you brewing. Your large jug can be used to fill the kettle if a hose is not available.

A further discussion on equipment is contained in Appendix B, ‘Equipment.’

After laying out the above areas, the checklist should be printed out, the above procedure checked and the ‘Start’ procedure
reviewed.

Start

Our brew day time officially starts when water is added to the kettle and ends after the fermenter is sealed and original
gravity reading taken. These instructions are based on using a 70 litre Robinox pot as the kettle. Where appropriate, notes
will be made in these instructions on how the kettle size and shape affect the procedure the first note being…

Should you have a smaller pot, this is not a problem. In fact, you could scrape by with no changes to these instructions with
a 40 lt pot. If you have a smaller pot size, either make a smaller batch or just add top water when you can throughout the
brew day. To do this, some knowledge of hop utilization and, ‘single-sparge,’ brewing will be very helpful. See Appendix
C, ‘Useful Links,’ for assistance here.

To start the brew day, I fill the kettle with 38 litres of water. Before your first brew, you should calibrate your kettle using a
jug and stainless steel ruler. Simply add known quantities of water to the kettle and make a note of how deep the water is in
the kettle at each level. My Robinox, unlike a keg, is even in shape and calibration has told me that every litre added to the
kettle increases the water depth by 0.61 cm. So, to add 38 litres of water to the kettle, I fill it to a depth of 23.2 cms. When
measuring the depth, hold the ruler in the centre of the kettle just in case the kettle is not based on level ground.

Many brewers use kettles that are keg-like in shape. These are taller and narrower than the Robinox and so evaporation
levels are less. I would, at a guess, suggest that these brewers reduce their initial volume of water from 38 to 33 litres.

While the kettle is filling, add the mash bag (Appendix A has more information on mash bag construction) to the kettle and
turn your burner on as full as possible without flames leaping up the sides. Burners come with air adjustment rings which
should be adjusted so that the flame is blue—no yellow. Make sure that your mash bag is in no danger of burning.

When the kettle has been filled to the required volume, add the grain. To do this, simply pour it reasonable quickly and
evenly over the surface of the water from a height of about 40 cm if possible. Pouring in this manner avoids the grains
clumping together. Once this is done, agitate with the mash paddle to make it spread evenly and to ensure that no grain has
clumped (very unlikely.) The paddle I use is a $10 paint stirrer from Bunnings. It is similar to a potato masher with a long
handle. This paddle works splendidly when used like a potato masher—just jiggle it rapidly up and down.

After the grain has been poured and agitated, raise the temperature of the mash to 66 degrees at which time the mash offi-
cially starts. In my case, this takes about 20 minutes although the checklist allows 35 minutes for this.

The pictures below show the grain immediately after adding to the kettle and then after agitation. The third picture shows a
thermometer suspended in the mash to monitor temperature [Edit Note: Third picture needs changing.]

The checklist shows various temperature checks after the grain is added. To obtain an accurate temperature reading agitate
the grain first. When 66 degrees is reached either turn off the flame or have it on very low (very unlikely.) To conserve
temperature, put your lid on the kettle but have the mash paddle handle poking out. Once done, have a 5 minute break to
check that you are on track and review the mash checklist. Start timing your mash when you have finished this check.

Mash

The mash section is very easy. All that is required is several temperature checks and then the
weighing out of hops. Most of the mash conversion takes place in the first 20 minutes and so
the checklist has 5 minute agitations and temperature checks during this period. With my
equipment, I usually only have to turn the 2nd ring of my burner on for about 5 minutes at
the 40 minute mark. At this stage the mash has usually dropped to about 64.5 degrees. I raise
it to 67 and then leave it for the remaining 50 minutes. This keeps things simple.

I use electronic scales and 3 washing powder scoops to measure out my boiling, flavour and
aroma hops. The scoops are labeled 1, 2 and 3 with permanent marker. If you don’t have
scales, just divide your known quantity of hops up as best as you can. Only use hops that are
fresh and green and which are labeled with their alpha acid rating.

Once you have done the above, while waiting for the 90 minute mash to end, take another
break, do a check and also review the, ‘Mash Ends,’ checklist.
Mash Ends

This section involves removing the mash bag and raising the resultant sweet liquor to the boil. Firstly, light your burner and
adjust to full heat. Then place an empty bucket as close to the kettle as possible. Lift your grain bag slightly above the kettle
liquor level and twirl the bag around to get rid of excess liquor. Then simply dump the bag into the bucket. (I then suspend
the bag from a door handle to help draining.) Ten minutes later give the mash bag another squeeze and then dump the bag
somewhere appropriate. I dump mine in the laundry sink. Pour the few litres of sweet liquor that you have gained from
draining and squeezing into the kettle.

Whilst not essential, doing a volume and gravity check at this time will give you an, ‘Efficiency into Boiler,’ figure which
can be interesting. This can be done with your hydrometer or for those a little less financially challenged, a refractometer.
Firstly use your stainless steel ruler to check the volume in the kettle. Sweet liquor expands when it is hot so multiplying the
figure you have by 0.95 will give you a more accurate volume figure.

Remove some liquor from the kettle to use for a hydrometer reading. Let it cool to 20 degrees before taking the reading or
use tables to compensate for the temperature. Appendix C, ‘Useful Links,’ contains some links to help you calculate your
efficiency into the boiler.

While waiting for the liquor to start boiling check that you are on track and review the boil checklist.

Boil

A good rolling boil is necessary to produce a good beer. Saving 50 cents on gas or trying
to boil more liquid than you are capable off should be avoided. Our recipe allows for a 90
minute boil. If time is very important to you then you can reduce both the mash time and
boil time to 60 minutes to save an hour off the brew day. I suggest new brewers avoid this.
Take your time!

You may notice as the brew starts to boil a creamy foam forming. Some people advocate
skimming this off with a strainer. I have included this step because, if for no other reason,
it will force the new brewer to keep an eye on the brew. Boil-overs are not a problem with
a 70 litre pot as a kettle. With smaller kettles a boil-over IS a problem so keep your eyes
on the kettle.

After skimming, suspend your hop sock in the kettle. A hop sock greatly reduces trub
(solids forming on the bottom of your kettle at the end of the boil.) If you cannot afford a
hop sock then you can thoroughly rinse your mash bag and re-fit this to the kettle. I use 2
hanging basket hooks from Bunnings to suspend my hop sock.

The checklist then tells the brewer to add hops and a teaspoon of table salt into the hop sock. The addition of hops may once
again cause a boil-over so keep your eyes open even wider!

At this stage, there is an hour’s gap until the next hop addition. Boiling wort has a mind of its own. It may stop boiling or
boil over for unknown reasons at any time. Like a 3 year old, boiling wort seems to know what you are doing at any given
time and uses the times when you are not watching to cause mischief. As your brewing skills increase along with your
equipment knowledge, you will develop what is best known as a, ‘feel,’ for boiling wort. Until you develop these eyes in
the back of your head, monitor the boil constantly.

Towards the end of the boil, several ingredient additions are made. These are explained in the checklist. Some equipment
additions are also made fifteen minutes before the end of the boil—the chiller, paddle
and lid. A few minutes before adding these, spray them with no-rinse sterilizer as not
all parts of the equipment will be sterilized through steam exposure. Do not cover the
kettle completely with the lid as this is likely to result in a boil-over.

If you cannot afford a chiller, just add the paddle and lid.

At the end of the boil turn the flame off and cover the kettle with the lid. Allow your
mash paddle handle to protrude. Give the outside of the kettle and surrounding areas a
quick spray with no-rinse sterilizer along with a clean nappy. Cover the kettle with the
nappy.

After you turn the flame off, take another break to ensure all is going as planned and to
review the Chill checklist.

If you’re a new brewer you’ll probably be tempted to crack a beer at this stage. Don’t!
Waiting a little longer will be well worth it.

Chill

Turn your chiller on if you have one. Agitating the wort from time to time speeds up the cooling process. To do this, simply
lift the paddle handle up and down a few times. Chilling your wort will greatly depend on your equipment and tap water
temperature. The checklist allows for a 25 minute chill but this could be an hour or even longer.

If you do not have a chiller, you have several options available to you. The most accepted procedure is to cool your wort as
quickly as possible using whatever means available—water baths, ice baths etc. Your kettle may even fit in your sink where
you could adjust tap flow so that water enters the sink as fast as it leaves. When doing this, you don’t need much water
flow. I would estimate from 0.75 to 1.0 lt per minute is adequate. Depending on your tap water temperature you may have
to add ice towards the end of your chill to reduce the brew temperature to 25 degrees.

Another chilling method is to allow the brew to cool naturally inside a sealed container. This is a method that many brewers
are comfortable with. A link to this, ‘No-Chill,’ method is included in Appendix C.

During the chill it is necessary to monitor temperature. Initially this can be done by agitating the wort and then feeling the
side of the kettle. Obviously doing this straight after flame off is unnecessary and will lead to burns. Use your common
sense to feel the kettle sides and work out when a proper thermometer check should be taken.

Any brewer using this method should also be well aware of the dangers of infection during the gap between boiling and
pitching. For this reason, before taking any temperature checks, ensure that your thermometer is cleaned and sterilized.

To make things easier for newer brewers, the BIAB checklist requires the wort to be cooled to around 25 degrees. Any-
where from 16-30 degrees will be fine though. When you hit this temperature range, you can stop the chill. If you have poor
equipment for cooling your fermenter, aim for the lower end of the above range but do not go under 16 degrees. When you
reach your chosen temperature stop the chill and review the Pitch checklist.

Pitch

After cooling is completed, I use 2 bungs to tilt the kettle. This is done because
the Robinox has such a large diameter. Tilting allows the maximum amount of
wort to be siphoned off. Once tilted I leave the kettle to settle for ten minutes
during which time I sterilize the auto-siphon and empty the equipment and
sanitizing solution from my fermenter into my bucket. I then set the fermenter
and large jug up below the kettle ready for siphoning.

To assist with clarity, I siphon the first 200 mls or so into the empty jug pinch-
ing the siphon tube as soon as I see the wort running clear. I then transfer the
siphon into the fermenter. If you have aeration equipment then put your sani-
tized hose and stone into the fermenter and turn your air pump on while the
wort siphons.

If you do not have a pump and airstone then just allow the wort to splash when
siphoning. In other words, have the end of the siphon tube at the top of the
fermenter. Obviously, the cleanliness of your brewing area will affect how
much you can aerate in this way without increasing the risk of infection to an
unacceptable level.

Monitor the siphon tube, pinch and remove it as soon as you see the clarity
deteriorate. If you have a 25 litre fermenter then you may have to stop the siphon before clarity deteriorates i.e. when the
fermenter level reaches the 23 litre mark. If this occurs then continue to siphon into the spare jug so as you can measure
how much extra wort you had. Knowing this will help you adjust your initial volume on your next brew. It will also allow
you to determine an efficiency into fermenter figure.

Remove any aeration equipment.

If your wort became cloudy and you had to therefore stop siphoning before the 23 litre mark then add some water that has
been boiled and cooled into your fermenter now to achieve the 23 litre level. You can even use tap water for this if your
water tastes OK.

Now sprinkle your yeast evenly over the surface of the wort and seal your fermenter.

Take a hydrometer sample immediately so as you can determine your efficiency into fermenter figure as well as your origi-
nal gravity. When calculating your efficiency figure add any litres that you couldn’t fit into the fermenter. Appendix C,
‘Useful Links,’ will help in this area.

Clean

This part of the checklist allows 45 minutes to clean up, move the fermenter to the fermentation space and start temperature
control. After a few brew days, the new brewer will be able to do most of the cleaning earlier in the day. I do my cleaning in
the shower! A flexible shower hose with a head that quickly screws on and off is brilliant. Microfibre cloths and non-
scratch cleaning pads give a thorough clean and eliminate the need for using chemicals. Another good practice is to use the
no-rinse sanitizer to spray your equipment before drying and packing it away.

Once you have everything clean, give the outside of your fermenter a clean and spray as well then move it to your fermenta-
tion area whether that be a fridge, cupboard or anything in between. Reduce the temperature of your fermenter to 16 de-
grees as soon as possible. 16 degrees is the lower end of the fermentation scale and is what we are after in this case as we
are doing a lager ‘clone’. Once again, Appendix B, contains links to information on controlling temperatures.

I have recently started using my kettle as a, ‘fermenting fridge.’ I simply put the fermenter in the kettle, pack it with a
camping foam mat and a few ice bricks. Covering this with a little more mat and the kettle lid has been working extremely
well and allows me to now have 3 brews fermenting in my 1 bedroom apartment. This is probably not a healthy sign!

Ferment

This section of the ferment checklist contains a few steps to keep an eye on your brew while fermenting. How good your
experience level and equipment are will affect how often you need to maintain your brew during fermentation. Natural en-
thusiasm from new brewers will usually avoid any lack of maintainence. Our checklist allows for 7 days fermentation in the
primary vessel.

Secondary

After 7 days, siphon the wort to a secondary vessel if you have one. Use the same siphoning principles as outlined in the
Pitch checklist. If you do not have a secondary vessel such as a cube, then just leave the brew for another 7 days. Tempera-
ture control is less important at this stage but should be maintained if possible. Extremes should certainly be avoided.

Condition

Fourteen days from pitching, assuming you are kegging, move your brew to a fridge at 2 degrees. If you did not previously
siphon into a secondary vessel, you should siphon the brew into a keg at this stage. To perfect clarity, allow to cold condi-
tion for at least a week. The checklist allows for two.

The checklist has been written for kegging. If bottling though, now is the time. Follow the same bottling procedure you
would use for any other beer. Also, take a final gravity reading at this point so as Alcohol By Volume (ABV) can be deter-
mined.

Gravity Keg and Taste

After 2 weeks of cold conditioning take a final gravity reading. Calculate ABV. Keg and carbonate as per normal practices.
Taste and assess the beer while taking time to record your tasting notes. Record what you think of the beer. Other people’s
opinions should have less importance unless they are experienced brewers or you are brewing the beer for other people.
 APPENDIX A—USING THE BIAB CHECKLISTS

Four BIAB Checklists have been included in the BIAB Guide. The

BIAB Checklist—Black Beer.xls

This checklist contains the instructions for brewing a black beer using BIAB. Brew day times vary greatly with
experience and equipment. Interruptions etc, can quickly throw the brew plan out the window time-wise. To
help with this, the brewer can use the, ‘Likely,’ column to note down the time at which stage the next step on
the checklist is likely to be completed. If the brew day ran exactly to plan then the times in the, ‘Likely,’ col-
umn would be an exact match to those times in the, ‘Planned,’ column.

Another significant column on brew day is the, ‘Result,’ column. Use this column to either record the times
that actual events are completed or the actual results of the event. For example, beside the, ‘Agitate/Temp
Check,’ event the temperature should be recorded instead of the time. Or beside the, ‘Volume and Gravity
Check,’ event a notation such as 34 @ 31 should be made. (This means 34 litres at 1.031 specific gravity.)

The final column of interest is the, ‘Notes,’ column. I use this column when something of significance has oc-
curred. In this column I simply place a letter of the alphabet. At the end of the spreadsheet, I elaborate on the
event. The BIAB Checklist Example—Black Beer.xls shows examples of this.

On a brew day I actually print 2 of these checklists. I use one for scribbling and basically making a mess of.
The other I fill out neatly during each check.

BIAB Checklist Example—Black Beer.xls

This checklist shows an example of a completed Black Beer checklist which has been, ‘mocked up,’ to some extent. In this
example, the brew day started early. Time was gained as some experience enabled me to advance the checks. Time was lost
on the chill as tap water temperature had increased significantly since the last brew. The note column on the right contains
letters. These letters are listed and expanded upon in the, ‘Note Details,’ section that finalises the checklist.

BIAB Master Ale Checklist.xls

This checklist can be used as a template for new ale recipes. Just save this file under a different name and fill in the blanks.
I also include the brew day date in the file name. For example, BIAB Checklist—Black Beer 200806.xls

BIAB Master Ale Checklist Personalised.xls

As your brewing skills develop you can add or delete steps from your master checklist. This checklist shows how I have
modified the Master Ale Checklist for my equipment and skill level. For example, I have extended the chill time, allowed
for pH adjustments and also included steps on giving the yeast a little bit of a head start.
 APPENDIX B—BIAB EQUIPMENT

Mash Bag Material and Construction

The mash bag should be sewn so as to form a liner for the brewers kettle similar to the way in which a garbage
bin liner fits in a bin. Nylon material should be used throughout. The materials can be easily purchased from
Spotlite for around $10. These materials are…

Fabric: 100% Swiss Voile Ivory

Thread: Any White Nylon Thread
Drawstring: Gutterman Poly Thread.

Other BIAB Equipment

To be completed.

Further Thoughts on BIAB Equipment

To be completed.
 APPENDIX C—USEFUL LINKS

The following links will be useful to the BIAB brewer or for those interested in full volume brewing…

To be completed.