Six Things To Know About BIAB (Brew In A Bag) If You're An Extract Brewer

I've been a longtime extract brewer who has recently been experimenting with all-grain brewing using the BIAB method. There are many great resources to learn about Brew in a Bag on the interwebs, so I'm not going to rehash that. But are some tips and things I learned while experimenting that may not be obvious until you've done it. Cheers!

"A" is my first BIAB beer. "1" is a traditional all-grain brewing of
the same recipe. We were doing a blind taste test. They tied.

1. It takes longer

Using the BIAB method takes longer than brewing with extracts:

• You're heating up more water (the full volume + some extra that will evaporate off or be absorbed by the grains), which takes more time to get to temp.
• Mashing takes time. Many BIAB brewers recommend mashing for 90 minutes plus a ten minute mash out (which requires more the ten minutes to bring it to the proper temperature.)

So it can easily add a couple of hours to your brew day. My first two BIAB attempts took between five and six hours total.


BIAB also can take longer than traditional all-grain brewing, because you're relying on your modest kitchen stove to heat things up, rather than a 500,000 btu propane burner.

It does take more time, but...

2. The beer tastes better

Which is very satisfying. Though I've been extract brewing for years, and have made many delicious beers, there was always something about them that made them just a little different than commercial beers (and other all-grain homebrews). This is, of course, completely non-scientific and 100% my opinion.

3. It's easier to do BIAB with smaller quantities

You can do a full 5-gallon batch, but it takes extra work and time if you're trying to do it on your stovetop. I do 2.5 gallon batches which makes recipe conversion easy, and then 'bottle' in a Party Pig. Northern Brewer sells 3 gallon systems and recipe kits.

4. You need to insulate *well* while mashing!

What every well-dressed brew
kettle wears while mashing.

Temps can drop quickly in an uninsulated brew kettle. To reduce this so that it doesn't negatively affect the mashing process, I wrap my brew kettle in towels and then put a down jacket on it. The temperature still drops a bit over the course of mashing, but it's usually not enough to require adding additional heat to keep it in range.

 

 

5. The wort won't taste as sweet as you're used to

 The first time I did BIAB, this threw me. My wort wasn't as sweet as I expected. It did have some sweetness, but not nearly as much as my extract brews did. I was alarmed. The reason it's less sweet: with BIAB, you're dealing with the full volume of liquid. Typically with extract brewing, the sugars are more concentrated in the brew kettle and you add it to water in the carboy. BIAB wort tastes less sweet because extract brewing wort is concentrated. (My first BIAB was delish btw, and stood its ground against another all-grain brewer's beer that used the same recipe.)

We're at strike temp - sweet (but not as sweet).

6. It may be cheaper to do BIAB than extract

Milled grain is cheaper than extracts. Doing the math for one recipe I recently brewed, the grains themselves were 60% cheaper than their equivalent in DME. But there are additional costs to consider, including equipment (if you need a bigger brewpot to do BIAB) and utility costs (gas or electric) to mash the grains. I don't have a convenient way to calculate the total costs, but my guess is that BIAB is perhaps slightly cheaper than extract brewing. But like homebrewing itself, saving money is not a primary reason to try BIAB.

For more tips, see this followup post.