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.