BIAB Issues

[Christopher Brown]

So I brewed my first all grain BIAB today. Everything beautifully, until i went to cool my wort. I bought a stainless steel immersion chiller and it took 45 minutes to go from boiling to 70. I had to stir with the chiller which cause my wort to become super muddy, clogging up my bazooka filter in my kettle. I ended up having to straight up pour the wort into my fermenter. It's been about 2 hours and it appears i have 1 gallon of trub in my fermenter already. :/ what the heck?

 

[thunderwagn]

So I brewed my first all grain BIAB today. Everything beautifully, until i went to cool my wort. I bought a stainless steel immersion chiller and it took 45 minutes to go from boiling to 70. I had to stir with the chiller which cause my wort to become super muddy, clogging up my bazooka filter in my kettle. I ended up having to straight up pour the wort into my fermenter. It's been about 2 hours and it appears i have 1 gallon of trub in my fermenter already. :/ what the heck?

It's all good man. That trub won't hurt a thing. In future batches, you can use various other items to contain your hops to help prevent clogging your bazooka filter.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/s...8W80L6ZRCsH8ug_XbHguaD2H-s-ZvgOBoCHQYQAvD_BwE
https://www.morebeer.com/products/hop-spider.html
There are also many diy options out there as well. Others will chime in with what they use. Me? I pour everything into the fermenter unless using whole hops. Then I'll use hop socks or the like.

 

[Christopher Brown]

It's all good man. That trub won't hurt a thing. In future batches, you can use various other items to contain your hops to help prevent clogging your bazooka filter.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/s...8W80L6ZRCsH8ug_XbHguaD2H-s-ZvgOBoCHQYQAvD_BwE
https://www.morebeer.com/products/hop-spider.html
There are also many diy options out there as well. Others will chime in with what they use. Me? I pour everything into the fermenter unless using whole hops. Then I'll use hop socks or the like.

i wonder whats wrong with my chiller? its stainless steel and took 45 mins to go from boiling to 70

 

[thunderwagn]

i wonder whats wrong with my chiller? its stainless steel and took 45 mins to go from boiling to 70

Doubt there's anything wrong with it. I do prefer copper however over stainless for the heat transfer. The water temps you're pushing through your chiller are also a factor. Single coil systems are slower as well.
Something like this will get you there much faster. provided you have the water temps to pull the heat. I can chill 6+ gallons in 10-12 minutes with a similar chiller from Jaded.
https://jadedbrewing.com/products/mantis

 

[ChicoBrewer]

Maybe you already do this but you either have to stir really well or swish the coil. I swish and it takes about 15 minutes to get from boiling to 70. The faster the wort moves past the coil the faster it cools. Ditto for the volume going through the coil.

 

[soccerdad]

A couple of thoughts:
1. Copper is a more efficient heat exchanger than Stainless. However, if you ever lean toward low oxygen brewing, stainless is said to be better at keeping oxygen out of your wort. I'm not super clear on the science. I have just seen that in numerous places.
2. Some folks get a submersible pump (like a pond pump), place that in a 5 gallon bucket of ice water, and use that super chilled water to feed their immersion chiller.

And then there are some who don't chill at all just pitch the next day.

 

[4Bentley]

Did you squeeze the bag? Some people do. I drain the wort into another kettle and sparge the grain in the bag before boiling without squeezing.

After boiling I drain again into another kettle with a new bag for whirlpooling. I remove and squeeze that bag before chilling.

Hope this helps

 

[GFHomebrew]

Yeah I've herd stainless hasn't got as good heat transfer as copper I use my pump now to circulate the wort past my IC but my brew stand is also on wheels so I can rock the whole kettle back and forth with the push of my foot to. I use my old imersion chiller in an esky filled with ice blocks as a prechiller to get a few degrees lower in our hot summer here.

 

[ChicoBrewer]

Yeah I've herd stainless hasn't got as good heat transfer as copper I use my pump now to circulate the wort past my IC but my brew stand is also on wheels so I can rock the whole kettle back and forth with the push of my foot to. I use my old imersion chiller in an easy filled with ice blocks as a prechiller to get a few degrees lower in our hot summer here.

Rockabye boil pot ...

 

[Hawkbox]

Yeah if you just put the chiller in and let it chill on it's own it can take a long time. Have to agitate the liquid somehow, swirl the chiller or whatever.

I don't even have a bazooka tube on mine I just let it all go in the fermentor. I stopped using whole leaf hops cause they get stuck in everything and are a huge hassle to clean up after.

 

[Nola_Brew]

I never use a bazooka screen. Have one, used it once.

Do you add boil/WP hops to a bag or throw them in the kettle? if you are throwing them in, then do a whirlpool with a stainless spoon to accumulate the hops in the middle. Let the trub go into your fermenter. It will settle to the bottom and will cause no harm. Are you using whirlfloc tablets? If not get some.

As for your chiller, i have a copper chiller, 1/4" tube size and it SUCKS for chilling. I brew 5.75 gal batches and i hate the damn thing. I'm about to get a Jaded Brewing chiller to replace the POS i have. Anyway the one i have now takes 45+ minutes to chill down to 85 degrees at which point I move to my fermenter and into the ferm chamber to continue cooling.

My ground water is warm so a lot of times i use an immersion pump (pond pump) and ice water to cool down quicker. it works and it will cut down on your chilling time but you will need to get temps down to under 125 or so before using the ice water or the heat will melt the ice quick.

 

[Medarius]

2. Some folks get a submersible pump (like a pond pump), place that in a 5 gallon bucket of ice water, and use that super chilled water to feed their immersion chiller.
.

My ground water is warm so a lot of times i use an immersion pump (pond pump) and ice water to cool down quicker. it works and it will cut down on your chilling time but you will need to get temps down to under 125 or so before using the ice water or the heat will melt the ice quick.

Using an ice chest with a pond pump works great , important step is to have max water in ice chest and DONT put the return water hose into chest right away for at least first 3-4 gallons. I just add a gallon as one is drained off for first couple minutes and after 4 jugs I can put the return hose in chest and let it run. I can get my 6 gal of wort chilled to 75F in 20 minutes this way.
Last brew I got busy and actually cooled mine too far, down to 60 in about 30min and had to let it warm up a bit before pitching. Wheat beer/ Weizen yeast seems to work better for me. when pitched warm and then cooled to ferm temp.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Or as I do run mains water through old IC in esky then up into kettle IC then out whereever is needed...