Electrim mashing bin/boiler

[ArmChair]

I purchased a Electrim mashing bin/boiler last year with the intention of doing All Grain brewing.

Does any one use one of these for BIAB?

If so what sort of bag do you use?
what do you use to cover the element so it does not burn the grain?
What temp does each setting reach on there thermostat



Pics would help if possible

[john_drummer]

ok I use a stove-top pan, but the bag I use would still work in the Electrim thing - I did consider one of those but ended up going stove top.

I use a Ritchies Mashing & Sparging bag, cost about £9.

I've heard that people use stainless wire cake stands to keep the bag off the element.

[UKTony]

Tried using an Electrim for BIAB with a mashing & sparging bag a couple of times and was not that happy.

If you wrap the bag over the top lip then the grain bag will be off the element but the bag material wicks the wort so it gets a bit messy with drips over the side, using a cake stand might be a better choice but really it's not a good idea to run the element whilst mashing it's too brutal and without re-circulation or lots of stirring it's difficult to get a consistent temperature. Heat to 76oC then add the grain bag adjust to your desired mashing temperature with hot/cold water then cover and leave for 60/90 minutes seems to be the best option.

The 'thermostat' does not command the temperature it just varies the duty cycle in my experience, I've bypassed it as when full the element struggles to keep a healthy rolling boil if not full on.

[minesapint]

ELECTRIM BOILER

For mashing I use a 13 litre stainless steel lidded bucket from ebay.
This fits into the electrim boiler and the lugs for the bucket handle stop the bucket from going right down and sitting onto the element.
The wetted grain is thereby contained in the bucket. The stainless lid goes on the bucket and a plastic bin bag filled with polystyrene packing beans sits on the top of it all for insulation.

A wet practice run should be tried first.

Put the bucket in place and fill the boiler up to the required level for mashing. Take the bucket out and mark the level of the water on the boiler.

If you fail to do this and put too much water in the boiler, there is the danger of it overflowing onto the electrics when the bucket is put in.

Sort out the temperatures and mark the dial as well.

When the mash time is up, the bucket is lifted out and tipped into a Ritchies straining bag that has been placed over the neck of my 5 gallon fermenting bin. I hold this in place with a nylon luggage strap around the outside.
The hot water from the boiler is now used for sparging the mash.
The mash is sparged into the fermenting bin and pours out of the tap into the now empty and cleaned stainless steel bucket plus another plastic brew bucket.
When all has been recovered it then goes back into the boiler and boiled with the hops etc .
My home made strainer fits into the bore of the tap inside the boiler. Just a piece of domestic copper water pipe with holes drilled in and a bit of fine stainless steel gauze wrapped around it and held in place onto the copper pipe with a stainless jubilee hose clip.

The system works well for my home brew so far.
The only problem that I have had is a very strong barley wine needed that required so much grain that I decided to split it into a cooker top mash and electrim boiler mash for ease in stirring and adjusting the mash temperature with extra hot water etc.
Hope this is of some use to you.
Cheers All

[minesapint]

Temperatures.
The dial is a little on the small side for my liking so I glued a larger disc of clear thin rigid plastic on the back of it. About three inches in diameter. The sort of stuff you find under the collar of a new shirt.
This gives a more accurate and repeatable position for the dial.
The temperature settings are trial and error . Once you hit on the temperature setting for the mash or sparge, mark it on the dial for future use.
A bit of time spent watching a thermometer until it gets to the right temperature and the occasional stir will get you there. When you get the right temperature, wind the thermostat down until you hear it click off and mark the spot on the dial.
Try it a few times until you are confident of the settings. And dont forget to give the tub a good stir, the heat can be pretty localised depending upon the position of the thermometer .
Good look with the all grain.
Well worth it in the end.

[alecwallace]

I use a bin like yours. I bring my water up to strike temp, and then place the bag in followed by the grain. Wrap in towels and mash. I then lift the bag and let it drain in another bucket whilst bringing my boiler up to boil. I don't raise the temp with the bag in mainly because I don't need to. It all works fine however ive learnt to insulate when boiling outside as it cuts out and all power to the house! This is the bag I use http://hopandgrape.co.uk/public/detailv ... YL20186148

[ArmChair]

I use a bin like yours. I bring my water up to strike temp, and then place the bag in followed by the grain. Wrap in towels and mash. I then lift the bag and let it drain in another bucket whilst bringing my boiler up to boil. I don't raise the temp with the bag in mainly because I don't need to. It all works fine however ive learnt to insulate when boiling outside as it cuts out and all power to the house! This is the bag I use http://hopandgrape.co.uk/public/detailv ... YL20186148

Cheers,

That's what I have been doing, except I've been using a sleeping bag

[minesapint]

Hello all
When you chaps put the bag in, does it go in knotted like a big haggis or is it open and draped over the edges of the boiler?
I know that when I have been a bit slap dash with the original mixing, I can prod the contents of my stainless bucket with a thermometer and find different temperatures, this is quickly sorted with a good stir, using a clean wooden stick that I keep just for that purpose. The big white paddles sold in homebrew shops are not up to the job.
I was thinking a big haggis like bag of grain would be bit difficult to test the temperatures and stir up if needs be.
The other thing that I was pondering is if you put gypsum and other water treatments in with the grains in the bag, it is going to be diluted with the surrounding boiler water.
Any thoughts?
Cheers All

[sunny_jimbob]

I drape my bag over the sides, then when I put the lid on the boiler I gather it all together on top and kind of hook it through the lid handle.

[Bribie]

BIAB in an electric urn (30 or 40L) is popular hereabouts - unfortunately we can't get Electrims here although some guys make their own "bucket o death" using kettle elements etc, not unlike an Electrim. The general advice is to make the bag so that the vessel will actually fit INSIDE it, that way you can be sure that the bag will accommodate the mash when used inside. A haggis type setup wouldn't be ideal as you would have a lot of weak wort surrounding the bag, not actually doing anything useful.

I've found that the best bag is not a bag, but a circle of voile hemmed around the edge, and when mashing is complete just throttle it with a hangman's noose and hoist, like an old fashioned tramp's bag.

[minesapint]

Blimey Bribie !
I had to take a second look.
I thought the brew bag was a fat lass in a wedding veil.
Your grain bills must be enormous compared to my tiny 7 lb ones.
Hardly seems worth my while setting my gear up for a tiny 5 gallon brew.
Cheers.

[AdyG]

Blimey Bribie !
I had to take a second look.
I thought the brew bag was a fat lass in a wedding veil.
Your grain bills must be enormous compared to my tiny 7 lb ones.
Hardly seems worth my while setting my gear up for a tiny 5 gallon brew.
Cheers.

Yeah I had to look twice to work it out.

Very nice winch arrangement though. I've just been lifting mine out by hand, but my very last brew had a pretty big grain bill and was about on the limit! Really need something like this with pulleys!

[Bribie]

Haha that's only a 5kg grain bill, just looks a bit frightening in the photo.

[oliver tate]

Hi, I also have 1 of these boilers and would like to try a BIAB. I am trying to find out as much info as I can but the volume of info out there is a bit overwhelming!

Is it possible to use this boiler to do a 19 litre standard BIAB brew or should I be looking into the maxi-biab method? I just need to know where to start!

[Bribie]

You would probably have to do a sort of Maxi BIAB in the sense that the Electrim isn't big enough to hold all the water up-front. So you would need to do an initial mash, raise and drain the bag and run the wort into a second vessel (e.g. spare fermenter). Then repeat the process with sparge water and run that into the spare vessel. The dispose of the grain and bag, jug the wort into the Electrim and boil.

How much does an Electrim hold? I've forgotten.