Planning first BIAB questions

[Jamie Mullen]

After a year of cider brewing then moving onto beer kits it is time to take the next step. As my garage is already full of my other hobbies there's limited space and brewing indoors would cause domestic disharmony so I thought the best option would be to BIAB.

The plan is to brew in the garage using gas for heating. I already have two decent sized propane tanks on the go for the BBQ (and a backup tank) and I'm not sure how sturdy the garage electric supply is so gas it is. I took the plunge tonight and bought a 70ltr stainless pot with tap and hop strainer from eBay. I always find whatever I brew goes quickly so larger batches would be better.

Question time.
1, What sort of brew size could I make in a 70ltr pot assuming full volume method?
2, What size burner should I be looking for to comfortably heat a pot of this size?
3, I plan on wrapping the pot with the foil backed insulation to increase heating efficiency and minimise heat loss during the mash. Is this ok?
4, What size cooling coil should I look for with a 70ltr pot?
5, Is a homemade bag worth considering? I have access to voile and a professional seamstress.
6, On a separate note, is it possible to change my username?

Thanks in advance.

[boff]

I'm not expert so I am sure others will give you better answers.
1 I use a 50l pot for a 23 l brew. I could squeeze a bit more into it. So I would guess 70l would give you 35-40l ish but remember the weight of the saturated grain could be the limiting factor. You might need a pulley system.

2. I've got a 8kW paella burner works fine for me and had the advantage that I already had it so effectively free. I weighed my gas bottle before and after and used about 1.2kg of gas iirc

3. Don't know is the insulation safe with a naked flame? I use an old sleeping bag and bubble wrap after I reach mash temperature. I start with hot water to sipped things up
4. I use the no chill cube technique seems to work for me.

5 I made my bag from about £2.50 of net curtain material (I'm not posh enough for voile). Trained my self to use the sewing machine. tbh bloody ugly but it works.
6 I have no idea.

[Jamie Mullen]

Thanks for the reply boff.

I should clarify, I'm only planning to wrap the sides of the pot with the foil backed bubble wrap. The bottom will not be wrapped. I'll still use extra wrapping for the mash but as I'll be brewing in the door of my garage I thought the bubble wrap would speed up the initial heating and boiling phases in colder weather.

[daf]

Don't bother with the insulation, I do 90 minute mashes in a s.s. pot, 50litres, I just put a fleece over it, drops maybe half a degree.