Kacey wrote: . . . . . Heres a good question too, has anyone won a competition with BIAB?
Kacey - Here in Oz the comp season has pretty much run its course, with only (one version of) the Nationals left to go.
I don't know of anyone else apart from me that entered any BIAB beers in comps, but I entered three, accross two different comps. Only one of them was really ready to be entered into anything, but I entered all three just so I could get some feedback about possible common flaws that could be related to the technique.
Results - the two that weren't ready did poorly. An immature barleywine that scored 23 - havent received the feed back sheets yet - and a Rye IPA that got pinged failry hard for underattenuation, underbitterness and just generally being uninspiring. Fair enough too seeing as I tapped out just enough to fill two bottles straight from the primary fermentation... the rest I didn't bottle for another three weeks.
The one that did a bit better was an oatmeal stout that scored 33 and came seventh out of 27 in the Stout category - knocked down for being a bit thin and not having enough oatmeal for style.
Encouragingly, there was no "theme" to the criticisms of the judges... nothing common that could be nailed down to the BIAB technique itself. But it was only three beers, so probably not a really significant sample.
This year my competition focus was on beers I made on my "normal" system, so the BIAB brews were just tossed in to get some data... next year I will concentrate on them a bit more and try to do a little better. A medal for a BIAB brew would save me a lot of arguing ........
Boob - See, I told you people get all upset about it. I don't get it - but it seems to really piss some people off.
0 (with a line through) - Cool, you'll like BIAB and find it really easy to do, but don't give up on that mash tun either. Do the BIAB thing and get some AG brews under your belt... but then go back and sort that mash tun out as well. If you master both techniques, then you can pick the one that suits your time, space and inclination. And you will be a better brewer for it. But in the meantime - go for the bag. Any questions, feel free to ask. I'm only too happy to help.
Thirsty
