Mash tun or biab?

[Craigerrr]

For a while, I used a hybrid system. I would mash in a 5 gallon Igloo beverage cooler using a BIAB bag.

+1 on mashing in a bag, @BOB357 turned me on to this. I mash in a keggle, and using the bag makes clean up a breeze, will also make cleaning you mash cooler a breeze if you go that route.

 

[Hawkbox]

Yeah, I would never mash without a bag these days. Just makes everything so easy.

 

[sbaclimber]

I am still doing the classical mash, but a coworker of mine is thinking of getting into brewing, and the first thing I told him was, "BIAB!"
I like maximizing my brewing capacity (e.g. 27 liter fermenter volume from a 30 liter mashtun), but if I was starting from scratch, I would definitely try BIAB.
And my coworker wants to try a small batch, so BIAB just seems to be an obvious way to go..

 

[Brittney81895]

I want to brew a 5 gallon batch of stout. I only have a 4 gallon kettle. What is the drawback to brewing 3.5 gallons and adding water to the carboy to get the 1.054 OG?

 

[Hawkbox]

It's more work and you could theoretically introduce infection. I wouldn't worry to much about it personally, though 3.5 might be optimistic in a 4 gallon pot.

 

[Nosybear]

I want to brew a 5 gallon batch of stout. I only have a 4 gallon kettle. What is the drawback to brewing 3.5 gallons and adding water to the carboy to get the 1.054 OG?

I brewed a lot of batches that way. Be sure and account for it in your hops and expect a slightly darker brew than if you'd done a full boil. The color is cosmetic, the hops, well, the calculator on this site will account for it as long as you put the correct water volumes in.

 

[Hawkbox]

Adding the water afterward will likely fix any colour concerns anyway, but yeah it "should" be more concentrated.