Brew in a bag (BIAB) continues to grow in popularity as a cheaper and simplified way to pursue all-grain brewing. Here are five benefits of BIAB when moving to the mash.<br> <br> <b>Minimal Investment</b><br> Jumping into all-grain brewing can be daunting, not only because of the additional procedures that must be grasped, but the perceived cost of acquiring a mash tun and sparge pot. Sure, a mash tun can easily be built for a relatively low price, but it still isn’t as cheap as simply buying a large grain bag.<br> <br> Full-boil extract and partial mash brewers only need to buy a grain bag large enough for their recipes. Newbies looking to jump straight to all-grain just need a large boil pot and grain bag, which is more or less the same as when pursuing full-boil extract with specialty grain batches.<br> <br> <b>Simplified Procedures</b><br> 5 Benefits of BIAB 2While you must pay careful attention to mash rest temperatures and duration, the all-grain process is actually simplified when doing BIAB.<br> <br> Traditional steps like the vorlauf, latuering and sparging are basically skipped, though the same results achieved as if mashing and lautering in a tun.<br> <br> With no-sparge BIAB, simply mash in enough water to leave you with your desired pre-boil gravity, remove the grains and let them drip dry, and carry on with the boil as usual.<br> <br> <b>Small Footprint</b><br> All-grain brewing with traditional mashing equipment can make for a cramped brew day, especially if you are strictly an indoor brewer. When doing no-sparge BIAB, all you have is one pot. That’s it—no mash tun or pots in addition to the boil kettle. Heck, you could probably get two mashes going with all of that extra space!<br>