Burn in the bag

These days I usually use the "brew in a bag" method to make my beer. It means doing a mash with the grains held in a large mesh bag. The key thing when doing this is to make sure that the bad doesn't touch the bottom of the boiler. In my case I've got an electric boiler, and the material catches and will burn. This is exactly what happened during my latest brew. It was just a little burn, and the wort does not seem to have any burnt taste or smell carried through into it, so fingers crossed the beer will still be good.

The trick to making sure the mesh doesn't catch is to put a steel colander in the boiler first, and then arrange the mesh bag on top of this. Of course sometimes when the grain goes in this can push some of the bag down onto the element - this is the thing to look out for!

This is just a small hole, one I can fix with a needle and thread. It should be a reminder to me that i should take a bit more time setting up the mash before getting going.