Putting the Squeeze on your grain bag

All of us Brew-in-a-Bag fans have experienced it;  when the mash is finished and you want to get all of that sweet, precious wort out of the bag, you start twisting and squeezing the bag for all you're worth.

Trouble is, that grain is still 150degrees or more and your hands can only take that so long.

I've seen several ideas posted to address this, everything from high temperature gloves, to clamping two plates around the bag and tightening the clamps.

After running through several designs for a bag squeezer in my head, I have settled on a solution that uses a caulking gun and a metal bowl along with my current setup to press the grain bag into submission.

Below is a picture of my (as yet untested) idea.

The key component is a standard caulking gun as shown below (less than $10 on Amazon)

After removing the guide ring at the end that normally holds the front of the tube of caulk, I bent the ends of the metal rails to form 1/4 inch tabs that grab under the edge of the colander.  After that, I spread the rails and bent them to allow room for a plate or bowl to be fit inside above the grain bag.

I have not decided what to use below the plunger to press against the grain bag.  I have some stainless steel dog bowls similar to this that could work.

But this round-bottom mixing bowl is cheap and looks like it could work also.

My colander is similar to this one:

If you have a favorite way to get the wort out after mashing, please leave a comment below.  I'm open to new ideas!

Cheers!

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