For the Anova users in this thread: have you guys sorted out the 'don't let it touch anything but water' warning in the owner's manual? Well... I guess I shouldn't assume yours has that warning (don't know what model #, etc., you have...), but I know my immersion circulator has that warning in the manual. For that reason, I've never tried it in a mash even though that was one of my original thoughts when buying it (in addition to delicious food of course ). Any chance you guys called them to inquire about this? I'm guessing it's a warranty issue? But I also considered it could be a food safety type of issue as well. Just curious. Cheers!
in my experience, the anova doesnt let that happen. the impeller is below the heating coils, so if and when the bag gets close enough to be almost touching the element, it ends up getting sucked into impeller on bottom instead, and the unit shuts itself off and gives loud annoying alarm. the openings near the element are small, and the suction from impeller is strong enough to take over and pull the bag down. so burning bag has never happened to me.
now i just clip my bag to the kettle so that the bottom doesnt rest on bottom of kettle, and that usually means there isnt enough slack in the bag for it to get pulled into unit, and keep it away from the unit.
if you look at the ads that pop up on the right of this forum, there's a guy called ArborFab that makes a wire mesh strainer for biab that is 3/4 round with one side of the circle that's been flattened- that's how you want to get your bag to hang. never had a problem since i got that shape down.