Amanda and Ogri,
I would like to make a pressure type lid to squeeze the mash when done with the rinses, kind of like a dutch cheese press. Then I can use the spent grain to make bread and dog treats as well as providing inert material for adding to my soil pots for gardening. The fabbing is defeating the simplicity of the Biab method, but I am way more interested in producing tasty and flavorfull brews that demonstrate the true character of the grain bill selection. So I wasn't really looking to simplify the BIAB process, but to improve it and to standardize the results into a repeatable process. Thanks for the links to the mesh supplier also. Since I have a metal fab shop at my home it wont be hard to build or cost much to give it a try.
Wheelchair Bob
Hello
A few things -
I am not sure how hard you can press your grains before basket/mesh will rip... but then again... squeezing the heck out of the grains does not benefit you much.
I sparge 3 gallons of water over my grains since I can not get full volume in my keggle on a 12 gallon batch... I squeeze a little, with grains and sparge in a bucket with holes in it.
Having a stainless mesh bag over a voile bag will not make your process any more repeatable... you can get repeatable results with BIAB or eBIAB easily.
Having the same grain crush and same mash time are 2 areas you need to keep consistent for repeatable BIAB brews.
Dont get me wrong though... a stainless "bag" would be pretty nice and if I had the time to make one I would.... but it would be pretty far down my list of priorities of things to setup.
Attempting to recirculate with a pump through a bag or a mesh filter will only cost you more money and headaches. I desperately wanted to do this but in the end sold the pump... my beer is great with out it.
Look at other threads on this topic including mine.
Overall... I applaud your efforts to make a better design, but talking from experience, you might try a simpler approach and end up liking the results.
I have tried to over engineer my setup and make a better system, but ended up failing in a few areas...
Look at some of my threads to see how I struggled with a few things and what I did to solve them.
One of the best ideas I have had is to use a stir motor with my eBIAB setup.
good luck
Kevin