AG or BIAB?

[TexasWine]

Thanks for all of the replies. On the strike temp, wrapping the kettle holds in the heat. I'm wondering if I could use my cool brew bag that I ferment in to keep the heat? If I put frozen 2 liters bottles in the bag with a fermenting bucket or carboy, it holds the temp as cold as I need or want it to. Wonder if it will hold heat? Anyone ever use one of these to hold heat?

Never used mine for such a purpose. It would be better than letting it sit out uninsulated. But keep in mind it works so well for cooling for two reasons.

One, the temperature you're trying to maintain when cooling isn't that much different than the ambient temps, say 20F difference or so. If you're trying to maintain mash temps, you're delta will be 80-90F. Might not be a big deal, but your rate of heat loss will be greater than when keeping it cool.

Two, the phase change from ice to water requires a lot of energy. When keeping it warm, you don't have that advantage.

 

[RM-MN]

Almost anything that you can wrap around the pot will help hold in the heat but don't forget to insulate the cover too. A folded bath towel will help in this area. Don't be too concerned if you lose a little heat on the first couple batches. Concentrate on getting the water to strike temp and stirring in the grains well so you don't get dough balls (wire whisk is awesome for this). After you have a couple batched done you can worry about the heat loss.

 

[rhys333]

Eliminating head space helps maintain mash team too. It's why I moved the mash indoors using my 5 gallon pot. Virtually zero heat loss this way. I mash at 1.25 qt/lb then sparge, so needless to say the head space in my 10 gallon kettle was huge. It was a pain in the butt trying to keep it at temp.