Thanks, SpacemanSpiff for responding. I'm sure I'll have more questions related to this system, so I don't think we'll be hijacking sippin37's thread. He may end up purchasing one, himself.
Getting ready for batch #2 today. Here was my experience on the first go:
2. Recirc worked perfectly and I think that directly relates to #1. From the little I've seen in some of the threads I guess the argument against doing a recirc is that you can hold temps to within a few degrees anyway if you have some insulation or if you're willing to monitor the mash and direct fire if needed. I get it and used to mash that way also. But with the recirc and the probe at the top of that loop, I can essentially set the mash temp and walk away. I don't see a downside to it. . .
The reason I asked was because several e-BIABers have abandoned recirculation. I think there was a thread on this and it might have been related to the use of the basket. Apparently, the pump tried to draw faster than the wort would flow thru and out of the basket causing burning around the element. It was recommended that the valve
after the pump be closed down to limit the flow. Some punched larger holes in their baskets with varying results. I think it was mentioned that the little sprayer at the end of this particular system acted to limit the flow. I'm not sure about the guys who to e-BIAB without the basket.
3. I thought the basket worked great. . . I'm still trying to figure out how to squeeze out the rest though as I didn't want to push on this cocked basket and have it fall back in the pot and splash everywhere. . .
I would plan to use a pulley as others have recommended to lift the basket/bag or slip an oven rack over the top of the kettle on which to rest the basket. You could set a 10 lb weight on top of the grain to help squeeze more wort out.
4. I stuck with my IC and had no issues. . . Then just runoff into a bucket and dump it. Here's where that recirc comes in with a bonus because I kept it running during the recirc and that keeps the wort moving across the coils and really sped up the cooling. I really didn't have to bother with a lot of stirring or sloshing the coil around and that helped the trub drop out nicely for when it was time to transfer.
I hadn't thought of that. Thanks.
5. Another bonus for the recirc in cleanup. After a quick flush with hot water to get out the big chunks, I made up about 3 gallons of hot Oxi and just let it recirc for 20 minutes or so. After that there were just a few spots in the pot that I had to hit a little harder by hand and I also had to work a little more on the basket. Overall, it was pretty simple though.
I hadn't thought of that, either.
BTW, are you using a bag made from Swiss Voile? I think the High Gravity video mentioned the included Nylon bag. I think the guys who had trouble with flow thru their bag-in-a-basket combo were using bags made from the fine meshed voile. It might be that the nylon mesh bag has larger pores so that wort flows thru more quickly. I'd like to hear from those who end up using this system with bags made from the finer voile.
Thanks, again, for answering my questions. If this works well for all of y'all, I may end up purchasing one myself instead of building a system.
Keith