My experience with "downsizing" my system was going back to 5g was necessary - was not interested in lifting 40# of wet grain!. I was very reluctant to doing that, but after a year it's clearly been the right choice.
My AIO uses a metal basket instead of a bag. It lifts up and sits on hooks that allow it to drip, and that's probably about as good as squeezing. In fact, with it sitting up above the boil, I can do a simple 1 gallon sparge by gently pouring water over it. By design, these AIO systems can do the RIMS function and maintain perfect mash temps, and also step mashes (I'd recommend 240V systems for that though).
I went with the following system which had everything integrated into the body, incl pump and valves. I love it.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/ssbrewtech-svbs.704301/
My AIO uses a metal basket instead of a bag. It lifts up and sits on hooks that allow it to drip, and that's probably about as good as squeezing. In fact, with it sitting up above the boil, I can do a simple 1 gallon sparge by gently pouring water over it. By design, these AIO systems can do the RIMS function and maintain perfect mash temps, and also step mashes (I'd recommend 240V systems for that though).
I went with the following system which had everything integrated into the body, incl pump and valves. I love it.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/ssbrewtech-svbs.704301/
