Over the colder months, and even in warmer weather, I find one of the most challenging aspects of BIAB is maintaining a good mash temp. I wrap my kettle in a sleeping bag, but even then it's not uncommon for the mash temperature to drop by 6 degrees or more over 60 minutes. I've had good success refiring the burner every 15 minutes, but the constant attention required can make the whole process feel a little frantic. I've also tried wrapping my kettle in reflectix as well as the sleeping bag. The reflectix did help, but sometimes it doesn't do enough, and it has to be removed before you start the burner again or it will melt. I try to minimize opening the lid as much as possible during the mash, but when I've tried going the whole mash while keeping the kettle wrapped the whole time, I still lost more heat than I was comfortable with.
A few questions for my fellow BIAB'ers:
1) How much heat loss during mash are you comfortable with? Are you comfortable with more heat loss on higher mash temps?
2) How do you insulate your kettle?
3) Does anyone shoot for a higher mash temp to compensate for the extra heat loss in BIAB as compared to a system with an insulated mash tun?
A few questions for my fellow BIAB'ers:
1) How much heat loss during mash are you comfortable with? Are you comfortable with more heat loss on higher mash temps?
2) How do you insulate your kettle?
3) Does anyone shoot for a higher mash temp to compensate for the extra heat loss in BIAB as compared to a system with an insulated mash tun?