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So here are some pictures of my BIAB setup for 2.5 gallon batches.

Started with a 5 gallon pot from Amazon and added ball valve, 2000W element and thermowell. For the basket I purchased a SS bucket at princess auto and drilled holes in the sides (might need more holes).

I just finished up my first batch last week and was able to hit most of my numbers.
One issue I did have is evening out my temperature during mash. I had hot wort around the basket but the grains were progressively colder as I checked closer to the middle of the basket. I did stir often and even recirculated by draining in a bucket and dumping it back on top but still had some trouble keeping it even.

Cheers!

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Hey Dan
just a couple quick questions. Are you doing full volume mashes? I also have a 5 gallon that I'm currently using for boil only and boiling 4.25 gallons of water in a 5 gallon kettle leaves little room boil over. What are your water numbers like?(starting volume vs end volume)

wader98 wrote:Hey Dan
just a couple quick questions. Are you doing full volume mashes? I also have a 5 gallon that I'm currently using for boil only and boiling 4.25 gallons of water in a 5 gallon kettle leaves little room boil over. What are your water numbers like?(starting volume vs end volume)

So I was able to do full mash in the kettle. My first batch I had 5 lb of grain so I started with 4.13 gallons and planned to finish with about 2.65 gallon in the fermenter. Because of some brewing errors I ended up with less in the fermenter but that was just just me still learning the system. This was a comfortable volume for the kettle size.
My second batch had 6 lb of grain so I started with 4.2 gallons of water and finished with 2.68 gallons in fermenter (as planned). On this second batch I was very close to the rim during mashing which made stirring very tricky.

On both batches once the grains where out I had about 3.78 gallons of wort pre-boil which is enough headspace for boiling.

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