I used a nylon sling doodad for lifting glass carboys for a couple of years. Of course you don't leave it on when you wash the carboy, which was when I came within inches of dropping one.
Now it's all plastic. Better Bottles are great (I use 2 6-gallon BBs for primaries) but I also have 2...
As long as it all fits, just use 1 bag. It'll be fine. I like to hold my brewpot at around 170 degrees for around 20 minutes to get the best of my grains. Be sure NOT to let it boil.
Looks like an interesting, but expensive solution. As far as time to temperature, I'd use either a burner or my induction plate to get to around 140 degrees and then fire up the sous vide.
Everything went quite well. I got very active fermentation after 18 hours with a significant blow-off. One week later, it's still pushing a blub every10 seconds through my 3/4" blow-off tube. Switched to a fermentation lock for the remainder.
I was planning to brew today and so cold-crashed my starter last night. It now appears that I won't be able to brew until Sunday. Will the starter hold in the refrigerator that long?
Put up a yeast starter yesterday. Checked it this morning and had a massive krausen on top. I usually let my starter run for 3 or 4 days before cold crashing. My brew shop temperature runs from 72 to 75 degrees and I was wondering if I should crash sooner with the more rapid growth I'm seeing.