Electric gas BIAB hybrid rig - bucket heater or?

[kitr]

Moving into BIAB from extract and I had a question. My new place will have gas but rather than wrapping the kettle with a sleeping bag after getting the water to temperature why not use something like a small electric bucket heater to maintain temperature? Maybe people are already doing this? I searched but the key words just hit on way too many unrelated posts.... more beer sells a bucket heater with a built in thermostat but maybe I am over thinking this! Or maybe this is a horrible idea because of something I'm not considering? Thought I would ask before wasting the money!

Thanks....

 

[mongoose33]

A mash is difficult to heat evenly like that, at least without stirring it. It's why people who want to heat a mash tun like that on a burner or stove will discover that the bottom heats up a lot but that heat doesn't move by convection like it would if it were just water.

People doing BIAB are generally crushing grain a bit finer such that conversion is complete pretty fast, even as fast as 20 minutes. So you really only need to hold temps for maybe 30 minutes or so, and a sleeping bag/blanket/quilt/whatever will work fine for that. After conversion is complete, the remainder of the time is drawing flavors out, and holding the exact temp isn't crucial for that.

 

[kitr]

Hmmmm ok. For some reason I assumed I would be using my pump to move the water around a bit during that process but as I assumed I am overthinking all of this! Thanks....