Thanks for the reply…I really don’t want to get back into the 5 gallon kettle size for now. I have two enormous 10 gallon kettles and I’m wondering if I could get away with a 3 gallon kettle. I would consider 4 as well.
One concern I have is that the brew bag I bought certainly won’t fit around any kettle (14x18). Is there a jury rig technique that I can use to keep this bag off of the bottom of the kettle? Or maybe that’s not an issue since it won’t be that hot while mashing in.
It will be fine as long as you are not applying direct heat. This past weekend I did the pre-heated oven trick to hold my mash temp. Worked pretty well. Lost 3* over an hour. Before I was trying to use carry over heat from the stove coil, but it was too much hassle giving me hot spots in the beginning and lots of heat loss by the end.
For small BIAB batches, I try to hit an initial mash temperature about 5 degrees too high, then let it fall to about 5 degrees too low over the course of the mash. For example, hit 155 F and then 45 minutes later it might fall to about 145 F, with a goal of “150 F” for the average. Close enough and works pretty well about 70% of the time. I also keep a little boiling water available on the side so I can add a pint of boiling water or a half cup of cold water to adjust if necessary, rather than adding direct heat which I can also do but prefer not to. Obviously this works best if done on the stovetop, I’m not sure how you might do it with a turkey fryer but I suppose it could be done, to avoid melting your grain bag.
You would only need to keep the bag off the bottom if you plan on adding heat during the mash. You could use a false bottom, a metal steamer basket, a colander, or even a trivet of the appropriate size and shape. Since you’re doing small batches, it should be easy enough to just lift the bag by hand while heating as well.