If you re read my first post I think we are arguing the same point here. That pat or pistolpatch as he was known did not discover or invent BIAB. He thought he did at the time and continued to claim so even after it was clear that the method was well established and common outside the relatively small AHB community that he was re-inventing it for.
As AHB grew and spread the word of the simple brew in a bag method the claims that it was a new Australian method continued and 3v brewing was referred to as the traditional brewing method.
This skewing of the facts still continues these days and though off topic was why I replied to the traditionalist comment from schikitar.
Wheelers book was first published in 1993 my copy of is the 1997 Ed, I forgot to mention that above.
In the 97 edition he describes BIAB as follows (I have underlined a few key points that highlight the fact that he was describing mashing in a 1v boiler or kettle without a separate mash tun):
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Mashing using a grain-bag and boiler
If you do not wish to turn your hand to drilling holes in a brewing bin an alternative is to use a grain-bag in conjunction with your boiler. It is probably the most commonly used mashing technique. Home-brew shops supply fine-mesh grain-bags specially for this purpose. The grain is placed into the bag, and the bag is then placed into the boiler containing appropriate quantity of pre-heated water maintained at the appropriate temperature.
The 3KW heater fitted to most brewing boilers is rather too fierce for this application but the system works well provided that the temperature is manually corrected when necessary by turning the heater on for very short bursts.
However, grain bags are messy and difficult to use. In addition, the boiler is occupied with mashing duties when it could be better employed elsewhere, heating sparge liquor for instance. Nevertheless, many home brewers use the grain-bag method and almost every masher learned his craft using one.
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I brewed pretty much as like this. I also found the temp controlled kettle element was a bit fierce and I needed to mash pretty much full volume to keep the grain bag away from it. I also later used a colander to keep the grain bag from touching it.
The point I was making, perhaps not very clearly about the grain bag in the Dave Line link above was although he had illustrated the bag being used to line a separate bucket to be used as a mash tun he showed it with 4 small loop handles.
The 4 small loops as he stated were to suspend the bag above a boiler for sparging. This would not be necessary if it was used to line a bucket.
The 4 loops were used to suspend the bag and hold it open above the kettle after mashing using broom handles and a couple dining chairs.
You would not need 4 handles to lift the bag as it could be easily lifted by one person with one pair of hands.
As for helping the OP, if I was starting out in all grain brewing I would find it hard to go past the Robobrew. Keg King and Keg Land are practically giving them away.
