Now that I have alot of grain on hand, I'm thinking about doing BIAB starters. Just another way to keep my costs down. I can heat my mash water on the stove. Then throw a grain bag in. Adjust the heat if needed. Pull the bag out and straight to boil. I can cool in an ice bath in the sink. Sure it's more time consuming but it should be alot cheaper.
Anyone do this or have any thoughts?

I have been thinking the exact same thing as you. DME is easy, but not exactly cheap. so my plan is 1 gallon mash with 1 lb and 7 oz of 2-row. with 72-75% eff, it will yield a wort of 1.039-1.041...perfect for startes! just pull the sack out and let it drip completely dry to get maximum volume.

this will yield approx. (7) 500mL starters, which I plan on freezing in separate portions in ziplock bags. come starter day, simply pull a bag, thaw and boil for a bit, cool to pitching temps, off you go! I was not even planning on boiling on "starter brew day" because I boil my starter wort anyway.

total cost for 7 starters (not factoring time/gas/water which would be used anyway) will be like $1.85

this all works out a-ok IMO

Wow, I didn't even think of freezing the starters. I would probably mash out/pasteurize just to be safe. Your right that it probably isn't needed, but I would probably do it to be safe. Man, you just gave me something else to think about...

you are welcome!

starters are great...making them is boring and takes a while, so I am thinking that this would cheaply and easily help out the process. and the more I think about it, a short boil to pasteurize is a good idea. why make the effort to do this and not make sure the wort is sanitized prior to freezing? saving a few minutes? hardly a good excuse. I like it, and we are on to something here

I did a BiaB starter over the weekend. I have pics but they are probably not worth posting.
Went pretty smoothly with only a few miscalculations. I used a grain absorption ratio that didn't account for "sack squeezing" so I probably have a little more volume then I aimed for. Also I underestimated how much break material 1.5 pounds of grain would produce. Next time I will use my mini auto siphon since most of the break wound up in my fermenter. I will probably wash the yeast before splitting to pitch/save.

you might be ok leaving the break material in. I've read in a few places that the break material is a good yeast nutrient, something you would want in a starter wort.

You guys will have to let us know how this goes, not sure how well wort will hold up to the freezing and thawing process? It's interesting either way, may need to try this on my own. I know a bunch of people have the way of canning wort for starters which I would assume would work very well, a ziplock and them frozen I am not sold on, but def keep us updated

A BIAB starter sounds like a nice, easy idea. I'm not completely sold on canning up a bunch of it though.

Here's a thought... with that amount of grain, why not do an iodine test on that little, bitty mash and see how fast it converts? JSSTR8 says making them is a time consuming process, but I'm guessing it can be quick. That mash probably converts quick and comes to a boil even quicker. Boil a few minutes and then chill. It sounds quick to me... although reading a process and actually doing it are two different things.

That's a great idea Pudge. I hate to admit that I am an all grain brewer without an iodine kit; I may have to pick one up. I have never minded mash time though. Kinda set it and forget it.

is there any other way?

So I cooled, decanted, split and pitched. Active fermentation within 4 hours. My splits also look much better. I think I will stick with this technique for a while. May get a test kit like Pude suggested and see how much time I can save. I may get adventerous and trying freezing sometime, but I want to try this new technique a few times and get a good feel for it.