I drilled the hole about 2-1/4" up from the bottom of the pot to allow for the dip tube. For the dip tube, I'm planning on using bent stainless or copper tubing that will extend out to the center of the pot. I'm thinking that I will set it up so that it will reach down to about 1/4" from the bottom of the pot. The tubing fitting will allow me to rotate the tubing to raise it if I need to.

Will the trub still be an issue if both the grains and hops are bagged?

Yup, you'll still get break material (proteins that coagulate in the hot and cold break), and I suggest having the dip tube off to the side, so you can whirlpool and leave the break material in the center of the pot.

Thanks guys for the whirlpool tip.

Maybe I can just elbow my dip tube down and then elbow again right back to the side of the pot.

Go out and look at the Blichmann website at the boilermaker pot. One of the pictures shows the pick-up tube inside the pot. I have that pot and it works well as long as you whirlpool and use hop bags.

Took a look. Thanks.

i do 3 gallon BIAB batches... my recipes typically have 6 lbs of grains and i get a gravity of around 1.050(ish)... i collect 4.25 gallons strike water and when i mash in those 6 lbs of grain, i nearly overflow my 20 qt pot. you can always top off, but i think16 qts might be a bit small. good news, it's the perfect size for a HLT for a mash tun... and that step bit can be reused to drill a new hole in a larger pot

Yeah, I should have gotten a larger pot, but at the time I was thinking smaller, Mr. Beer sized batches.

When I purchased the 16 quart pot, I figured that if/when I decide to upgrade that I'd either keep the pot for other uses or reuse the valve in a larger pot. The 16 qt pot was only $17, so it wouldn't hurt too bad.

I'm going to try to make it work for now with some small batches while I'm learning. I may try a hybrid BIAB method and start with 3.25 gal for the mash and then sparge before boiling. My goal would be to end up with a Mr. Beer sized batch of approx. 8 liters or 2.1 gallons.