I'm sorry, I dont agree. With a 4l mash, you'll lose more than that with towels in an hour. Besides, its hardly going out of your way to put it in the oven.
With a 35l full volume biab, i lose between 1-2c with a winter duvet wrapped around. I'd expect to lose much more with a mini one. Admittedly i've not tried it as I felt the oven idea is just as easy and more likely to keep it steady.
I only lose 1C with 10 litres. I've had a couple that stayed at the initial temperature. I wrap it up on the hot stove when I switch the heat off and leave it there. I experimented once by not wrapping it up, just left it on the stove, it lost 3C in an hour.
Perhaps your stove stays hot for a while and continues to heat for a little while after you measured the initial temp? Seems implausable to lose no temp at all in an hour with 10l in a metal pan thats wrapped up, but well done for managing it. You must have a warmer house than me!
And while I think on, it's easy to crash cool small batches! I just replaced the lid to one without a hole drilled and put in the fridge a couple of days prior to bottling.
I make sure the temp is stable before leaving it. I do the crash cooling too, big advantage of small batches. Can cool the wort quickly in the sink too.
Yes there's lots of pluses in small batch brewing. Less time, less equipment, less to clean, cheaper to experiment, quicker cooling etc etc... In fact, there's few drawbacks... the main one being less beer (a big drawback, I grant you), but you can always do it more often.
A good intro into all grain and a good option for experienced brewers who don't have time to brew as regularly as they would like.
