CallMeZoot

Recipes 

I lost my old brewpot in my last move and I don't remember what its capacity was -- I just remember it was too small.

I'm looking to start brewing again but I'm not sure what size to get (I'm mostly shopping online where size is hard to guage. They're all 2 inches high on my computer screen).

I mostly brew from kits, 5-gallon batches, not full-boil. It's been a while but I think most of the recipes I use call for 2-3 gallons of water + Extract/Hops and usually a bag-steeped specialty grain. I top off the remaining gallons in the fermenter.

Would a 20-qt pot be enough for my purposes, or is that cutting it too close to boilover? Would 30-qt be too big for a typical stove burner? (My stove is one of those glass-top electric burner thingies).

Any advice would be appreciated. Budget and space prohibit the "buy big and grow into it" option for now.

Thanks,
chris.

P.S. What about this one http://tinyurl.com/2fv9rh ? Would the spigot be helpful in transferring or is it likely to get clogged with mash?

malkore

Recipes 

20qt is 5 gallons and would work for 3 gallon boils.

my stove will not bring a 5gallon pot to a boil. its a ceramic top stove and the wide diameter of the pot causes the element to shut off a lot, to avoid damaging the cook top.

if you have normal electric coils, or a gas range, you should be able to handle a 5gallon pot. might take a bit to heat, but it should work.

yer other option is two smaller pots, like 12qt, and split your boil between them (as well as your extract and hops...you'll need a good kitchen scale for that)

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Malkore
Primary: English Mild
On tap: Pale Ale, Lancelot's Wheat, English Brown Ale, Steam Beer, HoovNuts IPA
Bottled: MOAM, Braggot, Raspberry Melomel, Merlot, Apfelwein, Pyment, Sweet mead, Cabernet
Gal in 2009: 27, Gal in 2010: 34, Gal in 2011: 13, Gal in 2012: 10