Stepped up the brew pot, mistake?

**lurker18** · 11-23-2010, 02:17 PM

I got a new brew pot this weekend, a 15 Gal. stainless pot. Could have got an aluminum 15 Gal for only a few $ less so I went stainless.

Question is, how does the shape of the boil kettle matter. The aluminum pot was tall and thin, just a bigger turkey frier, like the 6 gallon one that I have now. The stainless one that I bought is shorter and much wider, about as wide as it is tall. Will this cause a problem with the boils? For info, the turkey frier burner that I use now is too much heat for the 7 gallon pot, I have to set the pot partly off the flame to keep the boil in the pot, so I am sure that I have enough heat to boil the bigger pot, and I will not be going more than 8 gallons in the pot, I only make 5 gallon batches.

**Mirage** · 11-23-2010, 02:29 PM

You should be fine. I use a Keggle for about the same thing you do, and the flame isn't as close to the bottom as yours will be (due to the skirt). You should have no problems.

**Bobby_M** · 11-23-2010, 02:32 PM

You can't turn the burner down?

**lurker18** · 11-23-2010, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby_M

You can't turn the burner down?

Not really, it just has an air control. The best I could do is choke it down a little right out of the tank.
The origional pot probably will not be used for much other than heating water from now. I was just wondering if the shape of the new pot was going to cause problems.

Catt22 · 11-23-2010, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lurker18

Not really, it just has an air control. The best I could do is choke it down a little right out of the tank.
The origional pot probably will not be used for much other than heating water from now. I was just wondering if the shape of the new pot was going to cause problems.

Your burner is very unusual in that it seems to lack a gas flow control valve. It should have either an adjustable pressure regulator or a needle valve of some kind between the regulator and the burner to control the gas flow. You could probably add a needle valve without too much trouble. I think you'd save a lot of fuel and have better control of the heat with a control valve.

specialkaye · 11-23-2010, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lurker18

Not really, it just has an air control. The best I could do is choke it down a little right out of the tank.
The origional pot probably will not be used for much other than heating water from now. I was just wondering if the shape of the new pot was going to cause problems.

At the very least, turn down the valve at the tank. Could you post a picture?

**lurker18** · 11-23-2010, 03:16 PM

http://www.turkey-fryers-online.com/bg10-turkey-fryer-burner.htm

The one I have, there is an air control dial at the end you can't see. There MAY be a regulator on the timer, I will have to look at home.

specialkaye · 11-24-2010, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lurker18

http://www.turkey-fryers-online.com/bg10-turkey-fryer-burner.htm

The one I have, there is an air control dial at the end you can't see. There MAY be a regulator on the timer, I will have to look at home.

Can you grab a picture or two of your actual set up? On my Bass Pro burner, the adjustment knob is a red thing near the propane tank. I really looks more like an over sized button than a knob.

**evanmars** · 11-24-2010, 02:57 PM

At any rate, whether you can adjust your flame or not, a wider pot should not have any detrimental effect on your boil. You may have a faster boil-off rate due to the increased surface area.

**lurker18** · 11-24-2010, 04:46 PM

Thanks for the info. The burner will not be the problem any more with the bigger kettle, it just caused a few problems on the smaller pot, getting a rolling boil was hard, I would end up with a very vigorous, splashing boil. The bigger kettle will have lots of head space to handle this. I am getting that the wider kettle will have a higher evaporation rate, so i will need to collect a little more runnings to take care of this.