New brew kettle, is this overkill for extract?

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detz

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http://www.midwestsupplies.com/boilermakertm-10-gallon-kettle.html
or
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/15-gallon-megapot.html
or
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/polarware-stainless-steel-brewing-pot-with-spigot-10-gallon.html

Most extract kits only ask for 2.5 gallons but I heard if I go all grain I should have 10 gallon so if I'm going to drop this much I might as well do it right. My question is will this still work well with extract kits since it will only be holding 2.5 gallons? With the addons work with such little liquid?
 
well going that route you can do full boils now instead of starting with 2.5 gallons. the 10 gallon pot would be perfect for 5 gallon batches. I have the 15 and 25 gallon megapots and still just do extract. 6 gallons in the smaller pot just barely goes over the thermometer probe tho.
 
Don't follow the instructions with the kit if you have that big of a pot. I started with extract kits with a 10 gallon pot doing full boils. Now I do all- grain and it works great.
 
I can't really say right now. I recommend that you buy the 10 gal pot, and send it to me for some testing for several months and then I can give a good answer.
 
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/boilermakertm-10-gallon-kettle.html
or
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/15-gallon-megapot.html
or
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/polarware-stainless-steel-brewing-pot-with-spigot-10-gallon.html

Most extract kits only ask for 2.5 gallons but I heard if I go all grain I should have 10 gallon so if I'm going to drop this much I might as well do it right. My question is will this still work well with extract kits since it will only be holding 2.5 gallons? With the addons work with such little liquid?

Quite a nice pot. Do full boils but add most of the extract with 15 minutes left in the boil is the most common suggestions. It is supposed to avoid making the brew more dark than called for in any particular recipe.
Nice beer porn.
 
I would definitely recommend the larger kettle and doing the extract with full boil, which would mean you would have about 6.5 gallons in your pot pre-boil. I started doing extracts in a 8 gallon kettle and I'm already wishing I had put the money out for a 15 gallon. If you know you are going to want to move into all grain I would suggest you invest in the large pot right off the bat, assuming you have the funds. I'm doing partial mashes right now but I can't move to all grain until I have the money to invest in a larger pot.
 
I dont think i have ever heard the words overkill used in conjunction with brew hardware...just ask Yuri :cross:
 
I think the 10G blichman is the best quality-wise. Def a top shelf brand. I'd go with that,since it's big enough for 5 or 6 gallon brews.
 
Most extract kits only ask for 2.5 gallons....

Not really. Most extract kits have you boiling 2.5 gallons and then topping off with another 2.5-3 gallons. Once you start doing full boils, I think you'll be much happier with the beer you make. The 10g is fine. To make 5g batches in a 15g kettle is a bit of overkill, unless you think you'll end up making 10g batches eventually.....
 
I've done several full boil brews using an extract kit that was designed for a 2.5 gallon boil, and although that is my preference (over "topping up" with 2-3 gallons of cold distilled water after the boil), I would make one suggestion. It seems the bittering hops (the hops you add at the beginning of the boil) tend to be much stronger if you boil them in a full 5 gallons of wort rather than 2.5 gallons. If you play with this on hopville or with a different beer making software, you'll see that the same hop schedule will have over twice the IBU's in the finished beer if you switch the recipe from a partial boil to a full boil. I like hop bitterness as much as the next guy, but my first couple full boil beers were extremely bitter due to this. Therefore, when using an extract recipe that was designed for a partial boil, I usually cut way back on the hops I add at 60 minutes. I still usually end up getting most all of them in the wort, but I add them later in the boil. I'll usually put about a third of the bittering hops in at 60, and then do a continuous feed of the remaining 2/3rds from about 45 to 30 minutes.

Also, as I have a 32 qt. boil kettle, I am typically shooting for a 6.5-7 gallon boil and trying to get a full 5.5 or 6 gallons into my fermenter. What this means when using a typical partial boil extract recipe kit (I use Northern Brewer), is that I usually have to add some additional extract - maybe a half pound to a pound of extra DME - to hit my target OG. I play with the recipe on Hopville using my larger boil volume until I get the numbers roughly correct.
 
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