Stainless pot

Do I have to use stainless to boil in or can I use stoneware?

Do you mean like an enameled pot?

Yes.

Some people have used enamel covered canning kettles. They work but you will not want to use it if the enamel is chipped. Anyway that is what I read.

If you really have no other option, then sure, use it. But you should consider upgrading to aluminum or stainless.

I heard aluminum was bad because of the metal it was made with.

Zippitydo said:

I heard aluminum was bad because of the metal it was made with.

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If you read Palmer's book, you will see that aluminum is fine for a kettle. The only thing is that you should not use Oxyclean on aluminum. Otherwise it is great. Mark.

Aluminum works great.
Why not oxyclean?

Stainless is sooo easy to clean! Aluminum will pit and burn through if you do not take care of it (I use mine for crab boils too). Choice will be dependent on price. I would get stainless if you are going to stick to the hobby for a long time.

tone_s said:

Aluminum works great.
Why not oxyclean?

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As I understand it, you want an oxidation level on an aluminum pot (that is why folks suggest boiling a kettle full of water for at least 30 minutes when you first get it). Oxyclean will remove the oxidation, meaning you would have to boil water for 30 minutes and then toss it out before starting your brew each time. At least that is my understanding, but I could be wrong.

sjohnv3 said:

...I use mine for crab boils too...

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Do you boil or steam your crabs?

I add about 1 cup salt to 2 gallons water or bring back salt water from the trip. Then I boil them alive.

sjohnv3 said:

Stainless is sooo easy to clean! Aluminum will pit and burn through if you do not take care of it (I use mine for crab boils too). Choice will be dependent on price. I would get stainless if you are going to stick to the hobby for a long time.

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The issue with aluminum pots comes from using cheap/thin aluminum pots. IF you get a good/thick one it will be fine for a looooong time. I'm talking about 4mm thick walls/bottom here, not the cheap ones you find at Wally world. Restaurant supply stores sell the better grade ones. You can also get them from Amazon without too much issue.

A good stainless pot is a worthwhile purchase. I bought a 5.5 gallon ss stock pot at Walmart with an encapsulated 0.5 inch aluminum disc in the bottom. Price a few years ago was $62.00. I also do big soups, but the heavy bottom makes it great for holding a stable temperature for partial mashes.

Some good info:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/faq-aluminum-pots-boil-kettles-49449/

flars said:

A good stainless pot is a worthwhile purchase. I bought a 5.5 gallon ss stock pot at Walmart with an encapsulated 0.5 inch aluminum disc in the bottom. Price a few years ago was $62.00. I also do big soups, but the heavy bottom makes it great for holding a stable temperature for partial mashes.

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While that's good for soups, stocks and maybe as a mash tun, it's been proven to have little (if any) value for a BK. Plus, for less than that you can get a 4mm thick 40qt (10 gallon) aluminum pot, with lid.

you can use any of those.

use whatever you have in the house if you need to be careful with the funds.

if you go out to "invest" in a pot, then look at stainless or high quality aluminum pots.

btw... high quality boil pots aren't cheap... it's worth it to save your pennies and get good one, even if you need to wait a little longer or pay a little more.

and, for the record, i use stainless steel. it lasts forever

Golddiggie said:

While that's good for soups, stocks and maybe as a mash tun, it's been proven to have little (if any) value for a BK. Plus, for less than that you can get a 4mm thick 40qt (10 gallon) aluminum pot, with lid.

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Proven?

I guess no one told Bayou Classic, as my 8 gallon kettle has tri-ply bottom.

Rick

unionrdr said:

+1. I found a set of 4 nested/polished SS stock pots on sale at Giant Eagle in Feb '11. With lids & steamer trays for some $25. They go from something like 1G up to 5 gallons. Easy to keep shiny too. Just some PBW & a dobie with a lil elbow grease. Rinse well,& shiny as new all over again. They still look great now. I love the look of shiny stainless when I go to brew up a batch. They're just better all around imo.

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^^^^ and, if you take care of them, they will still be around for your great grandchildren to brew.

yeah... well there's that, last.

hey union... just got back after a couple weeks on the road... i've actually got three batches to get bottled today.

that "working for a living" thing, gets in the way, too, doesn't it.

i heard that... brew day is hallowed ground... anybody is more than welcome to participate... but not to interrupt

F250 said:

Proven?

I guess no one told Bayou Classic, as my 8 gallon kettle has tri-ply bottom.

Rick

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Pretty much no actual benefit in the boil kettle (unless you're dumping in massive amounts of extract). For all grain brewing, especially, the thicker bottom provides no gain over a quality kettle/keggle that's of solid construction. Not talking about the 22 gauge pots here, but the ones that are 1mm thick (stainless) wall. If that Bayou has thin walls, then they basically had to provide a clad bottom to stop people from screaming at them.

This has been gone over in other threads.

IMO, if you're on a tight budget, you're much better off getting a thick walled aluminum pot over a thin wall stainless pot, to convert into a kettle. Not only will the thicker aluminum perform better, but it's several times easier to put holes into. I've done both, so I'm not talking out of my patoot.

Golddiggie said:

Pretty much no actual benefit in the boil kettle

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There's at least one benefit. Having a stainless steel screen attached to your dip tube. My tri-clad bottom pot works fine with one. My keggle scorches the living crap out of wort when the screen is in there.

LandoLincoln said:

There's at least one benefit. Having a stainless steel screen attached to your dip tube. My tri-clad bottom pot works fine with one. My keggle scorches the living crap out of wort when the screen is in there.

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Then why do you use the screen if it creates scorching?

If you're scorching that much, then either you're running the burner too high/hot, or something else is going on. I have minor heat marks on the bottom of my keggle after a batch. Easily removed. I also have the dip tube placed so that it's not on the bottom of the keggle.

Thick bottoms won't offset poor design choices.

rklinck said:

As I understand it, you want an oxidation level on an aluminum pot (that is why folks suggest boiling a kettle full of water for at least 30 minutes when you first get it). Oxyclean will remove the oxidation, meaning you would have to boil water for 30 minutes and then toss it out before starting your brew each time. At least that is my understanding, but I could be wrong.

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In theory this is the rumor.

Actual science states that Aluminum oxidizes the instant it touches oxygen...so even if you took a scrubby and rubbed the hell out of it, the aluminum forms an oxide the instant it touches air.

You should still not scratch it though with abrasives, just because it will scratch more easily than steel.

FuzzeWuzze said:

In theory this is the rumor.

Actual science states that Aluminum oxidizes the instant it touches oxygen...so even if you took a scrubby and rubbed the hell out of it, the aluminum forms an oxide the instant it touches air.

You should still not scratch it though with abrasives, just because it will scratch more easily than steel.

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Nothing wrong with boiling water in it for ~30 minutes to build up a hard (visible) oxide layer on the aluminum. It also provides a rather nice, more non-stick surface on the kettle/pot. I found that if you start with warm (or hot) tap water the layer builds up darker, making it more evident.

I also found that the visible layer you get with the stove top/boiling method is easier to see than trying to do it inside the stove/oven. Besides, not everyone has an oven that can contain a 10 gallon pot.

Aluminum is fine, there is nothing wrong with using it. I purchased a 40qt aluminum pot on amazon about a year ago and I've used it for many batches and its done very well. I did choose to boil water in it for 30 minutes not only to allow the pot to oxidize much more visibly, but to also remove any industrial chemicals possibly used in the process. I believe it was this that I ordered:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CHKL68/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Fennis said:

Aluminum is fine, there is nothing wrong with using it. I purchased a 40qt aluminum pot on amazon about a year ago and I've used it for many batches and its done very well. I did choose to boil water in it for 30 minutes not only to allow the pot to oxidize much more visibly, but to also remove any industrial chemicals possibly used in the process. I believe it was this that I ordered:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CHKL68/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

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Since you got the 4mm thick model, I would expect it to last a LONG time. That's the same make I was using (32 quart version) for a while. I installed a ball valve into it to make draining easier. Super easy to drill for the ball valve too. FAR easier than even thin stainless steel.

WOW! For a quick second I thought we where in the AG vs Extract or Liquid vs Dry thread.

Zippitydo, no. you do not need to use stainless. Aluminum, stainless and enamal are all fine. The wort does not care what it is boiling in. I am assuming you are just doing a extract batch or using a cooler mash tun for all grain (dunno). If all you are doing is a scheduled boil with maybe some specialty grains get what you want, or can afford. There really is no science here IMO. Ask harder questions like how monitor temperature or how much yeast do I need. Those are way more importtent then what kind of pot you have.

My 2 cents

I have never used enamal covered pots. This is what I like about the other two:

Stainless - So easy to clean and store, even if I forget about for a day or so.

Aluminum - Transfers and holds heat allot better; uses less fuel during the boil.

Stainless will hold heat longer. Especially in something like a keggle. Compare that to an aluminum kettle and you'll see what I mean. Aluminum will cool quickly, as you cool the wort (with an IC or recirc system).

IMO/IME, both are easy to clean. Stainless is not easier than aluminum. You can just get stainless to shine where you don't want that with aluminum. So stainless will be prettier, IF you care about that (most of us don't)...

Golddiggie said:

Then why do you use the screen if it creates scorching?

If you're scorching that much, then either you're running the burner too high/hot, or something else is going on. I have minor heat marks on the bottom of my keggle after a batch. Easily removed. I also have the dip tube placed so that it's not on the bottom of the keggle.

Thick bottoms won't offset poor design choices.

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Uh...I don't use the screen anymore in my keggle, due to the scorching issue. I didn't know that it would scorch until I tried it once.

Thanks for telling me my design sucks. If only I was as smart as you. Alas.

Tri-clad bottoms are designed to spread the heat out to prevent scorching, and what do you know - it works. Thin-wall kegs that weren't ever designed for boiling in have a much harder time with scorching for some weird reason. Maybe you could enlighten me as to why this might be.

LandoLincoln said:

Uh...I don't use the screen anymore in my keggle, due to the scorching issue. I didn't know that it would scorch until I tried it once.

Thanks for telling me my design sucks. If only I was as smart as you. Alas.

Tri-clad bottoms are designed to spread the heat out to prevent scorching, and what do you know - it works. Thin-wall kegs that weren't ever designed for boiling in have a much harder time with scorching for some weird reason. Maybe you could enlighten me as to why this might be.

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I could try to explain things to you but I suspect it will fall on deaf ears...

Might as well try, even broken clocks get it right twice a day.
Thick/clad bottoms are for STOCK pots where you'll be using lower heat for long periods. It's designed to more evenly distribute the heat across the entire bottom, to prevent burning.
The typical THIN wall pots are made for boiling and transfer more heat inside the vessel. Too thin and you'll get scorching IF you don't pay attention.
Keggles are 1-1.3mm thick (sides, top and bottom), which IS thicker than those thin pots. IF you don't do something stupid (very high heat, put something in direct contact with it that will create a scorch point) you won't have any issue. I have my dip tube about 1/2" off the bottom of the keggle (on the cone, NOT the center low point). As such, I get no scorching at that point. I get minimal residue where the flames touch the keggle bottom. Guess what, compared with my thick clad stock pot, it's not any more in the keggle. I used the stock pot on a gas stove when brewing with it.

Use your brains and you'll be fine. Do something stupid and well... Don't blame the vessel for your shortcomings.

Oh, and rant all you like, I'm not following this thread anymore.

Golddiggie said:

Oh, and rant all you like, I'm not following this thread anymore.

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Just take your ball and go home then. Bye.

As I said before, tri-clad bottoms do have a certain advantage over thin-wall pots and keggles. Golddiggie doesn't want to live in a world where tri-clad bottoms have any advantage, but there is indeed at least one advantage.

Tri-clad bottoms spread heat out much more evenly than keggles do, so if you're going to use some kind of stainless steel screen to keep the hops out of the dip tube and you're not using a tri-clad bottom pot, then take some precautions to ensure that the screen doesn't touch the bottom too much, or else you may have scorching issues.

If I good give -1.....golddiggie would get it.. easy to be a know it all on the internet...oh look at me, I got six pack abs and post 100 times a day