How to lift a 16 gal brewpot to drain?

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benfinkel

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Hello,

My wife recently bought me a nice stove and brewpot for my b-day. Because she has a "bigger is always better" philosophy she got a 16 gallon pot instead of a much more reasonable (for us) 10 gallon.

I figure though since I've got it, I'll go ahead and do a 10 gallon batch of beer.


My first question though is: How do I get the pot up off the stove to drain into the buckets after boiling? I don't have a raised surface that I would be comfortable with the stove on, and I'm uncomfortable with the idea of lifting a 90 pound bucket of boiling wort up too high.

What do people generally do here?

Thanks in advance!
 
I would install a ball valve on that thing for sure. I wouldn't want to try to lift that full or wort, that's asking for disaster.

Just a side thought. Are you sure your stove has the power to boil 10+ gallons? You might consider getting a propane burner.
 
With a 5gal batch i'll siphon half before trying to dump it.
I would think that if the stove isn't a commercial unit it's not going to boil 10 gallons, you might try a test to find out before spending money on supplies and finding out you cant keep a rolling boil.
 
Definitely get a stainless steel ball valve. It's odd that it didn't come with one, honestly.

You could siphon but the ball valve will help keep sediment on the bottom of the brew kettle when you rack it.

What do you mean by "stove"? You aren't boiling 13 gallons of water on a conventional stove.
 
Sorry, should have been more specific:

She got me a nice propane stove along with the pot. A Bayou Classic sp10 that I believe will boil all of that and more. The reason I had stopped brewing was boiling in our tiny kitchen was too cumbersome and messy for us. She basically moved me outdoors.

The pot she bought me is also a BC. The model with the probe thermometer and ball-valve spigot.

But either way, spigot or siphon, the pot needs to be above the level of the fermenting buckets yes? It's getting it up that high that I'm having trouble getting my head around.

Thanks again,

-Ben
 
Also, I'm not afraid to spend a few dollars to get the right setup, but I'm not overloaded with space. If I got a table or bench to put the stove and pot on I'd be happier if it could fold up or be put away easily. Also, most of those that I see are plastic and I'd be afraid of melting the thing.
 
Good to hear it already has the ball valve and you have a propane burner. For a long time I had an 8 gallon kettle and propane burner that I would setup on top of a folding plastic table. I did put a half sheet of plywood under the burner to keep the heat off the plastic. Not sure if I would trust a plastic table moving up to 10 gallon batches though. Maybe construct a small platform from wood that would get you high enough, or some cinder blocks...just make sure it's stable.
 
I thought about cinders. Wouldn't need to be too high since the stove has a good rise to it as well. I've got a bunch hanging around that I could stack up to boil on, then disassemble and move out of the driveway when I was done. Adds a fair amount of manual labor to the process but might be the safest/most convenient way to go.
 
We had this problem as well for around 40$ and having the access to a welder you can build a fairly simple stand that actually
Saves you space in your garage or shed ad wheels to the bottom and problem solved

image-3899057219.jpg
 
I use cinder blocks under my sq14, only need 1 under each set of legs and it's above the top of my carboys and buckets
 
@dmbshen - I love it! I do not have a welder, or likely the key skills required to build that, but I do love the idea. Maybe I could modify something.

@punkrockdave - Good idea too. Where do they sell pumps that would do that for me?

@blaster - Those are the thick cinders shaped like a closed "H" right?
 
Maybe construct a small platform from wood that would get you high enough, or some cinder blocks...just make sure it's stable.


This was my first piece of equipment I built after my mash tun. I have maybe $10 into it and use it for everything. It is one of my tiers in my 3 tier. I take it off my brewing stand to use as a raised platform for racking from the fermenter and move it wherever needed. It is probably the most used piece of equipment I own.
 
I have my setup for gravity fed. I built stands with 2x4's and plywood. The HLT, on top of a turkey fryer burner, is high enough to drain into the mash tun which is high enough to drain into the boil kettle, on top of an SP10, which is high enough to drain into my fermenter.
 
So far just picking up the 15 gal pot and putting it on a higher platform to drain thru the chiller into the fermenter hasn't been an issue. I'm 58 now... not sure I'll feel the same way at 68.... To fill the mash tun I just use a pitcher until the pot is lite enough to dump the rest in...
 
@dmbshen - I love it! I do not have a welder, or likely the key skills required to build that, but I do love the idea. Maybe I could modify something.

@punkrockdave - Good idea too. Where do they sell pumps that would do that for me?

@blaster - Those are the thick cinders shaped like a closed "H" right?

correct, work like a charm. $3 max for both of them I think. May have even been $2
 
@dmbshen - I love it! I do not have a welder, or likely the key skills required to build that, but I do love the idea. Maybe I could modify something.

@punkrockdave - Good idea too. Where do they sell pumps that would do that for me?

@blaster - Those are the thick cinders shaped like a closed "H" right?

Most LHBS will sell them. You can also find them on EBay. Price runs about 150 on up.
 
You could always use a pump to move the cooled wort to the fermenters.

To me this is key. When I started all grain, I had my stand I described, and a ferment bucket made into a HLT and a cooler made MLT. Since I was still doing 5 gallon batches it was no problem, transferring and lifting things. However when i built my keggle, I no longer felt comfortable climbing up my 3 step ladder with one gallon at a time with near boiling water. I knew it was a matter of time before I either burnt myself or shorted my electric rig carrying water back and forth or up the tiers.

IMHO a pump is a crucial item as soon as you go to batches bigger than 5 gallons. I have the March 809, which is the home brewing standards. Little giant 3 md-hc is a more powerfull pump, I wish I spent the extra as the march is sufficient for moving the liquids but not powerful enough to create a whirlpool in my brew pot.
These are the few pumps that will work. They need to be magnetic drives and food grade to be used with boiling wort.
 

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