ISO 30+Qt kettle

I'm looking to get started brewing. Anyone know a store chain where I can get a 30qt kettle from? I tried K-Mart, Walmart, Target & Sears but only got chuckles from the staff when I told them what size I was looking for. I'm eager to get started and the closest homebrew store is quite a drive. Any advice would be appreciated.

Find a restaurant supply store, and be sure to get stainless! Or you can pm me to get a real brew kettle

Go to walmart and look for the turkey fryers. I found them in the covered outside area where they keep the garden tools. I was fully ready to buy their $37 fryer kit with the propane burner, stand, and 30qt aluminum pot but I just happened to spot a replacement 30qt pot in stainless for $30.

Seriously though, that 30qt aluminum kit is a steal at only $37.

I wouldn't have any trepidations of going aluminum. Lots and lots of people use aluminum to make great beer.

I think you should go bigger than 30qts though. I've got a 30qt turkey fryer, and it is barely big enough for full boils. And I mean BARELY. You'll have to watch the boils like a hawk for boil overs and you won't ever really be able to get a full volume brew to a vigorous boil.

You're gonna start with 28qts for a boil in order to leave 5.25-5.5 in the kettle after evaporation - that leaves precious little space in that kettle. If I had it to do again I'd go 35+ qts.

I don't know if my particular 30qt pot is really bigger or not, but I can boil 6.5 gallons no problem. 6.5 gallons fills to the top of the handle rivets on mine, which leaves about an inch and a half headspace. I've done two batches with no boilovers. Anyway, the box said 30qt. Maybe it has to do with whether the pot is tall and skinny or short and wide. A turkey fryer pot is tall, which means the spare 1 gallon is also taller. A short/wide pot would probably only have an inch or less headspace.

Thanks for all the feedback. I went out to a restaurant supplier & got a 24qt today. The next size up they have is the 40qt. I'm probably going to head back & swap mine out for the bigger size. The last thing I want to do is clean up boil-over. It will also be nice to have if I make bigger batches in the future.

Thirstyone said:

Find a restaurant supply store, and be sure to get stainless! Or you can pm me to get a real brew kettle

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The problem with restraunt supply stores is that they won't sell to the public. You'll need a business license to purchase anything from them. You could try and persuade a legitimate customer to buy it for you, I guess.

Staem said:

I'm looking to get started brewing. Anyone know a store chain where I can get a 30qt kettle from? I tried K-Mart, Walmart, Target & Sears but only got chuckles from the staff when I told them what size I was looking for. I'm eager to get started and the closest homebrew store is quite a drive. Any advice would be appreciated.

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What are you going to start with.... extract? AG? Kitchen stove? Outside with a propane burner?

Beer Snob said:

What are you going to start with.... extract? AG? Kitchen stove? Outside with a propane burner?

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I'm starting with extract on my kitchen stove & leave it to the new guy not to know what AG is (all grain?). I picked up all the rest of the stuff tonight then decided to wait till tomorrow to brew so I can watch the Flyers but it turns out they're getting spanked by Buffalo, badly.

Before I get off topic on how bad the Fly Boys are stinking it up, the guy that runs the store I went to for my supplies said my 24qt was plenty big for a 2.5-3gal boil so I think I'm sticking with the original pot I bought.

Staem said:

I'm starting with extract on my kitchen stove & leave it to the new guy not to know what AG is (all grain?). I picked up all the rest of the stuff tonight then decided to wait till tomorrow to brew so I can watch the Flyers but it turns out they're getting spanked by Buffalo, badly.

Before I get off topic on how bad the Fly Boys are stinking it up, the guy that runs the store I went to for my supplies said my 24qt was plenty big for a 2.5-3gal boil so I think I'm sticking with the original pot I bought.

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Yeah thats why I asked the question. He is right. Just go to Walmart and pick up the biggest one there. They got a nice big one for about 17 bucks and another one that is much heavier for like... 40 (glass lid, but you wont be using the lid anyways). If I had the option when I started out I'd get the heavier one. The lighter one is much easier to scortch, but I have used the weight without problems since I started (but I stir a lot).

bikebryan said:

The problem with restraunt supply stores is that they won't sell to the public. You'll need a business license to purchase anything from them. You could try and persuade a legitimate customer to buy it for you, I guess.

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You sure about that? That is definitely not true here. I go to AceMart Restaurant Supply all the time, and so do thousands of other people who aren't operating a business. They just ask you at the counter if it's taxable or not.

Heck, most restaurant supply stores would just go out of business if they didn't sell to the public too.

The place near me would sell anything to anyone as well. For the price though you might as well get a converted Keg.

Beer Snob said:

The place near me would sell anything to anyone as well. For the price though you might as well get a converted Keg.

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I agree. A big 53 quart SS pot at AceMart was going to cost $175. And that's with no fitting for a ball valve. You'd have to drill it for weldless or have a fitting welded on. For $199 you can get an acid-cleaned keggle with two welded fittings for attachment of ball valve and sight tube or temp gauge or whatever.

This thread reminds me of something:

*Note to self* Gotta look at buying a turkey fryer on November 24th....

Staem said:

Thanks for all the feedback. I went out to a restaurant supplier & got a 24qt today. The next size up they have is the 40qt. I'm probably going to head back & swap mine out for the bigger size. The last thing I want to do is clean up boil-over. It will also be nice to have if I make bigger batches in the future.

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I boil in a 40qt polarware pot and I've never had a boil over yet the added size gives you a little more time to catch it. Now that i've said this, the very next brew will probably boil over!!!!

bikebryan said:

The problem with restraunt supply stores is that they won't sell to the public. You'll need a business license to purchase anything from them. You could try and persuade a legitimate customer to buy it for you, I guess.

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Here in California we have a resturant suppy store called Smart and Final they have a wide range of pots from 4oz stainless to 100qt pots and they sell to the public pretty neet to see all the pots in the same place.

beer4breakfast said:

I agree. A big 53 quart SS pot at AceMart was going to cost $175. And that's with no fitting for a ball valve. You'd have to drill it for weldless or have a fitting welded on. For $199 you can get an acid-cleaned keggle with two welded fittings for attachment of ball valve and sight tube or temp gauge or whatever.

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speaking of drilling...anyone know if i need to do anything special to drill a hole in the lid of the stainless pot for a thermometer?

With a Walmart on just about every square mile of the US, I think the $37 turkey fryer is such a no brainer. If you think you'll get a full boil going on your stove, you either have a restaurant style viking stove or you're wrong. Getting the fryer kit will save you the trouble of going out to buy a separate propane burner. I guarentee you'll be able to get 6.5 gallons boiling with the kit with no boilovers (unless you leave it on high and go watch football for an hour without watching it)

Bobby_M said:

With a Walmart on just about every square mile of the US, I think the $37 turkey fryer is such a no brainer. If you think you'll get a full boil going on your stove, you either have a restaurant style viking stove or you're wrong. Getting the fryer kit will save you the trouble of going out to buy a separate propane burner. I guarentee you'll be able to get 6.5 gallons boiling with the kit with no boilovers (unless you leave it on high and go watch football for an hour without watching it)

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Yeah but then your brewing OUTSIDE. If you got a SWMBO who has no kicked you out yet, why give her the idea?

I kicked myself out after i had to clean the stove from a boil over. I'd rather freeze my ass off than to scrub that again.

bikebryan said:

The problem with restraunt supply stores is that they won't sell to the public. You'll need a business license to purchase anything from them. You could try and persuade a legitimate customer to buy it for you, I guess.

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Eh? Guess I've never had that problem here. Resturant supply stores I've been to don't ever ask you to 'prove' who you are.

Bobby_M said:

I kicked myself out after i had to clean the stove from a boil over. I'd rather freeze my ass off than to scrub that again.

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Yeah that only has to happen once for you to firmly believe in the quote "A watched pot never boils over."

kornkob said:

Eh? Guess I've never had that problem here. Resturant supply stores I've been to don't ever ask you to 'prove' who you are.

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Difference in locations, I guess. I've never been in a restraunt supply store where they would let non-business folks purchase. The purpose of those stores is, in general, to sell to re-sellers and every one I've ever been in was not set up to sell to the public, as they were not set up to collect taxes.

This is true for the four states where I've been in these stores - different cities, different stores, all the same when it came to who they sold to.

Beer Snob said:

Yeah that only has to happen once for you to firmly believe in the quote "A watched pot never boils over."

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I just wanted to clarify in case someone calls me out on contradicting myself. I claimed no boil overs on a 6.5 gal boil in the 7.5 pot. Still true. The bad stovetop boilover was from trying to boil 3 gallons in a 4 gallon pot.

I was just poking around in the gallery and I noticed something. Lots of nice pics of people brewing outdoors... nice weather..... You dont see a lot of pics of some poor brewer freezing thier nuts off with a wind chill of -20

Hey... just a casual observation