Brew pot

Hey guys, I have a carbon steel brew pot with a porcelain finish. Is this ok to brew in? I got it at target. I would have bought the stainless steel pot but they were out of giant ones. Its the type that looks black with white dots all over. Thanks!

I believe it'll be just fine. Just be careful with it, the porcelain/enamel will spall off of them if you drop them right. I had that happen to me a couple of weeks ago and had to buy a new pot. Knowing that you'll be just fine.

Thanks broder!

In the Palmer book it seems to be the one he uses. It's a canning pot and as long as it doesn't get banged up too much will be great! You just have to watch out for chips on the pot that expose the bare metal. When that happens its time for a new one.

Thanks

Hey, what about aluminum? Stainless is so much more expensive.

Levers said:

I believe it'll be just fine. Just be careful with it, the porcelain/enamel will spall off of them if you drop them right. I had that happen to me a couple of weeks ago and had to buy a new pot. Knowing that you'll be just fine.

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I second this. The first time I dropped my enamel pot a big chunk got knocked off. I wonder if the enamel can be repaired? Kinda like the stuff used to touch up appliances?

Sean said:

Hey, what about aluminum? Stainless is so much more expensive.

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Well this is usualy a very healthy and well fought out debate.... Stainless or aluminum. I got this from Palmers website of his book in the cleaning and sanitizing section.

Cleaning Stainless Steel and Aluminum
For general cleaning, mild detergents or percarbonate-based cleaners are best for steel and aluminum. Bleach should be avoided because the high pH of a bleach solution can cause corrosion of aluminum and to a lessor degree of stainless steel. Do not clean aluminum shiny bright or use bleach to clean an aluminum brewpot because this removes the protective oxides and can result in a metallic taste. This detectable level of aluminum is not hazardous. There is more aluminum in a common antacid tablet than would be present in a batch of beer made in an aluminum pot.

If you notice on the last sentence he says that there is more aluminum in a single antacid tablet then what would be present in a 5 gal batch of beer.