Bayou Classic Stainless Steel Stockpot

Hello All,

I'm going to start buying parts so I can go All Grain, for now I plan to do Full Boil Extracts. I'm curious on what everyone thinks of this Brew Kettle? Amazon has the 44 Quart for $83 and free shipping. The reviews look good, but I'm wondering if the thickness of the Pot will be good enough?

Amazon.com: Bayou Classic 1036, 36-Qt. Stainless Fryer/Steamer: Patio, Lawn & Garden

The Bayou Classic pots are great for the price. They're no Blingmanns, sure, but they're some of the best pots for that price. I have the 62qt and will be buying another.

Edit: I agree with v, go bigger. Not much of a price difference.

I don't recommend buying anything less than 15 gallons. If you continue down this road, you'll thank me.

I have one with a spigot. Once you have that much weight, you'll need an easy way to get the wort into the fermentor. The spigot it comes with isn't very good, but it works. It is easy to upgrade valves and saves you from having to drill the pot.

This thread shows how to convert it to a ball-valve:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/bayou-classic-44-qt-stainless-steel-stockpot-w-spigot-229750/index3.html

May be just as easy to go with a weldless bulkhead, depending on your preference...

It looks like the price is now $68.95. Can't go wrong with that!

For $3.00 more you could get one of these.

I have 2 of them set up with bobby_m's sight glass thermo combo and weldless bulkheads.They are really thin but so far I have not had any problems with them.on the plus side the thin skin is easy to drill.I also like the fact they are taller than they are wide.

The handles are spot wleded on now instead of riveted so ignore the leaky handle comments.

Brickout said:

For $3.00 more you could get one of these.

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oh man are these really only 12in high?

I was resigned to the brewers best 40qt pot due to overhead microwave clearance. Looks like this one might fit as well. Is this one any better than the brewer's best?

BendBrewer said:

I don't recommend buying anything less than 15 gallons. If you continue down this road, you'll thank me.

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Take this to heart! Been there done that, now my 10 gallon Polarware gets very little love.

Fat_Bastard said:

I have 2 of them set up with bobby_m's sight glass thermo combo and weldless bulkheads.They are really thin but so far I have not had any problems with them.on the plus side the thin skin is easy to drill.I also like the fact they are taller than they are wide.

The handles are spot wleded on now instead of riveted so ignore the leaky handle comments.

Click to expand...

Not all of them have welded handles. I just picked up a 44qt. one from the same Amazon link and it has riveted handles.

I think pot thickness is overrated. We're boiling a liquid (not a thick sauce). That liquid moves around a lot. Because it's constantly moving, scorching is not an issue.

Blichmann pots aren't what I would call thick and they work great.

hawkeyes said:

Hello All,

I'm going to start buying parts so I can go All Grain, for now I plan to do Full Boil Extracts. I'm curious on what everyone thinks of this Brew Kettle? Amazon has the 44 Quart for $83 and free shipping. The reviews look good, but I'm wondering if the thickness of the Pot will be good enough?

Amazon.com: Bayou Classic 1036, 36-Qt. Stainless Fryer/Steamer: Patio, Lawn & Garden

Click to expand...

I bought the 82 qt model from Stainless Steel Stock Pots and hard to beat the price with free shipping. It is the same 18 gauge 304 SS as the Blichmann Boilermakers.

I converted it into an electric HLT.

How does the bayou classic compare to the 42 qt polarware pot that Birdman is selling?

Polar Ware 42 QUART Economy Stainless Steel Brew Pot - Birdman Brewing Company Store

MeanDeuce said:

oh man are these really only 12in high?

I was resigned to the brewers best 40qt pot due to overhead microwave clearance. Looks like this one might fit as well. Is this one any better than the brewer's best?

Click to expand...

I was told from another member that the Update stainless pots are identical to the Megapots.

MeanDeuce said:

oh man are these really only 12in high?

I was resigned to the brewers best 40qt pot due to overhead microwave clearance. Looks like this one might fit as well. Is this one any better than the brewer's best?

Click to expand...

I looked at the specification numbers and they give a shipping weight of 60 lbs so I think several of the spec numbers are wrong. I emailled the company about the specs listed and what "cover included" means. Does it come with a lid or not?

I think this pot from Midwest brewing might be the same. Dimensions are 13 in tall and 17 in diameter. Any thoughts?

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/heavy-duty-stainless-steel-brew-pot-40-quart.html

msa8967 said:

I looked at the specification numbers and they give a shipping weight of 60 lbs so I think several of the spec numbers are wrong. I emailled the company about the specs listed and what "cover included" means. Does it come with a lid or not?

I think this pot from Midwest brewing might be the same. Dimensions are 13 in tall and 17 in diameter. Any thoughts?
Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Brew Pot- 40 Quart

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That's an Update International pot, same one MoreBeer, MegaPot and we sell
Polarware is another brand

I bought the 62qt pot off amazon and added some fittings from bargainfittings. Like the others said, get at least the 15gal, if not the 20gal.

Why does everyone say to get at least a 15G? Is that true for 5G batches? Sounds to me like most folks can comfortably fit 20 lbs of grain in a 10G pot including all the required water. Not sure why 10G isn't big enough?

jaynik said:

Why does everyone say to get at least a 15G? Is that true for 5G batches? Sounds to me like most folks can comfortably fit 20 lbs of grain in a 10G pot including all the required water. Not sure why 10G isn't big enough?

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Because eventually almost everyone starts doing 10G boils.

I'm going the other way. I built up an e-BK but am wondering about stepping down to 2-gallon batches so I can have more variety without having a house FULL of beer!

B

I may be in the minority of brewers that think a 9-10 gallon pot is a good size to start brewing all grain with. When I did extract I had access to the 16 quart pot and then when I tried my first all grain I moved up to a 32 qt pot. This was fine for 5 gallon brews and I used this to boil the wort and the 16 qt for heating the sparge water. These were the right size for brewing on a gas stovetop. It was a year before I moved into doign 10 gallon brews and upsized my brew pot to 60 qt. I still use the 32 qt for heating my sparge water to add to my cooler mashtun.

Trying to jump into 10 gallon all grain brews may be a lot to deal with for most novice brewers as their initial all grain especially when brewing with kits. If someone tried to jump from using a 16 qt pot for extract to a 60 qt pot for 10 gallon all grain brewing then the 16 qt pot may not be big enough for heating the sparge water. Also, when starting doing all grain there is other equipment besides a larger brew pot to purchase.

Brickout said:

For $3.00 more you could get one of these.

Click to expand...

I bought this kettle and it arrived late yesterday. I am very impressed with the gauge of the steel and aluminum core for the bottom for better heat transfer. Did a test boil with it today and I think it works great. They raised the price fro $86 to $91 so it is $8 more than the Blichmann posted in this thread but I think it is well worth the extra $8. I can see using this pot for my 5-6 gallon brews for a long time.

msa8967 said:

I bought this kettle and it arrived late yesterday. I am very impressed with the gauge of the steel and aluminum core for the bottom for better heat transfer. Did a test boil with it today and I think it works great. They raised the price fro $86 to $91 so it is $8 more than the Blichmann posted in this thread but I think it is well worth the extra $8. I can see using this pot for my 5-6 gallon brews for a long time.

Click to expand...

I ended up buying this kettle too. It is very nice!

I'm ordering my first piece of brew equipment tomorrow! I went with the Bayou Classic 36 quart, and also the SQ14 burner. I figure start out doing full boils and get used to the process, then add mash tun and batch sparge. Down the road I plan on adding fittings to it. I'm incredibly excited.