Pots & Burners

I am looking to buy a new kettle so I can step up my brewing game and do all grains. Will an aluminum kettle work or should I buy a stainless? I know stainless are more and that is why I am wondering why I should pay 2x as much and put a hole for a spigot on it. I have looked at Northern Brewer and my local supply shop so I am seeing all kinds of toys

Also, at Northern Brewer, they have a 100,000 BTU burner and a 300,000 BTU burner. I have a turkey fryer and was wondering if the bigger burners would be cost effective?

Thank you in advance.

You will get arguments from both sides on the pot issue. In the end go with whichever appeals to you. I personally use a 40QT restaurant grade aluminum kettle and I love it (plus it was about $400 less than the same size in stainless).

Not sure about the cost effectiveness of the higher BTU. I would think they would consume far more gas. I only have a 65K BTU burner and it does an excellent job.

Is there a difference between restaurant grade aluminum and regular aluminum pot? There is a restaurant store near me that sells an aluminum 32 qt for $75, lid not included, but HERE has a lid and is $72. I read that an aluminum could bend when you go to use the shut off valve if you do not have it reinforced, which I would not be able to do. I do not want to pay $75 for aluminum, put a spigot on it and then it bend and start leaking on me

At what point would a 40 qt pot limit your brewing?
Reason I ask is that my wife bought me a 40 quart SS pot for my birthday but I don't want to open it until I'm sure that I don't need to go bigger.

Check out Ebay I got a 9 gal. stainless steel pot with a top, ball valve spigot and themometer for $99 + shipping.

here is a pot currently up for sale and I'll look for you to see if the guy I got mine from is still around

http://cgi.ebay.com/7-5-GALLON-30-Q...ryZ38172QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

EDit

Here he is I found him: brew-4-less

http://cgi.ebay.com/BREWPOT-HLT-9-G...ryZ38172QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

As fas as a bigger burner goes it takes X amount of BTU's to heat X gal.
so the larger unit will save you some time but won't use more gas unless run them at to high a level where the small turkey fryers it's almost impossible to run them to high because they just don't put out that much heat.

I use both a turkey fryer for the HLT and a 200,000 BTU banjo burner for the boil kettle.

Xiren said:

Is there a difference between restaurant grade aluminum and regular aluminum pot? There is a restaurant store near me that sells an aluminum 32 qt for $75, lid not included, but HERE has a lid and is $72. I read that an aluminum could bend when you go to use the shut off valve if you do not have it reinforced, which I would not be able to do. I do not want to pay $75 for aluminum, put a spigot on it and then it bend and start leaking on me

Click to expand...

The restaurant pots are very thick, not at all like the turkey fryer pots. My kettle has 3/16 sidewalls all the way around and very heavy rivets holding on the handles.

CatchinZs said:

At what point would a 40 qt pot limit your brewing?
Reason I ask is that my wife bought me a 40 quart SS pot for my birthday but I don't want to open it until I'm sure that I don't need to go bigger.

Click to expand...

I do 25L batches and 40QT is plenty of room. Unless you plan to go to 10G batches 40QT is tons of space for the 5G batches you guys seem to do in the US.

Just ran out and bought a 30qt SS pot. Will these weldless fittings work? It says it is for sanke kegs, but will they work on my pot?

(thanks for all the quick responses )

my LHBS recommended against the huge burners, unless you're doing 10gallon batches in a converted keg.

too many BTU's on a 5gal batch can mean too much heat...boilovers, scorched sugars..

I picked up a 7gallon SS pot and a burner at Menard's (regional Home Depot) for only $40.

I'll test this weekend to see how rapidly it boils. I was surprised how sturdy the SS pot was, since a burner only setup was $10 less. its thick tho, isn't flimsy, and has riveted handles.

gonna put a weldless fitting on it. so i won't have to lift it much anyways.

Does anyone use a hot liquor tank without a spigot by just pouring it into the mash?

I'm going to have to. except i'll use a 3cup measuring cup to batch sparge.

I bought a 10 gallon SS kettle and lid from http://www.kitchenfantasy.com/shopping_cart/stockpots.html for $79.99 plus shipping. I haven't used it yet, but it seems to be the same quality as those I looked in a restaurant supply store for $200+.

Xiren said:

Does anyone use a hot liquor tank without a spigot by just pouring it into the mash?

Click to expand...

When I used my cooler as a mash tun in the kitchen I'd use my old brew kettle (20qt) as the HLT. I'd drain the mash tun into my keggle, till that mash tun was dry, then I'd pour in some water fom my hlt right in the top, stirr it up, vorlauf till it was clear then do it all over. :rockin: