30qt big enough?

Needs some advise guys. I'm looking at the Bayou Classic Turkey Fryer with the 30qt stock pot. Is 30qt going to be large enough for boiling 5g batches taking into account the added water needed for boil off and the occasional boil over? Are others using this with a degree of success?

Lots and lots of people will tell you that it is too small, but I use one often and it is fine. You just have to use foam-control drops/Fermcap-S to prevent a boil-over since that pot is going to be nearly full when it comes time to start the boil.

I have a 32qt pot, and can do full boils as long as i watch it carefully. Like flyguy mentioned.. a little fermcap, and you're all set.

Thanks. I'll buy you a beer next time I'm in Cowtown.
Couple questions for you. I read your frozen yeast write up (very useful) and I see you mention Star San. Where are you getting Star San from? Also where do you buy your foam control drops from? There's nothing in this small town, I'm scrounging every time I come to the big city (Vancouver or Calgary).

I'll never refuse a beer!

A local shop here used to sell Star San. It never really caught on with the 'wine' guys, so he stopped bringing it in. So now I get both the Star San and the foam control from MoreBeer. They will ship USPS, so it is pretty cheap to bring into Canada, especially with the Canadian dollar so strong.

I use a 32qt also and don't use fermcap - I just have to watch it like a hawk and be prepared to yank it off the burner at the break for a minute. Once the boil gets going it is usually fine with only 2 inches of headspace. I boil a tad over 6 gal in it for right at 5 gal into the fermenter but that's my 60 min boil process. If I had to do 90 or more for a pils or high gravity beer it would get dicey so I'd play with my volumes a little and top up later.

I got a 32qt, and wished I had a larger pot for 5-5.5 gallon batches. I use fermcap-s as well, but wished I had the 40qt. If you want to start with a 6 gallon pre-boil volume, and at the end you are putting in a wort chiller, space can get tight. I also throw in some copper elbows to act as nucleation sites for the boil. The pots are slender and tall, so I don't get massive bubbles while boiling.

craigd said:

I use a 32qt also and don't use fermcap - I just have to watch it like a hawk and be prepared to yank it off the burner at the break for a minute. Once the boil gets going it is usually fine with only 2 inches of headspace. I boil a tad over 6 gal in it for right at 5 gal into the fermenter but that's my 60 min boil process. If I had to do 90 or more for a pils or high gravity beer it would get dicey so I'd play with my volumes a little and top up later.

Click to expand...

It sounds like you are a perfect candidate for someone who could really use fermcap!

when I started I used a small pot for 5 gallon brews I just used a bottle sprayer with water to knock down the boil over its very effective.I still used it with my 10 gallon brews and the keggle

I used to use a 30qt and absolutely hated it. So I bought a 50qt aluminum and love it. I just didn't like having to hover over the kettle the whole time I was boiling. Now I just use the 30qt as an HLT

I dont worry about boilovers anymore ... 120 qt boil and 60 qt HLT now I need to make a bigger MLT

But really get the biggest pot you can afford

FlyGuy said:

It sounds like you are a perfect candidate for someone who could really use fermcap!

Click to expand...

Or just a bigger pot.

I have a 8 gal kettle and just ordered a 15 gal kettle, mostly for 5.5 gal brews but so I can do an 11 gal batch if I choose. I just didn't want to have to rely on Fermcap and I'm sick of doing the hot-wort-shuffle at the beginning of a big Pils-based boil (my starting boil volume is 8-8.25 gal for a big Pils-based brew like a Bock).

Dayum springer, that's a lotta pot.

Bigger pots work too.

But you only have to drop $5 for a bottle of fermcap. What did all those big new kettles cost you guys???

SpanishCastleAle said:

Or just a bigger pot.



Dayum springer, that's a lotta pot.

Click to expand...

going to ramp up to 20 gallon brews an my favorite beers. I will still be doing 5 gallon batches to test recipies . 10 gallons don't seem to last long in my house. I swear the kids must be having parties while I am at work at least there all of legal age

FlyGuy said:

Bigger pots work too.

But you only have to drop $5 for a bottle of fermcap. What did all those big new kettles cost you guys???

Click to expand...

the 60 cost me 51$ delivered from Palm coast it was a clearance sale last summer I think HBT cleaned them out in 3 days of the 40 and 60's .

Now the 120 that one was free the place I get gas and coffee every morning the Deli closed up and the guy skipped out on the rent I got this as the guys cleaning the place out were getting ready to tossing it into a dumpster. Was the only thing of value to me in there right place at the right time

FlyGuy said:

Bigger pots work too.

But you only have to drop $5 for a bottle of fermcap. What did all those big new kettles cost you guys???

Click to expand...

I understand, but it's just one more ingredient to have to worry about and while I understand it all settles out, I'd rather not add another chemical to my beer. Heck, it took me a while to not 'fear the foam'.

SpanishCastleAle said:

Heck, it took me a while to not 'fear the foam'.

Click to expand...

Ah, but I bet you regretted not trying that earlier, too, after you experienced how well it worked!

Seriously though, I am just needling people. To be honest, I actually just dropped $100 to purchase a legal keg and add welded fittings to make a new kettle. But I am sure I will still use the good old 30 qt pot from time to time (e.g., if I have to brew indoors because of the cold).

FlyGuy said:

Ah, but I bet you regretted not trying that earlier, too, after you experienced how well it worked!

Click to expand...

Actually I just use a method to not have the foam in the first place i.e. put the Starsan in the carboy waaaay ahead of time and just let it settle. And then I let it drip upside down for a while before I fill. I guess maybe I do still fear the foam.

I do plan on doing a keggle upgrade one of these days and moving this pot to HLT status. Not having a dedicated HLT makes a double batch sparge a unique process of wort shuffling... I also don't like adding things to the beer that I don't need to - I don't do any finings and only modify water for a couple of styles that really need it. I think we hashed out this fermcap thing in another thread recently, I was just adding my $0.02 about the capability of using a 32 qt pot.

The other obvious option is to do 3-4 gal batches. Keg size and buying pre-cobbled recipes are the only reasons I can think of to limit yourself to multiples of 5 Gal batches... Purging your headspace takes care of the keg issue and building recipes or scaling them in software takes care of the other. With that said if finances allow I would get a 10 Gal or larger one and if they don't you will do fine with the 30 qt with some caveats.