Two half-size boling pots?

My wife bought me this kit (http://www.brewersbestkits.com/equipment.html) from Brewer's Best. I'm very excited to start brewing! The kit does not include a boiler pot, so my mother-in-law wanted to buy me a pot to go with it. Unfortunately, I think she might have been a bit misguided - she was told that I would need a 20-30 gallon pot, but couldn't find one, so she bought me two 12 gallon pots.
Bear in mind that I am an absolute newbie here. I will probably begin by brewing from kits. What I am wondering is if it would be possible to still use the pots in question by boiling both simultaneously and halving the recipe (so that each pot gets exactly half of the ingredients) and then combining the contents in the fermenter.
If this isn't possible, then I guess I'll just have to buy a new pot, which wouldn't be the end of the world.

You can totally do 5 gallon brewing in only one of those pots. No need to use two at the same time for one recipie. You can do a full boil (around 6 to 6.5 gallons depending on boil off) in one pot 12 gallon pot. I'd keep the second pot around though in the even you switch over to all grain brewing and need either a mash tun or HLT (Hot Liquor Tank).

Gary

Hey Matyas,

I, too, am a newbie with about 7 batches under my belt... But you will actually be perfectly set up with just 1 12 gallon brew pot for the time being. As you mention that you will mainly start out with kits, they call for anywhere from 2-5 gallon boils. Where you will need the 20-30 gallon pots or keggles, are for when you get into large batches or all-grain brewing.

Moral of the post... You will be perfect, and welcome to the hobby/addiction!!

Cool, thanks for the info, guys! I'm really excited!

matyas said:

she was told that I would need a 20-30 gallon pot

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either you, or the person who gave your mom that info, have your units wrong... pretty sure you/that other person meant 20-30 quarts, not gallons.

20-30 quarts = 5-7.5 gallons. a 30 gallon pot would be ridiculously HUGE.

sweetcell said:

either you, or the person who gave your mom that info, have your units wrong... pretty sure you/that other person meant 20-30 quarts, not gallons.

20-30 quarts = 5-7.5 gallons. a 30 gallon pot would be ridiculously HUGE.

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I was going to note the same thing. Did your mother in law buy you 2 x 12 GALLON pots, or 2 x 12 QUART pots (3 gallons each).

a 12 GALLON pot is more than you will EVER need for extract brewing . . . it will allow more than enough room to do a full boil, and you'll NEVER have a boil over . . .

On the other hand, a 12 QUART pot will work . . . you'll just have to boil 2 gallons, and add top water.

My mistake. Yes, they are 12 quart pots. I was, in fact, confusing the units.

Honestly, and I don't want to make you sound like a brew snob, but I would tell your mother in law to return the pots for her money back. It's not too hard to find a good 4-5 gallon SS pot for a brew kettle, and that's plenty big enough to get you started.

Walmart has such pots in their kitchen section. Most home kitchen stores carry them. And you can find them online relatively cheap (though be careful you know what GAUGE SS you're getting if you can't handle it yourself).

Trying to use 2 separate pots is going to be very difficult, and in the end you'll probably spend less on a single 5 gallon pot than you did on the 2 x 3 gallon pots.

I agree with the top post. I know its a pain in the pass to ask for a return but a 12 quart pot is extremely small for brewing.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00062VZMY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

or even better but a little more $$$

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009JXYUA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I may end up just having to buy a pot outright. Asking my mother-in-law to return it could be too sensitive an issue (she gets a bit touchy about such things.) But if it's not going to work, there's no point in trying to make it work with the wrong tool for the job.

MikeyLXT said:

I agree with the top post. I know its a pain in the pass to ask for a return but a 12 quart pot is extremely small for brewing.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00062VZMY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

or even better but a little more $$$

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009JXYUA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Click to expand...