11 qt pot big enough for extract brews?

The title says it all, the wife and I got a great set of cookware for our wedding shower but the biggest pot I have is 11 qt/ 2.75 gallons. Is this big enough and should I boil water for my primary or just use cold water. I have read both methods but am wondering what you all prefer.

11 quarts is on the small side, but useable. Be sure to keep an eye on it for potential boilovers. And remember that the volume will rise considerably after adding extract (especially LME).

As for top off water, I have always used ozarka spring water.

- magno

If you are using anything except pre-hopped extract, you will need to boil. The pot should be ok, but keep a spray bottle of water handy and never take you eyes off of the boil, ever!

If you have another pot, like maybe an 8qt (or hopefully one the same size, 11 qt) then I might consider boiling with 2 pots at a time. I have been doing this because I don't have a 20 qt pot, I use my 16qt and a 12qt simultaniously so I can easily boil at least 3.5 gallons at a time.

I just split everything between the 2 pots, I dump half the extract in one, half in the other, split the hops...etc. For specialty grains I usually have 3 1/2 gallons in my 16 qt, steep all of the grains in there and finally I will dump 1/2 of that into my 2nd pot and that's when I start with all of the rest.

It sounds like a lot of work, but It's really not bad at all and since i started doing that method my beers have been tasting quite a bit better (less carmelized and better hop utilization)

The only problem is cooling down both pots when it comes to cooling the wort. I just put a pot in each sink in my kitchen, give them an icebath and top off with cool water, no biggie.


*edit: didn't notice, but yay that was my 100th post!*

IrishBrewdog said:

The title says it all, the wife and I got a great set of cookware for our wedding shower but the biggest pot I have is 11 qt/ 2.75 gallons. Is this big enough and should I boil water for my primary or just use cold water. I have read both methods but am wondering what you all prefer.

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Ok.... umm.... lets think about a few things here..... you could probably get away with it.... but I think you are going to end up cleaning a stove in the end. If you have not brewed before you can certainly increase your odds. Boil overs happen to all of us. Boil overs can happen with 20 - 30 quarts if you decide to leave it alone long enough at the wrong time. 11 quarts is just not a lot of room.

Ok.... outside of that problem.... if I used something from our wedding shower or wedding gift in general ("a great set of cookware").. and did something like scrorch the bottom from making something like beer....well I think my SWMBO would be PISSED TO KINGDOM COME! I'm talking like I would have to hear about this for a very long time and I've been married long enough to be waaay smarter then that. I would hear about it for far less if I went out and spent $35 on a pot and she happened to be pissed over that. I'd at least sound compassionate in not wanting to damage our "great set of cookware" that we got for our wedding. So.... it sounds like you have not been married for long, you might want to think about it.....just my 2 cents

Beer Snob said:

Ok.... outside of that problem.... if I used something from our wedding shower or wedding gift in general ("a great set of cookware").. and did something like scrorch the bottom from making something like beer....well I think my SWMBO would be PISSED TO KINGDOM COME!

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OK you got me I have only been married for two weeks, I really hadn't considered that I might ruin my pots. Thanks

IrishBrewdog said:

OK you got me I have only been married for two weeks, I really hadn't considered that I might ruin my pots. Thanks

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There just cheap enough not to need to take a chance you know