SWMBO made a bit of a mistake :(

Over the weekend, my great lady made a bit of a mistake. I was out running errands and she decided to make Chicken 'n Dumplings. Well, instead of using the cheap aluminum stock pot she accidently used my 3 gal brewing kettle. I've read here to make sure you use your kettle for brewing and brewing only so I was somewhat upset but, at least she made a good meal.

I go home yesterday and what do I find? A brand new STAINLESS STEEL 5 Gallon Brew Kettle. Needless to say, I can't wait to brew later this week.

nice!!!!! one brotha

Not sure what you read, but there is no issue whatsoever with using your brew kettle for something other than wort if you clean it properly. I've boiled lobsters in my brewpot in the past...chicken dumplings aint going to hurt anything!

That being said, nice score on a new SS brewpot.

My 8 gal SS brewpot had developed some beer stone, which I never worried about. Then my wife made turkey soup ("Honey - this is a great pot for making soup! ")

I thought I wld need a new pot... until I got the pot back ... brown stain GONE! Not sure of chemistry, but pot still boils wort fine..

Next stop - maple sugaring ..

Yes, nice score, I guess it worked out

I too have used my brew kettles for other purposes including turkey frying and steaming some chicken wings.

Honestly I wasn't all that upset, I figured if I cleaned it properly and sanitized correctly, there shouldn't be any problems.

I do have one worry, I brew on an electric stove and it will probably take hours for my water to get to steeping temp and boil temp. Small price to pay i guess.

i've fried two turkeys in mine. the other day i did the diluted vinegar deal to clean my new immersion chiller. That loosened up the beer stone deposits. Pot is like new. It is possible to be too anal.

I need SWMBO to make some Chili in my keggle!

histo320 said:

Honestly I wasn't all that upset, I figured if I cleaned it properly and sanitized correctly, there shouldn't be any problems.

I do have one worry, I brew on an electric stove and it will probably take hours for my water to get to steeping temp and boil temp. Small price to pay i guess.

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No sanitizing necessary; it'll get plenty hot during the boil!

RDWHAHB, it's perfectly fine to use your brew vessels for cooking other things, you aren't going to hurt a thing.

My sparge water pot (soon to be replaced by my new keggles) is a stainless stockpot. The SWMBO has used it to boil chickens, and I've used it on my outdoor burner to cook wings and fry up lumpia.

When I was away for a few days SWMBO loaned my 40 quart stainless steel pot, which is my brew kettle for 5 gallon batches, to a neighbor to fry a turkey in. I was not happy, but with a little work it cleaned up fine. Still, I did not want it used for this purpose again so later I gave the neighbor a 30 quart aluminum pot for his frying activities. It was a left over from my 10 gallon brew rig build. That is a longer story for a different thread.

cragus said:

That loosened up the beer stone deposits. Pot is like new. It is possible to be too anal.

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If you skim over this part too quickly without reading carefully, it sounds incredibly dirty.

Sounds like one hell of a lady.