100 quart Stainless

I was in Sam's Club and saw a 100 quart stainless steel pot for $100. Does anyone have any experience with these pots for brewing? Is there something I'm missing here, or is this a good deal?

dwpumo said:

I was in Sam's Club and saw a 100 quart stainless steel pot for $100. Does anyone have any experience with these pots for brewing? Is there something I'm missing here, or is this a good deal?

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Seems like a good deal, but why would you want a pot that large? For about the same price you can get a nice 8-gallon with a valve and thermometer.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/8-gallon-megapot.html

BBGunBrewery said:

Seems like a good deal, but why would you want a pot that large? For about the same price you can get a nice 8-gallon with a valve and thermometer.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/8-gallon-megapot.html

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If you go to that site and add the valve and thermometer it's $205. Also 100 quarts is 25 gallons...

That's a helluva deal....but without seeing the pot, I can't remark on the quality. Does it have a clad bottom? if you plan on going electric, I don't see how you could go wrong....does it come with a lid?

It comes with a lid...not sure about the bottom though. I think I'll go over and investigate a little more today. I think they had smaller ones...is 25 gallons a little excessive? Anyone have any thoughts on a good size for a brew kettle / mash tun. I've been using 10 gallon coolers and a keggle. I'm thinking about getting rid of the coolers and going with these...

dwpumo said:

If you go to that site and add the valve and thermometer it's $205. Also 100 quarts is 25 gallons...

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Okay nevermind . I just looked at the photo, didn't realize the price was without valve and thermometer.

25 gallon kettle...how big of batches do you plan on doing?

dwpumo said:

It comes with a lid...not sure about the bottom though. I think I'll go over and investigate a little more today. I think they had smaller ones...is 25 gallons a little excessive? Anyone have any thoughts on a good size for a brew kettle / mash tun. I've been using 10 gallon coolers and a keggle. I'm thinking about getting rid of the coolers and going with these...

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I have a 15 gallon pot, and it's perfect for my needs. It will allow me to upgrade to 10 gallon batches, and I don't expect I will ever go over that. I do BIAB, so having the extra capacity is great.

Update on the SS pot at Sam's:
I just went over there and the Sam's sign says stainless steel in big letters, but the box says aluminum. So once again, if it sounds to good to be true...probably is...

Nothing wrong with using aluminum, provided it's thick enough...

I picked up a 60 quart aluminum stock pot last week for around $65... Already installed the ball valve in it... Might get the fittings to install a thermometer later.

I also installed a ball valve in my 32 quart aluminum stock pot (both are technically kettles now I believe)... Don't know why I didn't do this earlier... Going to make things so much easier on brew day. No more auto siphon to get the wort to the primary. No more trying to get the grain bag from one pot to another (using the BIAB AG method right now). Just drain and refill from another pot (I have enough pots on hand to do this)... At this rate, if I can get my 70 quart cooler fitting with a screen and ball valve, I might just start using that to mash in... At least for my BIG brews...

I thought aluminum gave off something that made it not so good for brewing...please correct me if I'm wrong

dwpumo said:

I thought aluminum gave off something that made it not so good for brewing...please correct me if I'm wrong

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Consider yourself corrected

Al is just fine for brewing - it can wear down with years of abuse though.

dwpumo said:

I thought aluminum gave off something that made it not so good for brewing...please correct me if I'm wrong

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That's an old wives tale... Read up on this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/faq-aluminum-pots-boil-kettles-49449/

Excerpt from the first posting on the thread:

Myths About Aluminum Pots:
- Aluminum pots will cause Alzheimer's disease. FALSE. This myth was debunked years ago by the medical research community, and the US National Institutes of Health and Health Canada have long since ruled out a connection between Alzheimer’s disease and aluminum cookware. If you don’t believe me, see the following:
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=99
http://alz.org/alzheimers_disease_myths_about_alzheimers.asp
http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/alzheimers.htm

- Boiling your wort in an aluminum pot will cause off-flavours in your beer. FALSE. Simply boiling a batch of wort will not remove enough metal from your aluminum pot to get into your beer and cause metallic off flavours, particularly if you build up a passive oxide layer inside the pot first. For new pots, this is easily achieved by either boiling the pot full of water for 30 mins to one hour, or by putting it in your oven for 10 mins at 350 F.

- Aluminum pots have very thin walls, and are not suitable for a boil kettle, particularly if you want to install a ball valve. FALSE. Thin- and thick-walled pots are made from both aluminum and stainless steel. The material they are made from is much less relevant that the thickness of the pot.

I actually have ball valves in both my aluminum pots now... Easy to drill out with a hole saw, and get the burrs off with a wire wheel. Then just install as you would onto a SS pot...

- Aluminum pots will react with very acidic materials, and wort is acidic. NOT REALLY. Wort isn’t acidic enough to cause a problem with an aluminum pot. In fact, both SS and aluminum are quite resistant to acidic materials, and you need to be concerned more about highly alkaline (i.e. basic or high pH) materials with your pots.

- Aluminum pots are simply not as durable as SS pots, so why bother, plus they will scratch easily and harbor bacteria. PERHAPS, BUT... Both aluminum and SS are durable enough for homebrewing if you are willing to invest just a small amount of care for your equipment. You simply aren’t going to wear out an aluminum pot in your brewing lifetime, so this is a moot argument. Furthermore, scratches aren’t really a concern with a kettle since the heat of the boil is going to sanitize it anyways.

The Bottom Line:
You can’t go wrong with a quality stainless steel pot, and they are a tried-and-true solution for lots of homebrewers. Yet, aluminum is a viable alternative that is much less expensive than SS. In fact, you can generally purchase a larger and heavier aluminum pot compared to the equivalently priced SS pot. In homebrewing, I guarantee you will really appreciate having a larger pot that is heavy and conducts heat well, speeding our boiling and cooling times and reducing scorching. In my mind, this far outweighs the cosmetic appeal and somewhat higher durability of a SS pot.



I won't knock SS pots since I've used them for years... But if you're on a budget, and don't want to blow a wad on a SS pot, you can go with aluminum and still brew great beer. There are plenty of home brewers that have been using aluminum pots for years... There's also plenty of people that cook in aluminum pots and pans every day. Go into just about any restaurant's kitchen and chances are you'll see tons of aluminum pots and pans there. If using aluminum produced any off flavors, they wouldn't be used in restaurants... Just be sure to NOT scrub off the oxide coating on the bot that you put on there (you'll want to do it before you brew the first time, then leave it on there)... So far, I have 4 AG batches made with my aluminum brew pot... Plan on making many. many more...

giligson said:

Consider yourself corrected

Al is just fine for brewing - it can wear down with years of abuse though.

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You abuse SS and they're wear too... My grandfather used large aluminum pots often, and they were still going strong after about 50 years... I don't think we'll be able to put enough wear on them, without hitting them with sledge hammers, dropping them from moving vehicles, and other moronic acts, in our lifetime...

I have a 60 qt Aluminum pot and it works like a charm. I can't even imagine how big that 100 qt pot is.

I don't need to imagine, I saw one last week on display at the restaurant supplier...

It's frickin HUGE!! :rockin:

Should I go with a smaller pot...i.e. more like an d80 qt. (20 G)? I don't do huge batches, maybe the 100 qt is a little excessive.

If you're thinking of making the occasional 10 gallon batch, or want to be prepared for when you do, then anything over 50 quarts should work... 60 quarts will handle most 10 gallon batches (50 might be a little tight)...

100 quarts would be great, if you're looking to make 20 gallons of brew at a time... That's just a LOT of wort all at once. :rockin:

A 25g pot would be AWESOME if its not so big that it becomes just as bulky and heavy as a keg. I'm more and more liking the cleanliness and simplicity of a regular kettle, as opposed to a keggle, and considering upgrading, especially if I go electric one day.

Edit: Lots of brewers using these, but they offer multiple sizes from 15qt to 200qt. Here is the link to Sams.

I've been looking at 80qt SS pots, but just can't make the $150 - $200 payment. I would jump at an aluminum one from Sam's for under $100. Heck Ya. !!!!

I got the 60 qt al from sams delivered for $53 a couple of weeks ago. i would say it is around 4mm thick. However, it doesn't fit on my stove because it hits the microwave. Looks like I am moving full time to the turkey fryer burner.

I'm torn as to buying the $75 80 qt. pot at Sams which I know won't have any defects or the one on eBay. I'm thinking 100 qt. is a bit excessive, but would love feedback from those who have used them. The bigger the better, or realistically is 25 g too big?

I've been using a 100qt ss for several years. I brew 12-13 gallong batches as I fill 2 cornies and a case of bottles. For my needs it isn't too large as I've had the occasional boil-overs when not paying asttention. I usually start with somewhere around 16 gallons pre-boil so 9 gallons headspace puts me maybe 6" from the top.
Negatives are the burners needed (you'll most likely have to custom build something, I use 3 turkey fryer burners) and it's cumbersome to clean. Unless your planning on larger batches I don't see the need, 5 gallon batches looks like you just spit in the pot.

Yeah, it would really depend on the size and if it would fit a burner. Needing 3 burners for 1 pot seems excessive. 15g pot is probably the way to go. That way you can do 5 or 10g batches-no problem. You'll probably never want to do more than that, unless its for a big party or something. Its a LOT of grain, just doing 10g batches. 50 lb sack of pale malt lasts me about 2-2.5 batches. I've decided to go back to 5g for the moment, just to get some variety and to save on malt.

60-80 quarts is a good amount if you plan on at least the occasional 10 gallon batch. If you're more likely to do just 5 gallon batches, then a 32-40 quart is a good choice. So it really all depends on the batch sizes you plan to make...

Regarding the burners on a 25 gallon pot, my first burners were Ron Reil pipe burners. Worked well but I was getting scorching from their concentrated flame. Bought smaller turkey fryer burners off eBay for $7 each and jetted them to suit my setup. My pot is 21" dia. so three provide good coverage and are easily controlled with a single 30lb. adjustable regulator. Just couldn't justify the cost for a single multi-jet burner.
But to get back on the topic if you go with a 25 gallon pot be prepared to spend more on the burners and a stand than you will the pot if you going with everything off the shelf and if your using propane forget about a 20lb tank, it will ice up pretty quick with the btu you'll need at those volumes.

jdieter said:

But to get back on the topic if you go with a 25 gallon pot be prepared to spend more on the burners and a stand than you will the pot if you going with everything off the shelf and if your using propane forget about a 20lb tank, it will ice up pretty quick with the btu you'll need at those volumes.

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I don't know from experience but I've read that sitting the tank in a warm water bath will help with that.

Do you think the BG-14 banjo burner would be sufficient for a kettle of this magnitude? If not, any commercially available recommendations? I just picked up 100qt pots and was planning on using BG-14's but you've suddenly got me second guessing myself...

Don't know what a BG-14 is, I'm guessing it's a low pressure 14" ring burner. Try it and see if you like the performance. My experience has been 10+ gallons require a high pressure burner to get a boil going in a reasonable amount of time.

The BG-14 is the 10" burner typically referred to as the Bayou Classic "Banjo", do a quick Google or search these forums - it's a pretty popular burner. It's technically a high pressure burner, capable of 210,000BTU at like 30psi. But from what I've read, most people have to throttle it way down (either by pressure reguator or needle valve) to get the flames low enough to keep their boil rolling without wasting gas.

Hopefully I don't have to unthrottle the beast and blow 20lb of propane per batch but that may just be the nature of the beast if I want to get this setup running 15 gallon batches! But from the research I've done it seems like the best choice for high power and reasonable efficiency / adjustability. Sorry for derailing the thread