enough is enough, and a question?

I have tried various methods including wrapping my brew pot in aluminum foil.
The best I can come up with is about 1/2 gallon/hour boil off rate.
I get a poor hot break if any, this is on my gas stove.
Time to step up to a turkey fryer. The one I am looking at comes with a 30 qt. aluminum pot.
What do I have to do to the pot before brewing in it?

menerdari said:

I have tried various methods including wrapping my brew pot in aluminum foil.
The best I can come up with is about 1/2 gallon/hour boil off rate.
I get a poor hot break if any, this is on my gas stove.
Time to step up to a turkey fryer. The one I am looking at comes with a 30 qt. aluminum pot.
What do I have to do to the pot before brewing in it?

Click to expand...

If it's aluminum, boil water in it to get it with a oxide layer on it. Then don't use any abrasives on it, to clean it, because it'll scratch off that layer. It will turn your shiny pot sort of gray-ish.

I have heard that some of the new turkey fryer burners have safety features now that mean they shut themselves off at times, or can't keep a big flame. Maybe check into that, just to make sure.

Fill it with water, and boil the water for about an hour to oxidize the surface.
Hint. Measure the amount of water you boil off in that hour so you can estimate the boil off rate.
Another hint. When boiling wort, either use some fermcap-s to keep the foam under control, or watch it like a hawk at the start of the boil, and after adding hops.

-a.

Bayou Classic still rocks. In fact, they have actually stepped into the beer brewing world and offer beautiful kettles with valves and thermometers. Welcome to the world of BTUs.

My turkey fryer has a 20 min timer on it other than that it was the best move I ever made was going all grain

Yooper said:

If it's aluminum, boil water in it to get it with a oxide layer on it. Then don't use any abrasives on it, to clean it, because it'll scratch off that layer. It will turn your shiny pot sort of gray-ish.

I have heard that some of the new turkey fryer burners have safety features now that mean they shut themselves off at times, or can't keep a big flame. Maybe check into that, just to make sure.

Click to expand...

I have actually read some reviews on this fryer, some by home brewers.
It does have a shutoff switch but can be easily bypassed. (being an electrician makes that a piece of cake )

I bought this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009JXYQ4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

And got an 8 gallon pot for my boils. Both together were under $100 and both are BC.

If you have the money to spare, do yourself a favor and get a Blichmann burner. They take the super BC one, clean it up and put a better shielding on it. Worth the money as it is much easier to regulate and keep a solid flame.

I do full boils on an electric stove. If you feel your boil isn't strong enough just split your batch into to pots and boil them both. Then combine your wort into the same fermenter. Just a suggestion.

tedclev said:

Bayou Classic still rocks. In fact, they have actually stepped into the beer brewing world and offer beautiful kettles with valves and thermometers. Welcome to the world of BTUs.

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Own one. Kicks ass. The Only difference between them and a Blichmann is the sight glass. I brew BIAB 5 gallon batches from mine. On a restaurant burner (avail on line).

Pic of my aluminum getting with that oxidation they are talking about. I usually just use hot water and a wash cloth to wipe it out afterwards. Never used anything else other then some dish liquid.

Also, whats ur budget like for this burner? I am in the market for one but after alot of research im leaning away from turkey fryers specifically because of the flame. Ive read that they are more likely to leave alot of soot on the bottom of kettles and with aluminum its a PITA to get clean, i know from working at a catering business. Im getting one of the blichman floor burners when i get my next check. They don't cause a soot build up and are supposed to be alot more efficient. Plus that auto shut off thing I keep hearing about with turkey fryers was a turn off as well. RebelBrewer.com has them on sale with free shipping too.

Pratzie said:

Also, whats ur budget like for this burner? I am in the market for one but after alot of research im leaning away from turkey fryers specifically because of the flame. Ive read that they are more likely to leave alot of soot on the bottom of kettles and with aluminum its a PITA to get clean, i know from working at a catering business. Im getting one of the blichman floor burners when i get my next check. They don't cause a soot build up and are supposed to be alot more efficient. Plus that auto shut off thing I keep hearing about with turkey fryers was a turn off as well. RebelBrewer.com has them on sale with free shipping too.

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I bought the $59 Brinkman fryer (comes with a 30 qt brew pot) I seasoned the new aluminum pot with a 1 hour vigorous boil and brewed a batch with my stainless steel pot. No soot at all. You only get soot if you have the flame so high that you get yellow to orange flame tips. As long as the flames are blue no soot. All said the 45,000 BTUs really made a difference. I got a 1 gal/hr boil off rate, nice roiling boil and great hot break with the flames at about 2/3 .
This is the one I bought and I am very happy with it.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=202038907&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=202038907&ci_kw={keyword}&kwd={keyword}&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-202038907&ci_gpa=pla#.UGm5g1EX_vU
PS: the shut off is if the flame goes out or over temp, set at about 400 deg. you will never get close to that boiling water. Never shut off once on me.
PSS: $59 at Home Depot, $100+ everywhere else. Great deal.

Budget is important, because although a turkey fryer is a nice upgrade, the pot is barely big enough to boil a 5 gallon batch. Yes it will work, and you will have a decent burner (I've never had any soot) for a very nice price. I'm betting after a bit you might be tired of watching the boil like a hawk, or using anti foaming agents and want to upgrade to a larger pot.

If you can find a decent kettle in the 10 gallon or more range, it's a whole lot better. You can still heat sparge water in the turkey kettle and boil the wort in the larger one.

My fryers don't have an auto shutoff, but I've read where you can bypass them and it's pretty simple.

ALSO - It's close to thanksgiving, so you might want to wait a few more weeks and grab one on sale after turkey day!

I purchased a 10G Winware aluminum pot along with a Bayou SP10 for $90 shipped... both work very well, no complaints.

As the others have said, you must boil water in the aluminum pot to build an oxide layer. It is also a good idea to use the boil to map out your liquid levels.

Edit: Guess post was a bit further along than I thought... oops.

30 Q will be cutting it a bit close for a full 5G all-grain boil, but it will be a great improvement regardless over your stove top adventures

I bought a bucket water heater which has really helped my hot break and boil off rate. Even though my outdoor Coleman propane burner broke it's leg a couple weeks ago, I can still get a very serious boil in no time on my stove top with the help of this heater.

I have a bass pro shops model turkey fryer, it came with a 30 qt stainless pot with a spigot. It has a 20 minute timer that needs to be reset in order to sustain the flame. I had a lot of problems with it cutting the flame off when I would go to reset it. So what I did was, I bought a big hose clamp, I think it was like a 6 or 7 inch clamp, and I tightened it around the base of the timer to keep pressure on the switch that allows the gas through. I haven't had any problems since. Though, it probably isn't the safest thing ever thought of.

Bricks41 said:

30 Q will be cutting it a bit close for a full 5G all-grain boil, but it will be a great improvement regardless over your stove top adventures

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Its doable, you will need like 6.5 gallons to get 5 out which is more than enough space...its probably a good idea to invest in a bottle of fermcaps though, its so cheap and works so well at keeping boil overs down.

That said, besides getting a kit with a turnoff feature(which seems annoying), you can go to any Walmart and get a 8 Gallon IMUSA Tamale Steamer aluminum pot for $20, then go on Amazon and get a SP10 or SQ14 for 45-50 bucks.