Thinking of going to a 8gal pot

Right not im doing partial boils with a cheap 5gal SS pot. My goal would be to do full boils. My only setback is clearance of my microwave above my stove. Would like to at some point go with a propane burner.

Has anyone went this route ? Was there a big difference ?

It is hard to get 5 gallons to boil on a standard electric stove top. If you have a gas stove it might be different. I can't get more than 3 gallons to boil on my electric stove. Of course you could augment with a home made heat stick (see electric brewing threads for ideas)

I was doing partial boils when I started and later tried to do a full 5 gal boil on my stove top power burner. I couldn't get a good vigorous boil so my beer came out terrible and protein-y and had to be tossed. So I bought a two tier propane burner from Bayou classic on amazon for $250 I think? And it's been great. I also converted a 10 gal rubbermaid cooler for a MLT for all-grain as well as a 10 gal kettle and the two tier system works well with it. I can start my sparge and keep the water at 170F and halfway thru start my boil. Only takes about 5-10 minutes to bring 7-7.5 gallons of wort to a boil.

I guess for recommendations, it's based on how much money you wanna burn thru. A cheaper all- grain way is the Rubbermaid MLT, or if you wanna spend a little more you can convert some old kegs into electric kettles. Then if you want to go crazy you can do the full electric brewery.

IMO start with the rubbermaid MLT and see how you like it, then move from there.

I moved to a Turkey Fryer with a 30 quart capacity pot about 5 batches ago so I could do full boils The main difference Ive noticed is that color is alot easier to control. I had a helluva time trying to get a light colored beer with a partial boil. My latest Cali common came out a nice golden color.

I switched to full boils in an 8 gallon pot a year ago. I love it. No more late extract additions, and the hop adjustments that go along with it.

I'm doing it on my electric stove too. Obviously if I put the full amount of water in the pot it will take a while to get boiling. So to get there faster, I split the amount. Half in my 8 gallon pot, half in my old 5 gallon pot. When the water in the 5 gallon reaches boiling point, I add it to the 8 gallon and add my extract. From that point it holds a rolling boil.

You're going to need a wort chiller.

My best purchase so far has been a turkey fryer.... The stove was not cutting it at all. Still using my same 5-gallon pot, though for partial large batch boils and full boils for 1-gallon batches. My goal is to pick up an 8 or 10 gallon kettle once I can find one on sale.

Oh, forgot to say... Doing full-volume boils at the 1-gallon scale (1.75 gallon boils with my boil-off rate) does definitely produce superior beer. I have done the same recipe both partial and full that way. As soon as I can get a larger pot, it'll be full boil all the time.

I'm using a turkey fryer with a 6.5 gallon pot. I can start with 5 gallons or just a shade more and git'er done. The pot is rather tall and smaller dia than most and I think that helps a little with boil off. On the first batch lost about 3/4 gallon, give or take.

Would like to get a bigger pot but the (currently unmodified) design of the burner precludes a pot larger than ~13" diameter. Most of the meaningfully larger pots are ~15" diameter.

+1 for using a cajun cooker / turkey fryer. In my experience, I can get to temps faster, maintain them (for steeping) easier, and boil quicker.

I also like doing it outside, too. There is something magical about making the neighborhood smell like a brewery! Typically, a neighbor or two stops by to see what's up and have a beer and a chat.