Is a wide stainless pot not suitable for brewing?

Hello all,

My dad just found a good deal on a 10-gal stockpot @ a restraunt supply store...it is less tall and alot wider than alot of pots sold for brewing. Is this going to present a problem for brewing with the pot? With my MLT built I am eager to begin my first AG brew but I can wait if this pot may not work.

best,
RJ

If you can fit it on a stove top, itll be fine. You will get some extra loss to evaporation since there is going to be a larger surface area, but you can compensate for that in your recipe.

I have an outdoor propane cooker, so the stove top is not a problem.

eh, IME, SS is slow as **** to bring the wort to a boil. I got rid of my keggle because it was a slow piece of ****. But hey if it's cheap go for it.

It's a common misconception that brewpots need to be tall and skinny. I think it mostly just comes from looking at other peoples brew systems, and/or the shape of a keggle. But if you look at any large liquid vessels for boiling in industry (industrial and/or restaurants), you'll find them not tall and skinny, rather short and wide. This is for good reason, namely heat efficiency. Plus, if it's too tall and skinny, you may not even be able to get a boil going, see this Thead

In my book, for homebrewing, wider means that you boil off more, which means you can sparge more, which = better efficiency.

Of course if we're talking MLT, you could argue tall and skinny may be better.

I would rather have a shorter fatter pot, It gives you more room to stir your IC around with.

The only reason a lot of people use tall skinny pots is because thats what is sold with the burner as a "turkey fryer" setup. Ideally I would use shorter and fatter. You have less chance of a boil over.

z987k said:

eh, IME, SS is slow as **** to bring the wort to a boil. I got rid of my keggle because it was a slow piece of ****. But hey if it's cheap go for it.

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Most good quality pots will have an aluminum clad bottom to spread the heat more evenly and reduce hotspots. But since Keggles were never meant for or as a cooking vessel they don't. The bottom of the keggle is rounded slightly which may also contribute to a loss of effeciency. Also rather than the bottom sitting flat on the burner a keggle is raised by the sides of the barrel. Keggles aren't good pots they are just cheap.

If you found a good deal on a good SS pot grab it fast. The wider the better.

Wider is better. You can fit a bigger burner under them, more even heat distribution, more stable, less chance of boil over.

paul_h said:

Wider is better. You can fit a bigger burner under them, more even heat distribution, more stable, less chance of boil over.

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+1 to this.

Also, the wider a cooking vessel, the more efficient your heating element is going to be intially. If you take a very narrow, very tall pot for example, and put it over a full flame burner, and the burner flames lick significantly around your pot, you're loosing heat. Even with a normal sized pot, when you turn on the flame, you'll feel a wave of high heat work it's way around the pot. With a particularly wide pot, especially in the beginning, you'll have far cooler air moving up the sides of the pot. This means that more BTUs are being absorbed into the pot, which leads to faster heat transfer into the water.

However, this can work against you. Too wide, and the outside edges of your pot don't get heated. You loose heat here later on. I think with a propane burner you'll be alright though.

My GF says taller skinner is better that short n fat...

Your girlfriend tells me the same thing, MadWeezel.