Best Boiling Pot?

Hi all,

I have pretty much narrowed down the beginning equipment I am going to purchase, but I am getting stuck on the boiling pot.

I don't want to by cheap just to have to replace it later, but part of me would like to spend the money on ingredients rather than a 70$ stainless steel pot.

I have heard that Aluminum should be avoided, but have seen that Canning Pots are ok.

Any advice? Can I go with a Canning pot or should I bite the bullet and get a stainless steel pot from the beginning?

Thanks,

Mark

No matter the material, I would get no less than an 8 gallon pot. I would strongly recommend an even larger one. BTW, I use aluminum, as do many others, with no ill-effects. As a matter of fact, I prefer my aluminum pot to my old SS.

Enamel coated pots work very well, but you should be careful when handeling them. If they get dented or the enamel gets chipped, they'll pretty much be worthless.

I brewed with an 8 gal one for a few years. Now I have a 40 qt aluminum pot.

mrosiana said:

I have heard that Aluminum should be avoided,

Click to expand...

This isn't true. There are specific reasons why SS is sometimes superior to Aluminum but if you don't know those reasons, there's a huge change that they don't apply to your situation. There are no health reasons not to use aluminum (antacid tables put more aluminum into the body than the use of an aluminum pot for beer), it heats more evenly and is cheaper. In many cases it's also thinner (unless you're dealing with industrial kitchen stuff which is often more costly than home-grade SS) which MAY be a problem when installing a spigot but for basics, aluminum is fine.

mrosiana said:

I don't want to by cheap just to have to replace it later, but part of me would like to spend the money on ingredients rather than a 70$ stainless steel pot.

Click to expand...

Replace can be thought of in a relative sense. If you buy a boiling kettle today that's too small then you might "replace" it with a bigger one... But find a new use for the smaller kettle. For instance...

I bought a 36qt turkey fryer from Home Depot for just under $50. It's a big aluminum kettle that I can use for full boils of 5 gallon batches and comes with a burner suitable to do that. Now, when (and if) I move to 10 gallon all-grain batches I'll need a bigger kettle, but the smaller one I have now will shift to being a HLT rather than a boil kettle.

I personally am VERY happy with my turkey fryer, it might be a cost effective way to get some equipment for your self too.

Thank you! It's this kind of advice that makes me psyched there is a site like this. I would rather go with aluminum is it is fine to do and it certainly sounds like it is.

I will let you guys know how my first batch turned out.

Thanks again!!