Brew Pot Size

Hello everyone,

I'm just inquring about brew pot size. I will be doing 3 gallon all grain batches on an electric stovetop. What size brew pot do you guys recommend?

You might be only brewing 3 gallon batches now, but if you don't want to need to get more pots later, I'd get at least one 32 quart pot. You could do one 32 quart and one 20-28 quart pot if you can't get two 32's... Restaurant grade aluminum pots work just fine for brewing (condition/cure them first by boiling water in them for about 30 minutes, leave the dark coating in them)...

If you NEVER expect to go to even 5 gallon batches, then 20 quart pots should be large enough. Especially if you use the BIAB method. Just don't expect to get 10 (or more) pounds of grain into them without spilling onto the stove top.

I use a 21 quart (5.25 gal) pot and have done a few 3 gallon batches with no problems

40 qt 10 Gal minimum, case closed.

Never seen a thread that started "I Think My Boil Kettle Is Too Big"

You will fill it, or you will sell it and get out of the hobby.

You will never have to second guess if your kettle is big enough for that Double Imperial 5 gal batch.

I appreciate the help. I just want something to get me going right now, we are moving in the summer and hopefully getting a house. I will probably upgrade brew pot then however this is my first endeavour into AG so I want to keep the batches small in my apartment.

Will a 32 or 40 qt boil on an electric stove top?

tkdjr1186 said:

Will a 32 or 40 qt boil on an electric stove top?

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Eventually. Depends on the stove. From my memory, we would have all the pre-adjustment beer drank before the stove got it's boil on.

Sorry to be a wise-arse. When I did stove tops it would take at least an hour for a weak boil of 5 gallons. My first and cheapest turkey fryer did a robust job in about 1/3 the time.

SKMO said:

40 qt 10 Gal minimum, case closed.

Never seen a thread that started "I Think My Boil Kettle Is Too Big"

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You will from the OP with this advice. He said he's a stovetop brewer and there's no 40 qt pot that's gonna fit on a residential stove.

OP: look for a 24-32 qt turkey fryer pot that fits your stove element well. Most stoves have a hard time getting a decent boil out of 4+ gallons so run some tests on yours.

jkarp said:

You will from the OP with this advice. He said he's a stovetop brewer and there's no 40 qt pot that's gonna fit on a residential stove.

OP: look for a 24-32 qt turkey fryer pot that fits your stove element well. Most stoves have a hard time getting a decent boil out of 4+ gallons so run some tests on yours.

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THank you, I will take that into consideration.

After thinking about this some more, and drinking another homebrew, I would say just buy the largest kettle you can afford. I remember buying a 30 qt and during the first boil regretted not having a 40 qt.

Hell it never ends actually. Just buy a decent 10 gal /40 qt and you will not have regrets.

I will bow down to Jkarps advice. He has a valid point, one I had forgotten about.

Let me point out another thing I might should have mentioned.....

When I was pushing the limit on boiling capacity it always seemed I was a bit short. I guess heat expansion does come into effect at larger volumes, because my 30 qt would never actually pan out with hot wort. 7 gallons (28 qt) would be out of the question.

If you are pushing the limit boil / volume wise do yourself a favor and invest a couple dollars in some Fermcap-S.

Pots, even smaller ones, will always come in handy for a homebrewer - hauling water, holding partigyle wort, etc. As the OP wants to start on the stovetop, insuring he can get a good boil on 4gal pre-boil volume for his desired 3gal batches has to be top priority.

A 6gal turkey fryer pot is tall, relatively narrow and normally provides a better fit on range elements.

There is nothing wrong with stovetop brewing other than it handcuffs what you can do. That being said, get the biggest pot that will fit your burner. Anything much bigger than the burner and you will start to lose heat and get a less efficent boil and probably use alot more electricity too.

FWIW
I have a 30 qt turkey fryer I bought for $13 from salvation army.

on my flat top stove (i.e. burner elements are flush w/rest of stove top) I can get 6.5+ gallons at ~160 to boil in about 20 minutes sometimes 30 minutes. my limit on the pot is about 6.75 gallons adn then I have to simmer/boil a tthe begining.

I just want something to get me going right now, we are moving in the summer and hopefully getting a house.

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A bigger pot won't take up much more room on your moving truck. Just get it.

I just did my first batch in a 32qt aluminum turkey fryer pot. I only did a 3 gal batch of wort and still almost had a few boil overs. I am glad my pot wasnt any smaller or that could have been ugly.

My 30qt turkey fryer pot just barely fits under my hood. My flat electric stove will boil 6 gallons in about 40 min. Just get some Fermcap to help with boil overs.

SKMO said:

40 qt 10 Gal minimum, case closed.

Never seen a thread that started "I Think My Boil Kettle Is Too Big"

You will fill it, or you will sell it and get out of the hobby.

You will never have to second guess if your kettle is big enough for that Double Imperial 5 gal batch.

Click to expand...

I ran into a problem with that opinion. Mine is a 10gal kettle. the thermo couldn't float freely! it touched the bottom of the kettle with a full 5 gallons in it.

wolverinebrewer said:

A bigger pot won't take up much more room on your moving truck. Just get it.

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besides with a bigger pot you can pack more stuff in it!

So i also recieved my kit today. It has a 6.5 fermeter and a 6.5 bottling bucket. I could probably just do 5 gallon batches right? Will it be hard to do five gallon batches on a stovetop? And if doing 5 gallons i should go with a 8 or 10 gallon pot?

Seems the only thing that makes this three gallon is the actual ingredient kit.

It really depends on what method you'll be using... If you're going to set up a mash tun/cooler, then a 30-32 quart pot will be plenty (32 being better if you want to do 90 minute boils)... If you want to do the BIAB method, then I'd get a pair of 32 quart, or a pair of 40 quart and then you'll be set for almost any [reasonable] 5 gallon batch...

I've found that I can easily mash 10-12 pounds of grain in my 32 quart pot, with the BIAB method... If I had a second the same size (or larger) then I could do even more grain... Luckily, I'll be getting a larger pot soon...

If your stove has issues heating 6+ gallons or wort, then get a propane burner. Or get one of the really high output electric burners (single units) to get that sucker cranking...

BTW, I've not seen any recipe kits that are for 3 gallon batches. All that I ever looked at (while doing extract brews) were to make 5 gallon batches (into the fermenter)...

You can ferment 5 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy, if you know what you're doing (blow-off tube during high fermentation activity, then airlock it)... The bucket fermenters, at 6.5 gallons, more than handle 5-5.5 gallon batches in them.

Yes, you can do 5 gallons in the 6.5 buckets, that's exactly what they're designed for. You should get a blowoff tube setup though for certain batches with extremely vigorous fermentation. My fermenter luckily has enough headspace I don't have to worry about that much.

If you're doing extract you can definitely do a 5 gallon full boil on the stove top. A lot of extract kits however are typical 2.5 gallon boils, just mentioning as an FYI cause both NorthernBrewer and Midwest's kits instruct for a 2.5 gallon boil and I think it's Midwest that says their IBU's are calculated for a 2.5g boil.


Rev.

Golddiggie said:

It really depends on what method you'll be using... If you're going to set up a mash tun/cooler, then a 30-32 quart pot will be plenty (32 being better if you want to do 90 minute boils)... If you want to do the BIAB method, then I'd get a pair of 32 quart, or a pair of 40 quart and then you'll be set for almost any [reasonable] 5 gallon batch...

I've found that I can easily mash 10-12 pounds of grain in my 32 quart pot, with the BIAB method... If I had a second the same size (or larger) then I could do even more grain... Luckily, I'll be getting a larger pot soon...

If your stove has issues heating 6+ gallons or wort, then get a propane burner. Or get one of the really high output electric burners (single units) to get that sucker cranking...

BTW, I've not seen any recipe kits that are for 3 gallon batches. All that I ever looked at (while doing extract brews) were to make 5 gallon batches (into the fermenter)...

You can ferment 5 gallons in a 5 gallon carboy, if you know what you're doing (blow-off tube during high fermentation activity, then airlock it)... The bucket fermenters, at 6.5 gallons, more than handle 5-5.5 gallon batches in them.

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This kit is an all grain 3 gallon beginners kit. Check out the link below.
http://www.benshomebrew.com/product-p/eq3gallonallgrain.htm

Sorry for all the questions. I just wanna make sure I'm doing this right.
I'm changing over from Mr. Beer so just trying to get everyting correct

I looked up BIAB and i don't think i'm interested in doing it that way

tkdjr1186 said:

This kit is an all grain 3 gallon beginners kit. Check out the link below.
http://www.benshomebrew.com/product-p/eq3gallonallgrain.htm

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I started with 5 gallon extract brews before graduating to all-grain BIAB... So, I had zero need to even think about getting more hardware. I simply hate using buckets to ferment in too... Using carboy's now, and plan on upgrading to corny kegs soon.

Sorry for all the questions. I just wanna make sure I'm doing this right.
I'm changing over from Mr. Beer so just trying to get everyting correct

I looked up BIAB and i don't think i'm interested in doing it that way

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So you started with mr. beer, and you're not interested in the BIAB method?? Wow... BIAB makes going all-grain EASY on you... I brewed with a bud on Saturday, that has been using the cooler MLT for all his AG batches so far... Since seeing how BIAB works, he sees it's value. Not sure if he'll use it at any point, but if you don't have a MLT already, it's something to really think about.

Personally, I'll be getting the 60-80 quart aluminum pot within a couple of weeks (with the steaming basket insert to hold the bag). I'll also get the propane burner so that I can do more outside (and get up to boil faster, as well as maintain it easier).

Thinking about this

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00267Q3JW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I'll get the 30 to start out..should be able to do 5 gallon if i decide to right?

It could be tight if you decide you want to do a 90 minute boil... We did one a couple of weekends ago, and it boiled over (outside luckily, on a propane burner so cleanup was pretty easy)...

BTW, that one is almost double what I paid for my 32 quart restaurant grade aluminum pot... that extra 2 quarts helps out more than you might think, when doing longer boils... For 60 minute boils, you could be ok, but if you're investing in a pot, might as well get one that you KNOW you won't have issue with, than one you hope you won't...

Golddiggie said:

It could be tight if you decide you want to do a 90 minute boil... We did one a couple of weekends ago, and it boiled over (outside luckily, on a propane burner so cleanup was pretty easy)...

BTW, that one is almost double what I paid for my 32 quart restaurant grade aluminum pot... that extra 2 quarts helps out more than you might think, when doing longer boils... For 60 minute boils, you could be ok, but if you're investing in a pot, might as well get one that you KNOW you won't have issue with, than one you hope you won't...

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might i ask where you got the 32 quart?

forgot to add. I have the falt top that has the two burner size in it. on smaller one inside a larger one. the larger is a tad bit smaller than my kettle.

and I have the same thing as fastmetal. it barely fits underneath my microwave.

I'd suggest getting a 30 qt or 32 qt if you going to do it inside. my opinion is that anythikng larger you'd ahve to go to an outside burner.

if you buy one at the store new then see if it fits, otherwise return it.

I wish I new how many watts my burner was that might help.

ferm cap helps with the boil overs. my first few extract batches I had to wathc like a hawk. now I wacth like a hawk cause I've been trying to push my volume as much as possible. thinking about it now the extra 3-6 beers is sometimes not worth the effort.

and yeah 90 min boils will reduce what kind of volume you can do....5 gallons of wort in primary as opposed to 5.5

there's so many ways to skin this cat and it really depends (I think) on how much you really wnat to spend to get into it, how much do you think you'll want to spend in the future, how much homebrew will you drink in a month/year, how much time do you wnat to spend on brewing up 2 casesw of beer.

it takes me 5 hrs doing all grain from start to finish including clean up (don't foget to mop the kitchen floor so SWMBO doesn't kick you out of the kitchen). soemtimes maybe 4.5 hrs. I've got 2 30 qt kettles do all grain with a 5 gallon MLT (double batch sparge). my wort is already like 160* by the tim eI get it on the stove.

for me to do more than this (like 10 gallons) I'd havfe to start going with old kegs outside and a propane burner etc.

IMHO start with a 30-32 qt kettle and try a few extract batches and see where you want to go from there. you could also do the extract batches as full boils instead of the 2.5 in kettle and then fill with tap or RO water etc. again just start with an extract batch that way you won't have much invested. after that look at other options while your brew sits in primary, then bottling.

I'll get the 30 to start out..should be able to do 5 gallon if i decide to right?

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Possibly....with careful 100% attention. You cannot mess up even one time or you will have a boil over. I just retired a 26 qt. turkey fryer pot and I really could never get a good boil. The 5 gal. mark was about 3" from the top of the pot. I would mess up by putting in 5 gal. of water and then forgetting I had to add at least 1/2 gal of LME. This is what I mean with 100% attention. You always need to be on top of your game. So it can be done but I like my 60 qter better.

Also, If i just got a smaller one for right now while i'm doing these 3 gallon ones..will i be able to alter recipes for 3 gallons? or do those basically not exist?

tkdjr1186 said:

Also, If i just got a smaller one for right now while i'm doing these 3 gallon ones..will i be able to alter recipes for 3 gallons? or do those basically not exist?

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Use brew software to scale down the recipe... Basically, you enter as it stands, note the different values, like OG, IBU, SRM, etc. then reduce the grain bill to match, once you've changed the batch size to 3 gallons...

I got my pot from a restaurant supplier (Restaurant Depot online store)... Prices at the physical locations can fluctuate (the pot I got was actually cheaper than what's posted online), as does the inventory on hand. But, you can get almost everything listed online, at the locations. Anything not carried can be ordered for you. You just need to have a tax ID in order to get a membership there (free to get). The membership is also free for you. You do need to complete the application/forms to get the membership, but I didn't have any issue in that department. Once you start going there, it changes how you purchase some items... Such as pots, pans, meats...

if you do all grain you can bring them down to 3 gallons. but most recipes are for 5, 5.5,6 or 10 gallons. it's not worth my time to do jsut 3 gallons.

extract kits are for 5 gallons in the primary. you won't be able to get a kit for 3 gallons unless you go to that bens place (AFAIK). I also wouoldn't do a MLT as my bottlign bucket. kinda makes me weary about infections....but that's jsut me.

I also think it's a lot cooler to have a clear primary.... ESPECIALLY for your first one !!!!!

BIAB allows you to try it without being out the $$ for a MLT. great idea IMHO but I bought a used kit with a MLT already so I never tried it. you can ALWAYS spend more money later on for more equipment such as a MLT, immersion chiller, grain mill, fermentation chamber etc.

hope that helps

this is where I started.... a book from the library
howtobrew.com