Aluminum Kettle...will it work? Also, heres my setup.

[TUCK]

Hello all, I am a newb and was looking for advice on using my All American pressure cooker pot until I can get a stainless steel pot.

I only have a 8 qt SS Pot and was hoping this (aluminum 22qt pot) would work. What do you think and if it will work what would be some of the pros/cons?

I bought a bucket kit with a glass carboy (secondary) I plan on using all glass in the future but while I learn this will have to do.

I am also using a cream ale kit. Now it came with the coopers LME. Which I have heard negative remarks here about this due to the fact it is only 3.3lbs. Yet it also came with 2lbs of DME, I hope this is enough, but most recipes call for six right?

Anyway I plan on using less bittering hops (than provided) at mid boil and a little finishing hops for aroma. I am also adding blackberry extract to the secondary to hopfully have a black berry cream stout.

I also plan on becoming a "true" member here to make a log with pics to better inform you experts out their and hopfully get some great tips on my methods.

ALL input and advise is much appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

I'm no great chef. I don't know the details of how a pressure cooker differs from a regular kettle. I mean, I know it's got screw threads and a top, but beyond that...


Anyway, if you can conveniently get it up to a rolling boil with 5 gallons of liquid in it (or ~3 gallons if you intend to do only a partial wort boil), then it will work fine. Some folks say the aluminum can impart nasty flavors and that the aluminum can oxidize and flake off or whatever, but the vast majority of people have never ever had a problem. Personally, I've never brewed (still working up to it), however, I've cooked many things in aluminum pots and never had a problem of any kind, so I don't see boiling wort as being much different from a tomato soup or pasta, or anything else I've cooked in aluminum, so I'd say you'll be fine.

The only real problem I can imagine is that if the pot is really thick and heavy, it will take longer to chill your wort. So you might want to go a little more overboard on your chilling procedure, maybe using the ice-in-a-bag method, or an immersion chiller in addition to an ice bath... but I'm quite sure that even that's not strictly necessary.


Oh.. and one other thing. Is the pot cast? Like, does it have a somewhat rough finish? If so, that might result in a little more carmelization of your malt. I could imagine some extract getting onto the bottom of the pot and not being able to get lifted off the bottom by your spoon as you stir- it getting stuck in the tiny nooks and crannies of the cast-aluminum pot. Carmelized or burned extract will result in your wort becoming darker and that may impart unusual flavors in your beer. Someone with more experience than I will have to say whether or not that's always a bad thing, though. Anyway, if this is the case, I'd guess you could mitigate the problem by taking your 8 quart pot and boiling the wort in that along with some of the water that would have otherwise been added directly to the brewpot. That way, the sugar will be more diluted before pouring it into the kettle/cooker and it will have less of a tendency to pool at the bottom before dissolving. Also for this reason, you may also have to be more attentive with your stirring at this stage in order to obtain good results, but I'd think it should be doable.

 

[jezter6]

I'm no expert...but if you got a cream ale kit, and just use less hops, you're not going to magic yourself up a stout. You're missing a lot of grains for color and flavor in a cream ale kit that would make it a stout.

Since you're an admitted noob (like myself) you should really just make a kit or two and get the process down before you start monkeying around before you even know what you're doing. It's like trying to pull an e-brake turn in a car 10 minutes after you get in for the first time...sure, it's possible that you won't die, but most likely it won't turn out the way you want it to.

Go grab a regular ale kit, brew it, make sure you are doing things correctly, then move on to mixing and matching. Screwing up an early batch leads to people not wanting to brew a second batch....and none of us want that.

 

[TUCK]

Thanks for the advice jezter6,Toot , it really made me re-think things through. So as we speak I am putting on my shoes to goto Wal-Mart and find a SS Kettle and I am going with the instructions and not monkey-ing around with the recipe.

Except I am still going to add the Blacberry in the secondary... sorry I am hard headed.

 

[jezter6]

blackberry cream ale is probably no worse than blackberry cream stout. I dunno how well blackberry and beer go together, but a fruity cream ale sounds wonderful. One of my first batches of my own put together recipe will be a caramel apple tasting cream ale.

good luck on the brew and let us know how it tastes!

 

[Hopfan]

When doing extract kits, a smaller pot will work fine. The aluminum pot is a personal preference. Some believe there is a link to alzheimers and aluminum leaching into your brew, though I have spent much time in the UK and being the heavy tea drinkers they are (tea plants are heavy with aluminum), I have met very many old timers that have a memory better than mine. With most extracts, you are boiling a smaller volume of wort and topping off with water in the primary. As long as you ensure good sanitization and use either bottled water or boiled tap water, either method will get you to your goal. If this is your first batch, you may want to follow the kit, as far as hops go, and then make adjustments with your next batches, though your modifications sound like a good plan for a fruity ale. I've not used that extract before so not sure what it will impart to the brew. If someone else has, please chime in. I would expect that it will impart a sweet fruit background and you would want hops in there to balance the sweetness.

 

[Orfy]

If it's you're first brew then I'd go for a standard ale first to prove your technique and recipe.

 

[TUCK]

Ok so I went all the way and put down alot of cash dor a stainless steel pot with a glass lid and a tripple plated bottom. (49.95 at Wal-Mart)
I have finished and the primary full and fermitting as we speak.

I will start a new thread to stay up to date on the progress.

 

[Monk]

I made an apricot cream ale last year and it was great. I think your cream ale will be a good base for experimenting with fruit. Have fun! (But if it sucks, don't give up. )
monk

 

[Orfy]

Wish I could by a kettle For $49
I can buy anything for less than around $200

It makes for enginuity though.