Boil Kettle to Big???

[raptorkeeper89]

Ok folks its coming close to my birthday and naturally my bday list has all my brewing wishes from big to small. Here in lies my question. I have put on my list a 15gal/60qt brew kettle from morebeer.com specifically product code BE315. AS of current I'm doing extract, partial boil with top up. Obviously this large brewpot opens up a world of possibilities for me, but is it to big??? Would a 5 gal batch even reach the ball valve on the bottom? I have read time and time again, do it right, buy once. This advice I whole heartedly believe in. With this pot I will be doing mostly 5gal batches but I'm sure someday there will be a 10gal brew planned. Just wanna make sure Im not going to big that I create more problems for myself. Thanks in advance!!!

 

[BrewinHooligan]

Not too sure about your ball valve question, but if you have the proper burner, there is no such thing as too big for your pot. If there is even a hint in your mind that you will be doing 10 gallon batches down the road, I say do it. Better to buy once with something that will grow with you. Just my .02

 

[Ma23456]

Try wineware 40 qt aluminum pot 48$ an you can drill it yourself I have two of the works great

 

[PIGMAN]

I've done full boil 5 gal batches in a 15 gal pot and it worked out fine. Remember that you'll start out with 6 -7 gallons initially due to boil off. You won't have to worry about boilovers. Just a thought, if you have a wort chiller, a good part of it may not be submerged in a wide pot like yours, so you may have to adapt.

 

[barrog]

I have a 10gal pot and wish I would have went with 15gal. That extra 5 gal will make all the difference.

 

[raptorkeeper89]

SOrry let me clarify, Im worried the ball valve assembly would be to high up in the pot that when its time to move the wort, that the ball valve outlet will be higher than the wort level

 

[Brewsday]

Well, I was just as sure as you I'd be going to 10 gallons...but never have...and I love my 8 gallon kettle for (net) 5-ish gallon all-grain batches. Stepping up to 10 gallons means bigger mash tun, bigger (or multiple) fermenters and most of all MUCH heavier boil batches so you almost have to start pumping beer around (there are ways to avoid pumping...but they too have "issues" from what I've gathered)...which is what turned me off 10 gallon batches. Even 6.5 gallons of wort in a 8 gallon kettle is very heavy! Add another 10 pounds (?) of kettle and it's worse. I agree with the "buy it once" philosophy...but the 8 gallon kettle will be useful when you move up to 10 anyhow (heating sparge water for example).
I recently did 2 all-grain batches in one day. Added about 3 hours but yielded 10 gallons in fermenters without any big gear. It was, however, quite a busy day!
So, that's my opinion fwiw!

 

[Just-a-Guy]

Well, I'm fairly new at this, but here's my experience, fwiw.

After doing two extract kits using my wife's 3 gallon pot (about 2 gallons boiled then adding to water in FV), I splurged and bought a 10 gallon, thinking "why not skip the intermediate and get what you'll eventually need." I did one batch with it, then ordered a 5 gallon pot.

The big 10 gal kettle was just too much to muscle around for partial boils. Plus it's so big, as someone else noted, a wort chiller will have limited effect in it. And I was a little worried about excessive boil off due to the large exposed surface of the top of the liquid. Plus I was a little worried about scorching, since 2 gallons is so shallow in the thing. But mainly it was just a PITA to move around.

When I filled it up with water and boiled it (the first time, mainly to sterilize it and break it in (it's aluminum)), it was very heavy and difficult to move around at counter level (I'm not a weight lifter, but I'm in reasonable shape and do a lot of manual work). Dumping out the thing was a huge pain and I ended up spilling some on the counter and floor.

I ordered a floor style propane burner, thinking I'd just do the boils on the floor. That's all well and good, but still...I found that for partial boils anyway, the 10 gallon was just serious overkill and too much trouble. Also a pain to clean compared to a smaller one.

So, for the last five batches, I've been using the 5 gal pot and I'm quite happy with it. I have a 7 gallon pot, as well, but I find the 5 is plenty. The 10 sits on the shelf. I'll use it when I move to AG and full boils (assuming I eventually do, I'm finding time constraints even doing extract brews).

Mark

 

[fletchsj]

just add a dip tube. don't worry about the size. I use a 15 gal keggle and can do 5 gal batches fine. don't try and lift and dump... it's dangerous to your back and to yourself and any pets that might be running around. Use gravity or a pump. You wont be able to do a batch on the stove, but as long as you have a turkey fryer or better you are golden. the ball valve shouldn't be an issue if you have a dip tube. Once wort starts flowing via gravity (doesn't matter if pumping or using gravity) if you have a dip tube it will suck all but maybe a cup of liquid off the bottom.

The only thing I'd say to be careful about is the size of the burner you use. As you don't want to scorch the wort. stay away from the hurricane or multi tip burners till you start doing 10 gal or better batches. cheers

 

[phenry]

SOrry let me clarify, Im worried the ball valve assembly would be to high up in the pot that when its time to move the wort, that the ball valve outlet will be higher than the wort level

Why would it be higher than 5 gallons? That would be the worst design possible. Even when brewing a 10 gallon batch in that pot, you would be leaving more than half of your wort behind if that was true. The ball valve for draining the wort should be the same level on all size pots from that manufacturer, as in near the bottom.

 

[j1laskey]

I just drilled my new 10 gallon kettle last night can't wait to use it

 

[bribo179]

With a dip tube you will need to add hose to your outlet to keep the suction up once the wort level falls below the level of your ball valve

A couple of feet will do it

 

[polvofiloso]

Ok folks its coming close to my birthday and naturally my bday list has all my brewing wishes from big to small. Here in lies my question. I have put on my list a 15gal/60qt brew kettle from morebeer.com specifically product code BE315. AS of current I'm doing extract, partial boil with top up. Obviously this large brewpot opens up a world of possibilities for me, but is it to big??? Would a 5 gal batch even reach the ball valve on the bottom? I have read time and time again, do it right, buy once. This advice I whole heartedly believe in. With this pot I will be doing mostly 5gal batches but I'm sure someday there will be a 10gal brew planned. Just wanna make sure Im not going to big that I create more problems for myself. Thanks in advance!!!

I'm a noob so I don't know if my opinion counts for much but I'll give it anyhow. I started a few weeks ago, and bought that exact same kettle (15 gal. from MoreBeer). I had the exact same thoughts as you, wanted to make sure I could move up to 10 gal. batches later if I wanted, without having to re-buy stuff. I've only done two batches so far with it, and they were both 5 gal. batches. But I'm still glad I bought the big kettle. It boils quickly, and its really not that hard to handle. I'm using a CampChef propane cooker (also from MoreBeer), and I think that makes it a lot easier than trying to wrestle it up on to the stove top. One thing though it does boil off more water than I expected, so plan on figuring out your own boil-off rate and plugging that in to iBrewmaster or whatever program you log your brews with.

The position of the valve is just fine. The kettle comes with a length of hose to attach to it, and I can drain it right into a carboy that's sitting on the ground--the kettle is the perfect height for this sitting on the CampChef. Yes it leaves a lot of liquid in the bottom (I don't have a pickup tube), but I found I liked it that way. As you get to the bottom and below the level of the spigot, you can easily tilt the kettle to get the last of it, and easily control it to ensure leaving as much of the hops and crud in the kettle as possible.

I do have one piece of advice if you go with this kettle. Choose MoreBeer's 5/10 Split Wort Chiller. I didn't specify that one, and they sold me the regular one that normally goes with that kettle for 10 gallon batches. As some have said in this thread, it holds most of the coils up too high out of the wort on a 5 gallon batch. The 5/10 one is designed to keep the lower half of the coils fully submerged in a 5 gallon batch. But even with the not-optimal chiller, I can still chill a 5 gallon batch to pitching temp pretty fast. I gently pushed the coils a little lower on the cooler to try and get more efficiency out of it.

I think you're on the right track!

 

[Pilotpip]

If you have a large enough pot, start with full boils. You will get better hop utilization and better overall product.

 

[raptorkeeper89]

I'm a noob so I don't know if my opinion counts for much but I'll give it anyhow. I started a few weeks ago, and bought that exact same kettle (15 gal. from MoreBeer). I had the exact same thoughts as you, wanted to make sure I could move up to 10 gal. batches later if I wanted, without having to re-buy stuff. I've only done two batches so far with it, and they were both 5 gal. batches. But I'm still glad I bought the big kettle. It boils quickly, and its really not that hard to handle. I'm using a CampChef propane cooker (also from MoreBeer), and I think that makes it a lot easier than trying to wrestle it up on to the stove top. One thing though it does boil off more water than I expected, so plan on figuring out your own boil-off rate and plugging that in to iBrewmaster or whatever program you log your brews with.

The position of the valve is just fine. The kettle comes with a length of hose to attach to it, and I can drain it right into a carboy that's sitting on the ground--the kettle is the perfect height for this sitting on the CampChef. Yes it leaves a lot of liquid in the bottom (I don't have a pickup tube), but I found I liked it that way. As you get to the bottom and below the level of the spigot, you can easily tilt the kettle to get the last of it, and easily control it to ensure leaving as much of the hops and crud in the kettle as possible.

I do have one piece of advice if you go with this kettle. Choose MoreBeer's 5/10 Split Wort Chiller. I didn't specify that one, and they sold me the regular one that normally goes with that kettle for 10 gallon batches. As some have said in this thread, it holds most of the coils up too high out of the wort on a 5 gallon batch. The 5/10 one is designed to keep the lower half of the coils fully submerged in a 5 gallon batch. But even with the not-optimal chiller, I can still chill a 5 gallon batch to pitching temp pretty fast. I gently pushed the coils a little lower on the cooler to try and get more efficiency out of it.

I think you're on the right track!

Wow this is excellent. Couldn't ask for better review.

 

[9Frogs]

Once you start doing full boils with a 5 gallon batch, you will be starting out with 7 to 7.5 gallons pre-boil. I use a keggle (15.5 gallons) and it is nice to have that headspace to not worry about boil over at all. I haven't bothered with a ball valve and dip tube yet, just siphon it into the carboy. The added bonus is that I have the option of 10 gallon batches. I do have to say, though, doing the boil in the garage with a propane buner is nice for cleanup. Whatever spills and messes wind up on the floor get hosed down and squeegeed out the door! Good luck and happy birthday!