So I am in the process of upgrading all of my equipment to be able to brew 10 gallon batches. I am seeing conflicting things about how big of a boil kettle I need. I know that many people happily brew 10 gallon batches using converted kegs, and I see lots of listings for 16 gallon kettles. On the other side of issue, Blichmann Engineering recommends that your boil kettle be twice as large as your intended final volume to account for boil off and room to avoid boil overs.
I'm trying to figure out who to believe because I have a lead on a 17 gallon stainless steel pot (brand new) on Craigslist that would be much cheaper than buying a 20 gallon pot. I would like advice from the 10 gallon brewers out there about whether this is big enough to not have to worry about boilovers. One of the biggest pains of my brew day is that I have to constantly monitor the boil and adjust the propane pressure to avoid boil overs until I am comfortably through the hot break (usually about 30 minutes). It would be much easier to sell SWMBO on me brewing if doing so did not require me to sit by the BK for the first 30 minutes of the boil to regulate the gas to get through the hot break.
I'm trying to figure out who to believe because I have a lead on a 17 gallon stainless steel pot (brand new) on Craigslist that would be much cheaper than buying a 20 gallon pot. I would like advice from the 10 gallon brewers out there about whether this is big enough to not have to worry about boilovers. One of the biggest pains of my brew day is that I have to constantly monitor the boil and adjust the propane pressure to avoid boil overs until I am comfortably through the hot break (usually about 30 minutes). It would be much easier to sell SWMBO on me brewing if doing so did not require me to sit by the BK for the first 30 minutes of the boil to regulate the gas to get through the hot break.