how big of a pot

[jamescb77]

so im going to buy a new pot today i think but im wondering how big of a pot do i need to do 15 gallon batches. i probably won't be doing a lot of 15 gallon batches mostly 5 and ten but i would like to be able to do them. Also how big of a pot do you guys recommend for a hlt

 

[springer]

Get the biggest pot you can afford or have the room to store. I started with a 30 quart turkey fryer pot . Yesterday I had my first boil over in my keggle and it was only a 7 1/2 gallon boil. Love the smell of burnt wort in the morning.

 

[harley03]

Get the biggest pot you can afford or have the room to store. I started with a 30 quart turkey fryer pot . Yesterday I had my first boil over in my keggle and it was only a 7 1/2 gallon boil. Love the smell of burnt wort in the morning.

I agree with springer get the biggest pot you can without being to extreme. It's better to have a little extra space than not enough!

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

Some turkey fryers have a wider top for the top 3+ inches- haven't used one, but I have read (and can imagine) this is a good suppressor of boil over, or at least a timely warning. At least 2 gallons plus would be good for boil over in my books.

 

[jamescb77]

ok yes i know get the biggest one but what im asking is will a 20 gallon pot do a 15 gallon batch and also what size pot for a hlt would i need to do a 15 gallon batch

 

[MoRoToRiUm]

As long as you can heat all of it to a boil, 15 should be adequate as long as you monitor it. The HLT I'll let the professionals answer

 

[Chriso]

You could get a 60 qt (15 gal) kettle ... use FermCap or other foam control drops ... and then add a small amount of top-up water to each fermenter to make up for boil-off....

Or you could get an 80 qt (20 gal) kettle ... do full boils, and not have to top up ... but still watch for boilovers.

Or you could get a massive 100 qt (25 gal) kettle ... do full boils, and barely have to even watch or care about boilovers.

The only real deciding criteria are, do you want to top-up after boiling, and do you ever plan to do 5 gallon batches as an occaisonal thing with the same kettle?

I can say that a 5 gallon batch in a 100qt pot may be very difficult to execute, with perhaps excess boiloff or other ill effects. But a 5 gallon batch in a 60qt pot is very, very comfortable and easy.

 

[MikeInCtown]

get big for the 10 or 15 gallon recipies. If you are going to do 5's, I suggest just buying a smaller pot. 40 quart aluminum pots are cheap enough and you will always need a second pot to get some water hot anyway.

 

[BrewBeemer]

get big for the 10 or 15 gallon recipies. If you are going to do 5's, I suggest just buying a smaller pot. 40 quart aluminum pots are cheap enough and you will always need a second pot to get some water hot anyway.

Yeah I agree on the "get big for 10 or 15 gallon recipies". Cheers go for it. I was told by one member on this forum I was "overkill" in my MLT and Boil kettles in size of 22 total gallons volume. I'm not making batches filled to the brim of 22 gallons just wanting extra space above for 18-19 gallon boil volumes besides the MLT requires these large volumes on what I want to brew.
After boil, thermal shrinkage, two or three trub and yeast dumps I still want 3 corny's filled to the top not 2 1/2 corny's. Seems the intrest in 5 gallon batches are growing to 10 and 15 plus gallons on this forum. I must then not be the only one on this forum called "Overkill" any more? I'm just thinking ahead on the next custom brewing build. Why spend your money, time and labor building a new system with built in volume restriction limits from the start? Keep them 10 and 15 gallon brewing volume projects and sessions coming and posted. For about the same time and labor might as well go for larger brew volumes is my way of thinking especially if it's the type of bier you enjoy drinking.

 

[jamescb77]

ok well i went ahead and bought two 15 gallon pots. And i think that should be fine if i get a real urge i will do 2 10 gallon batches at once.