What should I purchase for brew kettle

[suze]

I am new to home brewing and really enjoying the process. I plan to stay in the 5 gallon range for a while because of storage constraints.
As I move into doing full boils and all grain recipes I am trying to figure out what would be a better brew kettle.

Should I get a 40QT stainless steel pot or a 30QT polarware brew kettle with thermometer and valve on the front? I have found both items in the same price range.

Looking for advice,
Suze

 

[Ace_Club]

If you're seriously considering a 40 qt. pot, why not just go with a converted Sanke? It's cheaper, larger and will allow you to jump to 10 gallon batches in the future.

 

[suze]

Hmmm. good thinking. I actually have a keg I can convert.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[stevo155]

If you don't go the keg route, definately go with the 40 QT. 30 QT is too small in my opinion for 5 gallon batches ( I brew 6 gallon end of boil, 5.5 to fermentor which yields 5 to keg ).

I did the 30 QT route for a couple years and every brewday was a stress-filled watch of the kettle with a spray bottle of water. I now have the 40 QT kettle and all is well in the world again

 

[rico567]

I've always used a 30 qt, a Proctor-Silex SS pot I got cheap when I started brewing extract w/ steeping grains. After a year of that, I was ready to go AG. Although I had my doubts about the boil kettle after reading some threads on this and other forums, I decided to go ahead and see how it performed. Acting on some other threads I read, I got a bottle of Fermcap-S to use on the foam. That was two years ago, and in that time, 5 drops of Fermcap takes care of that problem. I do full 6.5 gal. boils in a 7.5 gal. pot, all kinds of beer, no issues.

 

[suze]

Thanks for the advice!