Brew pot and burner

This polarware pot came in the mail a few days ago. It's like 19 inches wide. I bought a banjo burner also. My question is, does this setup look ok to brew. The pot is wider that I thought. It fits on the burner great.

 

That's an awesome brew pot, I don't see any issue with that setup. My 15 gallon pot overhangs the bayou burner that I have about an inch more than yours does and I have no issues bringing it to a boil.

 

Just run that burner for about 20 minutes to burn off all that paint. Still have no idea why they paint them when they expect it all to come off anyway within the first few minutes of the first burn.

 

I was a little disappointed that the pot did not come with aluminum in the bottom. Its 300 series steel though.

 

I am doing 5 gallon BIAB. Should I buy a thermometer? Will it work for 5gallon batches? I am not sure the water level will come up that high.

 

For a five gallon full boil its gonna be close... If ur doing the BIAB i'd def invest in a digital with a probe just to be safe. Amazon has them for under 30 bucks and are worth their weight in gold for home brewing.

 

Looks like a great setup, wish someone in the UK would import this kit at a decent price. That sort of burner is just not available here and the alternatives we can buy from outdoor shops etc are normally only rated to around 5Kw output (about 17000 btu). Ordering from overstock.com or similar makes them really pricey.

Not strictly on topic, but as I've not yet got round to doing a BIAB on my own, I'm curious as to what teaks up all the space? The pot in the pic is 60qt or 15 gallon volume but if this is going to be close, what's going on in the other 8.5 or 9 gallon worth of space (allowing for evaporation to end up with 5gal of wort)?

I thought I had a good understanding of the theory of how BIAB worked (i've seen it done once or twice) but what am I missing?

Edit: +1 on a digital with probe, have just ordered a couple more to dedicate to my cheese making equipment as I find them so useful in brewing and I keep all the equipment separate.

 

Man that looks like an awesome pot.
How heavy is the steel, and does it have an extra heavy bottom on it?

That looks like an awesome pot for a 10 gallon batch.
If I had one of those, I would probably have to build a bigger mash tun.

That should be a nice setup.

 

Well the 10-15#'s or so of grain + approx 7 gallons of water it all takes up space. Plus you want a little bit of head space to avoid boil overs. So it will be close.

 

But don't you remove the grain before boiling? That's maybe where I'm getting confused.

The way I saw it done the grain was mashed in a bag in the brew kettle then lifted out to drain into the pot. This was then rinsed by pouring the sparge water over the grain in the bag which ran into the BK and topped up the wort to the pre boil volume which was way less than 15 gallon. They then boiled as I do for all grain and had loads of space to deal with boil overs.

Was that not how it's supposed to be done?

 

I have the same pot and it is not even close for a 5 gallon batch.I've done 10 gallons in it without any problems,10 gallon all grain batch you do have to watch when it starts to boil but it's still not bad. Five gallon batches do not even come close to boil overs.

 

Maybe I should have clarified... My second comment about it being close... was with regards to an installed thermometer on that top port... With only a five gallon batch, the water level may not reach the probe in that top hole. As far as a boil over, that won't happen with a pot that big.

 

That makes more sense I missed the comment from the OP immediately prior to yours and got the wrong end of the stick lol

 

Is this temp probe a good one? They have them on Amazon for 15 bucks.

 

Get to brewing! I think you'll find the Banjo is overkill....keep it on low because they can waste a lot of fuel and the heat will just go right up the sides, melting your valves. THIS will really help...a bit pricey, but probably necessary with the Banjo considering its width.

 

$45 from Amazon.

 

They paint them so us newbees can make our bright, shiny new pots look all discolored and broken in after our first use .

Fred