8.5 gal lobster pot

[cabot]

My girlfriend just found a 8.5 gallon enamel pot for $15. I told her to pick it up, I'm going to be switching to all grain and I'm thinking I can use this pot for heating strike and sparge water...my question...will I be able to drill a hole and add a ball lock in this pot like you could an aluminum or SS pot?

 

[Bobby_M]

I'd be worried about chipping the heck out of the enamel near the drill site. You can use an 8.5 gallon to heat your sparge and do your boil. For the water heating part, you won't need to fill the pot so it will still be manageable to pick up and pour.

 

[Zymurgrafi]

Agreed. Do not drill an enameled pot! It will be a mess. Just use it as is and dump the water.

 

[wilserbrewer]

If the enamel is in good condition, It certainly could be used as a brew kettle as well. With a bucket to collect the first runnings, you can do all grain w/ one pot. Not the best set up, not the fastest, but just a heads up if that's what you want to try.

Oh, and while a spigot is convenient, it is by no means "required". Many fine brews have been made by simply using a "Denny Pump". ( a half gallon pitcher to transfer/ladle sparge water)

 

[Revvy]

I looked into doing this awhile back, but I came upon enough advice saying do not do anything that can damage the integrity of the enamel coating. Using it to heat or boil in is fine, until it chips....but don't drill through it for a ballvalve....

 

[cabot]

Awesome, thanks for all the advice guys. It was too good of a deal for me to just pass up, so I got it figuring I would find a use.

I will NOT drill it. I was kinda thinking that would be the response. I will definitely use it for heating/boiling. Question: when I do get to all grain, I want to fly sparge...am I right to say that will be impossible using this pot as a HLT?

If that is the case, I'll get a cheap aluminum pot and drill that for HLT, and use this lobsterpot for my boil until I can get a SS one.

OR, on the other hand, I could batch sparge. I have my heart kinda set on fly sparging because it sounds as if it is more effective. In reality, I've never done either, so any info on that topic would be great too! (I'm planning on building a MLT out of a 10 gal round cooler, with a manifold, so I can fly or batch sparge)

Thanks again!

 

[wilserbrewer]

Cabot,

I would suggest you start out batch sparging...much simpler and is very effective if done well! I would also suggest using a simple braid type set-up. IMHO just about any cooler will work well as a tun w/ a braid.

 

[cabot]

Wilserbrewer,

I think I'm going to take that advice. As I'm anxious to try all grain, and if I were to fly sparge, I'd be looking at another couple of months before I would be able to save all the loot to get the equipment.

Just thinking aloud...would I have everything necessary to batch sparge:

10 gal round cooler with ss braid - MLT
8.5g pot - HLT
6.5g ale bucket

could I use the 8.5g for heating strike and sparge water...collect first runnings in my primary bucket, add sparge water from 8.5g, collect in primary, add sparge water again for third running, collect in bucket...then transfer from the bucket to the my 8.5g pot for the boil.

Will that work? Or do I really need to get a 2nd large pot?

 

[Bobby_M]

Yeah, read my all grain primer. I list out the methods for both one pot/burner and two pots/burners and you'll see there's really only a slight time advantage to having two.

 

[cabot]

Bobby, that's a great read. Very valuable resource, thanks for making it available!

 

[BrewBeemer]

Woudn't a enamel pot being coated inside and out two layers of glass have some slight insulating properties? Not what you want when heating a large volume of liquid besides the worry of chipping and rust.

 

[scinerd3000]

once it chips you gotta toss it but they work really well. Im suprised you found one that cheap and that bag. They conduct heat very well but they also give it off quite well also. Itle warm up quick- i use little enamel mugs to camp with and i put them dirrectly on coals of a fire. They get quite hot very quickly

 

[brewjunky]

If you want to flysparge you can either start a siphon or just use a ladel