All Malt, small pot.

[lionofjudah]

I'm a straight noob. I was wondering what size brew pot is required for all malt brewing. I currently have a 4 gal pot.

 

[MULE]

I use a five gallon brew pot for boiling three gallons. IMHO, a four gallon brew pot seems a bit small and will require constant supervision during the boil. Cleaning up a boil over really sucks.

 

[7Enigma]

That should be fine, but I would recommend looking to upgrade at some point to at least a 5 gallon "lobster/crab" pot. Something with high walls will prevent the possible boil overs and make it easier to pour. I just did my first 5 gallon batch with a 3-3.5 gallon pot and it was like babysitting a toddler. Constantly stirring and watching for problems, playing around with the heat level, etc. I think with a 4 gallon pot you should be fine.

Just first boil 2-3 gallons of water for 10min or so and then put that in your fermenter (if plastic just pour it in and rest the top on lightly, if glass add some water slowly for the first minute or so to let the glass warm up). Now use another 2-3 gallons of water with your extract and when finished you should have the proper 5 gallons.

Here's a tip to avoid a mistake I made. Fill your fermenter with 4 gallons of water and mark where the level is. Now add a 1/2 gallon, mark that, and add another 1/2 gallon, mark, and a final 1/2 gallon, mark. This will let you know exactly how much liquid you have at all times and makes it easy to see if you are over/under by a bit. I think I was short almost a gallon for my first batch because of too much boil off (short and very wide pot allowed for a LOT of evaporation during boiling). But I never marked my carboy, and it was a 6.5 gallon one which made it impossible to judge where the level should be. I'm just about done primary fermentation, and before I switch over to my secondary (5.0 gallon glass) I'll make those markings on the secondary to tell exactly how off I am. I'll then go back and do the same for the primary so next time I won't be short.

Goodluck!

 

[Funkenjaeger]

I assume that by "all malt" you mean "all grain"... in which case Enigma's advice doesn't make much sense because it refers to partial boils with extract.

I think a simple rule of thumb is to have a brewpot 50% larger than your target batch size. a 30qt (7.5g) turkey fryer pot is alright for 5 gallon batches, and a keggle (15.5g) is good for 10g batches. In either case, if you want to push the limits, you can make slightly larger batches (like 5.5g or 11g, respectively) as long as you are capable of stopping boilovers. Both cases are going to pretty much require a propane burner like a turkey fryer - not many home stove burners can handle boiling 6+ gallons of wort.

Your 4 gallon pot would probably be alright for 2.5 gallon batches if you really wanted to go that route, but usually folks stick with extract brewing if they are stuck with a small kettle and brewing on the stove.

 

[Yooper]

Well, some of the terms we've used are confusing. All malt can mean all grain, but it could be taken to mean as "all malt extract, with no sugar". I guess we need to know what you mean by all malt before we can give you specific advice on what size pot would work for you.

Are you planning a kit brew with extracts, or with grain? That will make a big difference in equipment.

 

[7Enigma]

Yeah I was thinking he meant all-extract brewing (ie not worrying about anything other than maybe steeping grains). Then his pot would be fine for 5 gallon batches as long as he only made the wort in 3 gallons or so and then dumped it into the water in the fermenter.

If he meant all-grain, then it doesn't apply.

 

[lionofjudah]

So pretty much, to do all-grain (not all-mallt (thanks for the correction)) I would definitly need a bigger pot and most likely scale up my cooking method?

 

[BarleyWater]

You don't add any water after the fact, so yes. You certainly would need to upgrade both pot and cooking method. Turkey fryers come with a propane burner and 7.5gal kettle for about $30, perfect for 5gal AG (all grain) batches, it's what I use.