Aluminum pot or Stainless pot HELP

[Bachhus]

Ok so I have been racking my brain trying to decide which way to go on this. I am going to be using a 5500w or 6000w element for my brew kettle and am trying to decide if I should buy a 100qt aluminum pot which I can get for $70 shipped and then use all weldless fittings or find a good priced stainless pot and use the dimple/solder fitting technique a bunchf you guys are doing.

One reason I really want to go stainless is so I can have a nice bottom drain. Not possible with an aluminum and weldless fittings without leaving like an 1" of fluid on the bottom.

I've been looking all over but whats the BEST price you guys are finding on 80-100qt stainless pots? I don't need a triclad bottom becuase Im going electric.

Thanks for any info or advice you can lend
Mark

 

[ultravista]

Dimple/solder fitting technique?

 

[Bachhus]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/soldering-stainless-steel-155782/index8.html

 

[pericles]

If your only reason for wanting stainless is to avoid leaving an inch of wort at the bottom of a 100qt pot, I'd say get the cheaper option. The inch of liquid is easy to account for if you're using the kettle for strike water. If you're using the pot as a brew-kettle, then the inch of liquid is going to be filled with hot-break, and should probably be left behind anyway.

 

[IrregularPulse]

Why can't you weld or solder the AL pot?

 

[Bachhus]

I looked into that but everything pointed to that soldering a stainless fitting to an aluminum pot was a no-no. I would like stainless fittings so I don't have to worry about stripping the threads out of an aluminum fitting.

 

[burglar]

I went with this one for my ScubaSteve / Kal hybrid ripoff setup. It's a monster. If my math is right, I'm going to need to have the top of the element no more than 4.5" off the bottom to still be able to do an occasional 5 gallon batch. I went with the 102q instead of the 82q because the diameter is actually 1/2" less.

I'm going weldless on the element and dip tube, but having a bung welded on for a temp probe. I just didn't want to deal with aluminum.

I thought that with a dip tube I can get pretty darn close to the bottom of the pot without resorting to a bottom drain, but I may be wrong, as I've never used one before.

Keep me updated on what you find, as I'm in the same boat as you.

 

[Bachhus]

Whats the best prices you guys are seeing on these large sized stainless pots?