Aluminum Pot

[BeerKach]

Hey guys/gals,

I want to know who here has used an aluminum pot for mashing/boiling and do they feel it affects the taste of their beer? I have a huge 20 quart aluminum pot but haven't used it for mashing yet. I would like some realistic answers please, because realistically a 20 quart stainless pot is a hell of a lot of money.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[bad67z]

Hey guys/gals,

I want to know who here has used an aluminum pot for mashing/boiling and do they feel it affects the taste of their beer? I have a huge 20 quart aluminum pot but haven't used it for mashing yet. I would like some realistic answers please, because realistically a 20 quart stainless pot is a hell of a lot of money.

Thanks,

Matt

Welcome to the forum Matt, there are quite a few of threads on this site about Aluminum vs. Stainless. They all have some good info and quite a few opinions, here are a couple.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/faq-aluminum-pots-boil-kettles-49449/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Is_aluminum_safe_for_brewing?

 

[Gear101]

I am a SS type of guy and people will tell you that SS is the only way to go, but i think people can make a high quatily beer using the type of pot you are talking about.
Cheers and enjoy

 

[ajbram]

The only issue with aluminum vs stainless is that at high temperatures and low pH, it can leach aluminum compounds into your brew. It shouldn't affect taste, but chronic consumption of aluminum compounds has been linked to Alzheimer's. And here I just thought it was the alcohol consumption that made me forget.

 

[birvine]

I have aluminum but it melted my brain.

Ok, maybe not. Aluminum is fine. I suggest you boil water in it for about a half hour to condition it. It will somewhat darken inside. Don't scrub that off and only use a soft cloth or plastic scrubby to clean it.

B

 

[BigTerp]

I've been using a 32 quart aluminum pot as a boil kettle since July. Have ran about 20 batches through it since, a few extract and a bunch of all-grain. I've made alot of excellent brews, and one or two batches that didn't turn out so good. I really doubt either end of the spectrum has anything to do with the pot though. If using aluminum just be sure to "season" the pot by boiling water in it for 30 minutes or so. Never used one as an MLT though.

 

[Stauffbier]

At first all I had was aluminum, and I made good beer in them. Now I boil and mash in SS, but I still use my 7 gal. aluminum pot to heat up my sparge water..

 

[tim2akat2]

There is only circumstantial evidence of aluminium causing alzheimers and the Alzheimer's society has put that to bed long ago.
http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=99

 

[LowNotes]

I haven't been brewing for long, but I use nothing but aluminum pots (family friend gave me a set of 4 badass steamer-pots for steaming seafood, largest can do a 7.5g BIAB with no problem) and I haven't noticed any off flavors at all. In fact, the aluminum can come in handy if you do you post boil chill by immersion (either in a sink or large bucket) because the aluminum is a better heat conductor than SS. Nothing but tasty beer from them so far, although the same thing that makes it good for chilling makes it harder to keep good mash temps for AG, nothing that a couple blankets can't fix though.

 

[Wus67]

I use both, so far neither has left an odd taste, the oly downside I see is that I probably could crush the aluminum one if I tried whereas the ss one i'd have a hell if a time. But that's just my 2¢

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

i use both and notice no difference in my beers. i think most of the poppycock about aluminum making your beer taste bad or being a dangerous material to brew with has been debunked. as with a SS kettle, you want to boil water in it first, to build up a passive oxide layer. check out some of the threads linked by Bad67z, very informative. i think aluminum is nice because of the ease of heat transfer. they seem to boil and chill more quickly. as for aluminum being easy to bend and dent, sure, thin aluminum is soft, you can bend it easily. but the same goes for SS, in fact, i could easily bend and crush my 6 gal SS kettle, but me and several friends couldn't crush my 7.5 gal aluminum kettle if we tried. it's all in the thickness of the wall, a thin kettle whether SS or aluminum, can be crushed.

 

[Fennis]

Aluminum is perfectly fine as a brew pot and there is no link between aluminum and Alzheimer's, its pretty obvious after a few quick searches on google. I use a 40qt aluminum pot for my brew in a bag boils. As others stated, the first time you use it, do a full boil in the pot to create an oxidized layer and do not try to scrub it off.

 

[loctones]

I have an aluminum boil pot and I did get off flavors from it. As I whirlpooled my wort after the boil one day, it dawned on me: I was using a stainless still spoon in an aluminum pot. I was scraping off bits of the aluminum with my hard stainless steel spoon. I've since switched to a plastic spoon and only cleaning my brew pot with a rag and the off flavors have gone away.

I have a barleywine that I've been aging that still has a metallic twang to it, unfortunately. Not sure it will ever go away....

 

[BeerKach]

Thanks for all the knowledgable responses! Very helpful, thanks.

 

[funkstrman]

My "brewery (composed of myself, my brother, and various others thrown in at random to watch/participate in the magic of brewing)" brews with a 10 gallon aluminum pot. Although we would like to go SS, there are far better brewing related things to invest our money in at this stage of the game. Eventually I would like to upgrade to SS, but mainly for aesthetics and appearance.

 

[gstrawn]

Used one today, no problem. It does oxidize a bit, but by keeping it clean there really aren't any issues

 

[Marlowefire]

The only issue with aluminum vs stainless is that at high temperatures and low pH, it can leach aluminum compounds into your brew. It shouldn't affect taste, but chronic consumption of aluminum compounds has been linked to Alzheimer's. And here I just thought it was the alcohol consumption that made me forget.

That's not true.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Used one today, no problem. It does oxidize a bit, but by keeping it clean there really aren't any issues

you're s'posed to oxidize it before brewing. it's the 'passive oxide' layer that keeps the beer from leaching a metallic taste from the kettle. holds true for SS and aluminum.