Any downside to a 12 gallon pot?

[ballegre]

I'm looking to buy my first brew kettle and I'm thinking 10 gallon batches are in my future. I'm a noob brewer but I want to start partial and all grain recipes ASAP. Myself and my extended family drink a lot of beer so it goes fast! If I'm going to brew I might as well to a lot as cheaply as possible.

I'm thinking of skipping the sub-10 gallon kettles and go straight to a SS 12 gallon. My problem is I don't know if these are too large for stove top use. Can this be used to do full 5 gallon batch boils on the stove top? I have a 30" gas range with 11,000 BTU burners (picture of range).

Thanks.

 

[phidelt844]

You'll be able to use that on a stove top, but 12 gallons may be tight for 10 gallon batches; try to step up to a 15 if you can. I don't think 11,000 btus will be sufficient for 10g batches.

If you are going to use that large of a pot on your stove, be sure to look in to a way to elevate the pot off the burner. I wanted to try out my 15g pot when I first got it and ended up scorching my stove top and melting the corner of my counter top!

 

[bdnoona]

It would be very messy doing 10G batches in a 12G pot. It would boil over all over the place.

 

[chefchris]

I agree with the above. I have a 15 gallon pot and have done 10 gallon batches in it. It comes out very close to the top. The last 10 gallon batch I did I had a boil volume of 13.20 gallons. So I would look into getting something bigger.

I would also go ahead and get a burner. They can be found for very cheap.

Here's the bought I have. Link

 

[EdWort]

I've done 5.5 gallons in an 8 gallon kettle, 11 gallons in a 15.5 gallon kettle, and 16.5 gallons in a 20 gallon kettle.

I would go for a bigger kettle if you want 10 gallons batches.