Beginning Brewer Kettle Happiness

[MatthewAyer]

I received a "deluxe" starter kit as a Christmas gift... with a "handy accessories kit" (thermometer, spoon, aerating paddle, hydrometer, racking cane, etc.) from my son, who is a home brewer. Along with a couple extract kits. It was so fun to have everything I needed to get started.

We have a great kitchen to work with...plenty of granite counter space, deep double sink. But I am limited a bit by the fact that we have an electric (radiant glass-top) stove, with a 2700W input capacity on the largest burner. As I made my first couple batches with the light-gauge SS 5-gal brew pot, 1) it was easy to get some mild scorching on the interior; 2) time to boil was a bit high.

Time will tell whether I become a devoted hobbyist and upgrade my skills and equipment. But, as an engineer, looking over the very basics, I decided to invest in one MAJOR upgrade that I really don't see in any of the homebrew stores. I bought a 5-gal Tramontina Commercial SS stock pot from Amazon for $139.95 (free shipping with Prime). The kettle has 5 mm thick of aluminum sandwiched between layers of SS in the base. The kettle appears to have been spun formed, is much heavier gauge on the sides. It's exceptionally well made, and rivals our All Clad cookware. My thinking was that I'd have not only a brew kettle, but a great stockpot for cooking large batches of ... whatever.

A few batches in.... and this kettle is fantastic!
1) 2700W burner is more than adequate.
2) I use my cheapo to boil top-off water the night before for dechlorination.
3) NO scorching, none. No discoloration at all.
4) Excellent temperature control with standard radiant burners. Both steeping and boiling. No boil-overs. (well, still need to watch, especially when adding DME).
5) Efficient wort cooling in the sink... 15 minutes. I trickle cold H2O right onto the tight-fitting lid, and let it cascade into the sink basin, then over to the other sink/drain... add some ice ... just walk by and swirl the whole kettle a few times for mixing... no contamination.
6) Super easy cleanup.

This all makes total sense to me with the heat transfer properties and enthalpy of that extra metal. I'm not headed to bigger batches... I would much prefer to have a variety of brews on hand for guests. So... for the ULTIMATE kettle for 5-gallon batch kitchen brewing, I highly recommend the Tramontina.

Having fun, everything so far has tasted GREAT. Books, DVD, local shop, online forums, and other homebrewers have all been great resources.

Looking forward to moving from 'kits' to buying ingredients and tweaking a few recipes and evaluating results. Who knows, might get sucked into all grain at some point... probably when I'm retired!

 

[Jim311]

Cheap thin pots are terrible, they take forever to bring water to a boil so you made a good decision there. I'd suggest looking into an immersion chiller you can hook up to your sink. Since you're an engineer I suggest building one, it's stupid easy and a fun project. Mine will bring three gallons of 200 degree wort down to 80 degrees in 5 or 6 minutes or less.

 

[unionrdr]

Good choice of kettle! Those are darn good for even heating & such. I have a 5 gallon cheapy that was part of a 4-pot nested SS set. Still in great shape some 4 years later. I'm up to pb/pm biab with my set up. Just got a nylon 5G paint strainer bag to hold the grains. Using the smaller kettles for a 10 minute dunk sparge in order to be able to stir the grains while sparging. Gives high efficiency. I'm heating my mash water now, although I fo use local spring water. Flavors are a bit better than tap.

 

[MatthewAyer]

Thanks, I'll check that out sometime... my first thought is that, with current cooling in 15 minutes with no opening of my kettle, & no chiller to sanitize...

Does the benefit of 6-min v. 15-min cooling outweigh the risk of contamination and extra sanitizing?

 

[Jim311]

I don't think there's really any extra risk. You throw the chiller in during the last 15 minutes of your boil so it sanitizes it. I actually do it outside with a garden hose on the patio, no infections yet Just make sure those hose connections are tight, you don't want tap water making its way into your wort.

 

[MatthewAyer]

Thanks, That all makes good sense and sounds kinda fun.

Now, do I want more stuff to get out, set up and clean? Hmmmm...

In general, does beer from wort chilled in 6 mins REALLY taste better than chilled in 15 mins? More important for lagers perhaps? (which I'm not really getting into anytime soon).

 

[unionrdr]

The theory is, the faster it chills down, the better the cold break. these are coagulated proteins that settle out, making clearer beer later.

 

[1977Brewer]

I doubt a 9 minute lapse matters all that much. There are crazy no-chill brewers that just leave their wort overnight in the kettle. I have no clean area to do this in that my crazy dog wouldn't figure out how to get to, so that's never going to be an option for me.