Brew Kettle SIze

[JCasey1992]

Hi all!

I am looking to increase the size of my brew kettle. In my search, I came across these kettles which looks like good deals.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/252049886423
http://www.ebay.com/itm/252049898627

I do have one question though. I am looking into either getting the 49 quart or the 70 quart model. Considering the fact that I brew five gallon batches and have no desire to go up to ten gallons, will the 49 quart model be large enough to handle a large amount of grain? (i.e. I found a barley wine that calls for 21 lbs of grain).

Thanks for your response,
Casey

 

[Calaeb]

Im not a expert but if you're doing biab like me, i dont think you'd get 21 pounds of grain plus 9 or 10 gallons of water in your kettle at once. If you're thinking you want to brew larger beers like that i would think the safe bet would be to get the 70qt. It would also future proof some of you're gear.

 

[chefjrd]

If you look for used kettles on Amazon you can sometimes get great deals. I got a 40 gallon aluminum for $100 and a 20 gallon for about $60.

 

[Bobby_M]

The approach Jarhill used for the weldless components is pure garbage but otherwise the pot looks OK. You can definitely do BIAB 5 gallon batches in a 49qt. The max gravity in a 10 gallon pot is about 1.100. https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1919.htm

 

[E_Rock]

I agonized for awhile on what kettle to select as I upgrade from 5-10g batches. While I know you're not looking to do 10g, I would council to select a larger pot than you think you might need.

My original set up was an 8gal kettle. After accounting for boil off, trub loss & grain absorption, I maxed out at 10 lbs of grain for a 5 gal batch, which will net less than 5 gallons of final product into the keg. In my experience, the volumes calculated here, http://biabcalculator.com/, are fairly accurate on my system. When it came time to boil, I felt I was always living on the edge of a boilover. I never had a miserable boilover, but I certainly made a mess a few times. It's pretty sad to see your latest hop additional all over the driveway. The fact that you're even looking at barley wine recipes with a 21lb grain bill tells me you should go for the larger pot. Last weekend was the first time I brewed a 10gal batch in a 20gal kettle and it was so much less stressful since there was virtually no chance of boilover. I was able to focus on other elements in my brewday instead of watching it like a hawk.

Everyone has their own way of brewing, so what works for me might not work for you. When I bought my first kettle, I convinced myself I needed a build in themometer, a valve, and a bazooka tube. And I never saw myself brewing more than 5 gallons. I thought extract would be fine. Since switching to all grain in June, I've brewed 35 gallons. Now I am much less worried about things. I have embraced the trub in the fermenter. I decided to forego the thermometer since it was always inaccruate, requiring use my thermapen anyway. Now it doesn't get in the way of my immersion chiller. I decided not to bother with the valve. A 1/2" auto-siphon works very quickly and doesn't melt like the valve cover did during boil. The bazooka tube was abandoned long ago. It would always get clogged leaving a lot of liquid I couldn't get into the fermenter. All this contributes to a simpler system for me, leading to a happier brew day.

I couldn't be happier with the quality of the 80qt kettle I bought from Concord. Maybe one of the smaller sizes would be perfect for you.

http://www.concordkettles.com/colle...eel-brew-kettle-w-flat-lid-avail-in-20-180-qt

 

[JCasey1992]

So I came across this deal and had to take advantage. Let me know what ya think.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...in-20&linkId=27accfec6fac0eae4e0f4b6009fc562a

 

[E_Rock]

So I came across this deal and had to take advantage. Let me know what ya think.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...in-20&linkId=27accfec6fac0eae4e0f4b6009fc562a

Looks like a killer deal. Plus it'll come in handy when you change your mind on those 10gal batches.

Somewhere here is a thread about aluminum pots. Before you brew for the first time, I think you have to, for lack of a better word, "season" the pot. I believe it's nothing more than boiling some water for a certain length of time and it builds some type of protective coating. I am not overly knowledgeable on the topic but recall reading something when researching for my kettle.

 

[barnaclebob]

My 16 gal barely has enough room for 10 gallon full volume batches and 22lbs of grain, its like 1/2" from the top. With BIAB i think a good rule of thumb for full volume mashes is double your batch size.

49 quarts will be fine for most 5 gallon batches but may have trouble with a barleywine.

 

[C-Rider]

My friend has a 10 gal kettle w/a thermometer and the probe is always in the way when he tries a BIAB. He mostly does extracts so it's not a big problem for him.

 

[sillbeer]

I have this kettle and it's good for most low to medium gravity 10 gallon brews. I can do 5 gallon high gravity beers just fine.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-80-QT-Q...hash=item2c6e489130:m:mudAYphkloc-THHNIjCZoQQ

I'm currently looking at a 30 gallon kettle but the 80 quart Concord has done me well.