brew pot

[nickolas388]

hi guys , im a newbie looking for a brew pot. i was wondering, can i use an aluminum stock pot? or does it have to be stainless steel? this pot im looking at is 20 quarts by the way.


thanks,




-nick

 

[chriscraig]

Aluminum is fine. 20qts is quite small though. You could only do a 3 gallon batch in pot that size.

 

[badbrew]

I saw a 54 quart aluminum pot for $20 yesterday at food 4 less. They had 40 quart pots too. They looked decent and I think they had a basket too, but not sure.

 

[ajf]

I've never used aluminum (which doesn't mean there is anything wrong with it), but I have used a ceramic coated steel pot. It was very cheap, and lasted for about 10 years before it got chipped.
It worked fine before the chip, but not afterwards.

-a.

 

[Runyanka]

All of these pots are very thick walled and have lasted me for years. Ace Mart Restaurant Supply - Restaurant Equipment Kitchen Supplies Bar Supplies Concession Catering Furniture

 

[nickolas388]

Aluminum is fine. 20qts is quite small though. You could only do a 3 gallon batch in pot that size.

20quarts is too small? isnt that 5 gallons though?

I saw a 54 quart aluminum pot for $20 yesterday at food 4 less. They had 40 quart pots too. They looked decent and I think they had a basket too, but not sure.

ill have to give them a call, thanks a lot.


edit: never mind, looks like there just located in cali =x

 

[unionrdr]

I use a ss 5G stock pot for 2.5-3 gallon partial boils. Works fine for me. I got a set of 4 nested ss stock pots with lids & steamer trays at Giant Eagle on sale for $25. All polished too.

 

[nickolas388]

i was told if the beer bubbles over, you can just add a little cold water. do most people use bigger than 20quart pots though?

 

[unionrdr]

I've read on here where many folks go big off the bat,or move to bigger ones when they go AG. I can do partial mash in my 5g BK very easily. So it'll be a while till I feel the need for big.expensive hardware.
Or doing enough for 2 5 gallon brews in one pot. I've even done 4 gallons in my 5G BK & got away with it. But I'm limited to the kitchen stove,so big 8-10G pots are out for now. And a spray bottle of water can be used to get the hot break foam to stay down. But wheat DME is the only extract I've used that prodices huge hot break.

 

[beergolf]

If you are boiling on your stovetop you may only be able to boil about 3 gallons or so. If that is the case the pot you mentioned will be fine. There are plenty of recipes that can be done with a partial boil and top off water.

If you want to do bigger boils you probably will need to also buy a burner. Another factor is that you will also need a way to quickly cool the wort so you will need an immersion chiller. A smaller pot can be chilled in an ive bath in the sink.

So if money to get started is low, go with the smaller pot, gets some brews under your belt and then decide which way you want to go.

 

[BOBrob]

i was told if the beer bubbles over, you can just add a little cold water. do most people use bigger than 20quart pots though?

You want to stir faster and have a spray bottle of water to knock the bubbles down. The bubbles are called the "hot break" in your brewing process, and can get pretty exciting some times. I use a 35 qt. aluminum pot for 5 gallon brews, because you will start the boil with more water (5.5 - 6gal.) to account for evaporation during the boil. Also if you buy a new aluminum pot you will want to fill it with water and boil the water for 30 minutes to "treat" the pot for brewing. Most people who can boil outside start with a 30qt. or larger Turkey fryer. Boil over on the stove is a batch to clean up. Cheers

 

[djfriesen]

From my experience as well as many a forumite:

You WILL want to upgrade later. If you can swing it, get a 40+ qt pot and an outdoor propane burner right off the bat. No reason you can't use it for the smallest of batches, and it will allow you to do 5- or 6-gallon batches (AllGrain or Extract) when you want to.

However, if money is tight, a 5 gallon pot is fine for partial boils. You can just top off with store-bought filtered water, boiled and cooled water, or (GASP!) even tapwater with little risk of trouble.

You'll just have to balance current funding versus future flexibility and capacity. I always advise: the more bigger the more better.

 

[srl135]

I have always heard (but never experienced) that aluminum can create un-desirable flavors in the beer and for that reason have steered away in favor of stainless steel. I am perfectly happy with a 20qt stainless pot as i only boil 3 gallons and that gives me enough additional room to contain foam.

 

[badbrew]

I just boiled 5.25 gallons water + ingredients in my 7.5 gallon aluminum pot for the first time today on the stove. It took over an hour to boil and then I moved it to the smaller burner on high to boil the wort. Constant light boil for the whole time with no boil overs.:rockin: The only thing that sucked was the drips from the overhead exhaust light.

 

[djfriesen]

If you get a good layer of aluminum oxide on the inside surface of your pot, by boiling water in it for 20-30 minutes, you won't get any off flavors. Basically, the oxidation is inert, and will not interact with the wort at all. Aluminum is a very popular BK option.

 

[nickolas388]

thanks for all the info guys. i think im just going to keep it simple for now an ddo the brew on the stove top. what you guys are saying is that i cant do a 5 gallon batch with a 20quart pot? =( my local brew store said it would be okay if i just topped it off with some water. i already have the ingredients for a 5 gallon brown ale.


-nick

 

[osagedr]

You can do a 5 gallon batch with a 20 quart pot by topping up with water. If you stick with brewing you will probably expand later.

 

[badbrew]

I bet most home brewers use smaller pots than that.

 

[osagedr]

I bet most home brewers use smaller pots than that.

I have an 18 quart pot I started with when I was doing extracts. Now I use it for heating strike and sparge water, it handles all my decoctions, etc. We are making the transition to 10g batches so now have a 20g kettle; the ol' 10g kettle will become a bit of a utility pot as well but still be the main kettle for the occasional 5g batch.

 

[Iceman6409]

If you are going to make 5 gallon brews then a 5 gallon stock pot is definitely not enough based on one reason. When you go to boil the wort you will always have, hopefully, somewhere around 6 to 6.5 gallons of wort to boil. You will normally boil for an hour to an hour and a half and you will lose probably in the neighborhood of 1 gallon to boil off. So think about that. for a 5 gallon batch then my opinion is a 7.5 gallon stock pot is the bare minimum. More is always better.

Also as far as stove top boiling I now do that. Basically I figured out that to get the wort boiling faster I just position the pot over both the front and back burners, if your pot will fit. It should. Then I pit the lid on just until it gets to a rolling boil and then I remove the lid for the rest of the boil. For me I can get 6 to 6.5 gallons of wort from the mash to a full rolling boil in about 20 minutes or less having the pot over both burners. That is not too bad at all. Also I HIGHLY recommend that if you do choose to boil on a stove top to cover the stove the best you can with something like aluminum foil. I don't get a lot of boil overs at all because I have a 9 gallon pot but something always seems to get out of the pot onto the stove. NOT easy to clean off at all no matter how small. So I have learned to just use simple aluminum foil and cover as much of the stove top as I can leaving just enough room for the flames to come through on the burners. That 10 cents of foil and 30 seconds to lay it down save me a TON of clean up time. Just my opinion though.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

thanks for all the info guys. i think im just going to keep it simple for now an ddo the brew on the stove top. what you guys are saying is that i cant do a 5 gallon batch with a 20quart pot? =( my local brew store said it would be okay if i just topped it off with some water. i already have the ingredients for a 5 gallon brown ale.


-nick

Most responses in this thread assume a full boil. I have a 7.5 gal SS pot and do partial boil and top off. I did my early batches with 2.5 gallons of water, then top off into the fermenter after cooling. That's similar to what your LHBW told you. I have drifted toward something more like 3.8 gallons. Only had 1 boil over, but it was a B&^%$ to clean up. Gotta get it before it hardens on the ceramic cooktop. It's however much wort your heating appliance can do in a resonable amount of time. I can heat to steeping temps in about 20 minutes, and to 200 in about 45 minutes. Never get a really strong rolling boil, so I will not go to full boil unless and until I get a burner. You need head space in your pot to give you time to react to boil overs. I've heard many brewers use fermcaps or baby gas-x to prevent boil overs, but I've never tried it so I don't know how effective it is or if it alters the flavor of the final product. You shouldn't boil 5 gallons in a 5 gallon pot. Also, if/when when you go to a burner, you need good ventilation. Combustion gives off carbon monoxide.

 

[osagedr]

If you are going to make 5 gallon brews then a 5 gallon stock pot is definitely not enough based on one reason. When you go to boil the wort you will always have, hopefully, somewhere around 6 to 6.5 gallons of wort to boil.

He will boil less of a much higher gravity wort, then top off in the fermenter with water. Lots of people do this rather than boiling the full volume.

 

[nickolas388]

so osagedr, your saying a 5gallon pot will be okay then?

 

[osagedr]

so osagedr, your saying a 5gallon pot will be okay then?

I'm saying you can make a 5 gallon pot work if that's what your circumstances dictate at this time. Maybe take a look at Deathbrewer's stovetop AG thread and see if there is anything else in there that helps you decide.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/

 

[nickolas388]

I'm saying you can make a 5 gallon pot work if that's what your circumstances dictate at this time. Maybe take a look at Deathbrewer's stovetop AG thread and see if there is anything else in there that helps you decide.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/

yeh, i think i just want to keep brewing simple for now since its my first batch and all =X

thanks for the link, seems like a very helpful thread. im going to have to look through the whole thing in detail when i get a chance.



-nick