Brewpots.........

[ale_mongrel]

I am new and still reasrching the brewing hobby process ect. Im halfway through The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Papazian, and I just recived my copy of How to Brew by Palmer. I find this site and the forums to be very helpful, any questions I seem to have, if I look a little, it gets answered. Ive even found a lot of info relating to topics here that I never thought of!!

Now one question I havent been able to find an answer to. What type/size brewpots did you start with?? Do you prefer Stainless to Aluminum if so why? Do you only use your brew pot for brewing? (I have a stockpot that would probably work for brewing but I cook chili, steamers, spaghetti sauce ect in it) Ive seen some really expensive pots with spigots and gauges on them ( for sparging I imagine) Is that really huge advantage in convience? Does anyone have any recomendations on where I can get a decent brewpot ie can I get a good enough pot at say wal-mart or is my LHBS or BS.com a better idea?

 

[CypressTop]

I got a 30 Qt, Stainless pot from my local Academy store for $49.99. Much cheaper than my LHBS.

 

[adhomebrew10]

I had the same questions when I started. I started out with a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer from Bayou Classic - aluminum. I have only brewed 1 batch, but it worked great. I did not want to deal with partial boils, or trying to get my electric range to boil 2-3 gallons of water.

I would suggest you get a turkey fryer setup and do full boils, just my opinion. Spigots are not necessary. Get an auto syphon and it works just as well.

Personally, I would use my pot ONLY for brewing. Anything with oil may have a tendancy to get stuck on the surface of the pot and fat will soak up flavors from everywhere.

Good luck!

 

[NorCalAngler]

I'm still using my beginner 5 gallon stainless kettle I bought from Northern Brewer along with my starter kit. Right now I'm perfectly happy doing partial boil mini-mashes in my kitchen. I can watch TV while brewing in the comfort of my house, the partial boils are much easier to chill without a wort chiller and I still make great beer. I'm not that motivated to move to all-grain at this point because the convenience of extract brewing is tough to beat. The cost is a bit higher for extract, but once I decide to go all-grain I will need a wort chiller, converted mash-tun, full boil setup with outside burner, propane, etc.

 

[HickoryMike]

I would recommend getting a pot that will grow with you. I am guessing that right now you are brewing 5g extract batches. You will want a pot that will be suited for all grain brewing and is capable of doing the occasional 10g batch. RIGHT NOW you might not be worried about big batches or all grain, but you probably will in the near future.

I recommend a 15g pot, like this one http://www.foodservicedirect.com/pr...Pot-with-Capsule-Bottom-60-Quart-Capacity.htm

This is what NB calls a "megapot" and what morebeer calls a "heavy duty kettle" but for a fraction of the price.

Most people prefer stainless. Assuming you take good care of an aluminum pot and oxidize it correctly, there is nothing wrong with going that route. Personally, I would go SS from the start so you're not tempted to make the switch later on.

These pots are very easy to drill with a step bit. Bargainfittings.com has always been my supplier for hardware. If you're using this pot as a BK, add a ballvalve, dip tube, and sight glass.

If you go my route, you'll have a very nice, stainless steel, brew kettle with all the hardware upgrades for less than $250. You'll never need to replace this pot. IF you decide to abandon the hobby at any point, you could sell the kettle on Ebay and get every penny you invested back (and probably make money).

For a burner, go with the SQ-14. I used to have a SP-10, but it didn't hold a keggle so I had to upgrade to the SQ-14. I have learned to purchase items that will not need to be replaced 6 months down the line. In the last year I have upgraded my pot 3 times and my burner 3 times.

Hopefully that gets you thinking a little bit.

 

[ChrisNH]

I bought an enamel coated 21.5 qt pot at Walmart for $19. It has been great for brewing extract. By the time you are ready to move on you will know what you want.. and you will have a great pot for heating mash water or boiling lobsters. My wife uses it for canning.

Chris

 

[Hannable1975]

I picked up a "canning pot" that is 32 qts ( 8 gals ) from K-Mart.

It was on clearance.

$12

(If there had been more than one, I would have bought them all )

 

[ChrisNH]

I picked up a "canning pot" that is 32 qts ( 8 gals ) from K-Mart.

I hadn't considered K-mart. I will have to check them out. Now that I am moving to partial grain a 32 qt would be perfect.

 

[Fletch78]

I had the same questions when I started. I started out with a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer from Bayou Classic - aluminum. I have only brewed 1 batch, but it worked great. I did not want to deal with partial boils, or trying to get my electric range to boil 2-3 gallons of water.

I would suggest you get a turkey fryer setup and do full boils, just my opinion. Spigots are not necessary. Get an auto syphon and it works just as well.

Personally, I would use my pot ONLY for brewing. Anything with oil may have a tendancy to get stuck on the surface of the pot and fat will soak up flavors from everywhere.

Good luck!

All that, me too.

A good place to find turkey fry setups is at yard sales. I've seen two of them in the last 2 weeks. Also check your local Craig's List.

A good flea market can also be an excellent place to find brew pots. There is usually a booth somewhere that is run by a guy that collects junk ruined pots and pans, and refinishes them. They'll haggle with you, and you can get some pretty good cooking stuff.

I recently found out used restaurant supply stores aren't much cheaper than retail, they have two sets of prices: One for you and one for the restaurants who have accounts there.

 

[IceFisherChris]

I have a 24 quart stainless pot that I use for inside the house and it works perfectly. It's all you need for now. I would not recommend trying to go all out and plan for the future. Those are upgrades you can make later on. For very little extra cost.

 

[elkdog]

I use the 7.5 gallon aluminum pot that came with my turkey fryer, and haven't had any issues with scorching. It's not as durable as SS, so I have to be careful not to bang it up, and you have to build up an oxidation layer on aluminum (fill it with water, boil for 30 minutes, done). I wouldn't mind something a bit bigger, as I do get boilovers every once in a while, but a new brew kettle is way down my list of gear upgrades I'd like to make.

I do love the turkey fryer, though, as it makes full boils/ all-grain a possibility, and just works faster. It also provides an excuse to haul out the lawn chair and relax outside with a beer while I brew.

 

[hal2814]

I picked up a "canning pot" that is 32 qts ( 8 gals ) from K-Mart.

It was on clearance.

$12

(If there had been more than one, I would have bought them all )

I got the same thing from Wal-Mart for $24. When I bought it, my LHBS told me that an enamelware pot wouldn't hold up long and I'd need to eventually upgrade to stainless or aluminum. 7 or 8 years later, I just recently retired it from use as a boil kettle. It's still in good shape but I've moved to a keggle so I can do 10 gallon batches. I even still use the canning pot to collect my first runnings.

 

[Hannable1975]

I got the same thing from Wal-Mart for $24. When I bought it, my LHBS told me that an enamelware pot wouldn't hold up long and I'd need to eventually upgrade to stainless or aluminum. 7 or 8 years later, I just recently retired it from use as a boil kettle. It's still in good shape but I've moved to a keggle so I can do 10 gallon batches. I even still use the canning pot to collect my first runnings.

Mine is a fairly dense Aluminum - much "heavier" in feel than the pot I got years back witha Turkey Cooker kit. I like it - but readily admit I am thinking hard about just buying a Keg shell off of craigslist and making a keggle

 

[Runyanka]

I started with a 5 gallon SS pot, then moved to a 10 gallon Aluminum pot. I wish I would have gotten a 15 gallon though, because now I'm limited to 5 gallon batches.

 

[k47k]

I starterd with a 4 gallon pot doing patial boil on the stove. shortly after moved outside on a turkey fryer burner and bought a 7.5 gallon pot for full boils. quickly found out that 7.5 really isnt big enough unless you want to constantly worry about boilovers. Moved up to a 15.5gallon sankey keg converted to kettle. Can now easily do 5 gallon batches with little worry about boil over as well as 10 gallon batches (which i never though i would do).