Is this a good starter brew pot?

[ryman1980]

I am trying to acquire all the components necessary to do all grain home brewing. I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on purchasing the brew pot.

My options are limited because I live in Alaska and if a vendor even ships to Alaska it is going to be expensive. The only Home brewing supply store in anchorage seems to have inflated prices probably because of the above reason.

I only plan on doing 5-6 gallon batches and this is the pot I am leaning towards -
Winware 40 Qt Stainless Steel stock pot / Price = $126 with free Shipping (even to Alaska)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...t_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

 

[Gfei]

Looks pretty good to me. And it should be a nice size for doing 5 or 6 gallon batches.

The only other thing you might consider, if you want to save a few bucks, is restaurant grade aluminum pots. Probably run about half the price of stainless. I use one and love it.

 

[Brew-boy]

That would be a nice size pot. I use a 9.5 gallon pot for my 5 gallon batches so you should be just fine.

 

[spin02]

That is an excellent pot. I have had one for almost a year, and love it. Very high quality and very heavy.

 

[wildwest450]

Just an fyi, my 6 gallon batches are 8.5 to 10 gallons preboil, depending on boil length. I use a 60 quart pot and would never go down from that.

 

[shortyjacobs]

I used to make 5.5 gal batches, (5.5 gal into fermenter), in a 30 qt pot, and it worked fine. I needed Fermcap to be truly comfortable with the boil at the start, but no big worries. I'd say 40 qt is just fine.

 

[Grizzlybrew]

Just an fyi, my 6 gallon batches are 8.5 to 10 gallons preboil, depending on boil length. I use a 60 quart pot and would never go down from that.

I second the 60 qt pot. It's what I use for 5 gallon batches. It allows me to do big beers with alot of boil-down or bigger beers in general.

I would also look at the Bayou classic. They may be a little less expensive. They may be thin-walled, but if you're going AG, you don't really need to worry about scorching that much. You could probably pick up the 60 qt Bayou for the same price as the polarware 40 qt. In fact: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VXD94A/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 - and this one has free shipping if I'm not mistaken (although maybe not to your neck of the woods)

 

[springer]

Very good pot but I would go with the 60 as Wildwest said.

The Bayou classic is cheaper but it is also built cheaper. I like that the winware has a encapsulated bottom so it will heat more evenly .

Bayou 62qt is 15 lbs and the Winware 60 qt is 31 lbs according to the shipping weight given . I had to dig around for the Bayou weight as amazon says 1 lb

 

[Grizzlybrew]

The Bayou classic is cheaper but it is also built cheaper. I like that the winware has a encapsulated bottom so it will heat more evenly .

Bayou 62qt is 15 lbs and the Winware 60 qt is 31 lbs according to the shipping weight given . I had to dig around for the Bayou weight as amazon says 1 lb

I'm not sure if it's built cheaper, just differently. Also, any extra mass of the boil kettle is going to retain heat while you're cooling. The extreme example is a keggle. I'm not sure if even heating is such an issue as the wort is pretty turbulent during a good boil any way.

I may just be sensitive in defending my pot but it's served me well and is still in great condition. Also, it was alot easier to move before I had my three tier and I was hauling it around like an idiot, full of hot wort.

 

[springer]

Didn't mean to insult your brew pot

 

[klyph]

I use that exact pot. Note the profile for the different sizes will be different from the pic on Amazon, as they use the same pic for all sizes.
Here's what the 40 quart looks like with a 3 year old for scale:

 

[Grizzlybrew]

Didn't mean to insult your brew pot

lol. it's cool. Believe me, there are definitely some pots out there I would trade up for if I had the dough right now, but they'll have to keep waiting.

 

[klyph]

To the OP:

What part of Alaska do you hail from?

 

[MacBruver]

I'm not sure if it's built cheaper, just differently. Also, any extra mass of the boil kettle is going to retain heat while you're cooling. The extreme example is a keggle. I'm not sure if even heating is such an issue as the wort is pretty turbulent during a good boil any way.

Yeah, a lot of that weight is in the "tri clad" bottom, which has a layer of aluminum in the middle for heat distribution. I'm using a REALLY thin stainless pot at the swap meet- 80qt for $80! and I've never had scorching issues.

If you would prefer to stick with stainless but want to save some money on shipping AND the price:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VXHKMC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

$87.80 with free shipping.