Kettle Question

[Hojo3322]

I have been doing partial boils (3 gallon) on an electric stove for about 6 month. For Christmas I received a propane burner. I am looking to get a new brew kettle and need a little help form you guys. I searched the forums here but did not find a conclusive answer. For the time being I would like to do full boil 5 gallon extract batches. At the moment I do not have the space to do all grain in my apartment but will be moving to a bigger place in about 6-8 months. Assuming I will keep my batches to 5 gallons, would a 10 gallon brew pot be good for when I make the transition to all grain in 6-8 months from now? I would like eventually to turn it into a mash tun. My concern would be making a high gravity beer and not having enough room in a 10 gallon pot, but having never actually done an all-grain batch I have no frame of reference. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[aryoung1980]

I use a 38 quart kettle for full boils and it works well (but I plan on going bigger with a half barrel converted to kettle). I was able to do 5 gallon BIAB batches in it but my grain bill had to stay below 13lbs. After 2 BIAB batches I decided to build a mash tun so I had the capability of making bigger beers.

Hope this helps your decision making but yes, a 10 gallon kettle will suffice.

 

[Hojo3322]

thanks for the advice aryoung180 .

After typed this post I realized i would have to also get some form of immersion chiller (seems to be the cheapest option). Do you guys usually leave the lid off when you are cooling, do you cut a piece of the lid off, or do you simply place the lid on tilted leaving a gap?

 

[WhiteEagle1]

Build your own chiller. Very easy.....did mine with 20' of 3/8" copper tubing for about $25. Make sure you get the copper bending tool too.

 

[Hojo3322]

Build your own chiller. Very easy.....did mine with 20' of 3/8" copper tubing for about $25. Make sure you get the copper bending tool too.

Thanks for the input

When you made your own chiller did you use something to wrap it around or just kind of eyeball it?


Also, would a 15 gallon pot just be complete overkill if I plan on doing only 5 gallon extract/all grain batches?