Looking for a burner/boil kettle combo

[thedevanzoshift]

Hey all,

Looking to get into all grain. Figured I was going to go to home depot and buy the parts for a 10g round cooler MLT. Also will be needing a boil kettle, i have been using a 22q aluminum kettle for my extract/partial mashes.

was looking to get a burner and large boil kettle. I don't see myself brewing anything over 6g at this point, so I figure a 10g pot would work.

I was looking for suggestions as far as burner/kettle combos. I have easy access to lowes/home depot/costco/walmart/target, etc.

I want something that I will not have to replace or upgrade in the next couple of years, so I would be willing to spend the extra cash but also want to get the best bang for my buck.

Also, in my extract brews i pour my cooled wort through a strainer when putting into fermenter. However, with a full boil I can see this may be a bit difficult. Any suggestions on how you guys do this? Do you even bother straining it?

thanks!

edit: i was looking into the "King Kooker 12 in. Flat 54,000 BTU Top Outdoor Cooker with 50 qt. Aluminum Pot, Steamer", the BIAB technique intrigues me and I figure the basket would be beneficial. Anyone have experience on this?

 

[dbrewski]

Go stainless if you can afford it. Aluminum is not bad but there are certain cleaners that are not aluminum friendly, like oxyclean. I know you can get cheap stainless kettles from Bayou Classic on Amazon. However I would add that Homebrewing.org has a very nice 9 gallon kettle for $79 I think. It has two ports in it. That's the kind of thing you want to get to make it more upgrade proof. You can put a valve on it right away, and a kettle thermometer. There is a one port for $69, I would not go that route but that is me.

Burners you can get on Amazon for $44.

 

[thedevanzoshift]

thanks for the quick response, ill definitely look into that one.

 

[USAFSooner]

I got a 44qt Bayou Classic Stainless Steel pot off of Amazon (it came with a steamer basket btw). I got some crappy $30 burner from Academy Sports that soots up the pot like crazy. If I had to to it over again, I would get a Bayou Classic Banjo style burner. Keep your eyes peeled on the sales flyers since Thanksgiving is come up and you might be able to score a deal. Just make sure not to get one with a 15 minute cutoff

For getting the wort out of the kettle, just cool with a chiller and siphon into your fermenter through the strainer. You don't want to try to manhandle a 5 gallon pot full of wort that weighs 40+ lbs.

 

[thedevanzoshift]

what kind of BTU output am i looking for?

 

[dbrewski]

what kind of BTU output am i looking for?

I don't have exact BTU ratings at my fingertips but the SQ14 is probably the lowest BTU burner that I'd recommend. I still use it for my boil kettle. The SP10 has a higher BTU rating, but the round frame sucks because you can't use it with keggles. The burner fitting itself is great but the frame on the SP10 is better. The KAB4 is the big banjo burner people talk about. It is huge, I don't have it, I'm sure it is great but it is more $$$. You can search for these on Amazon and see the examples.

 

[jCOSbrew]

The btu rating on the sq14 and similar is limited by the 10psi regulator. You could install a 20 or 30 psi regulator if necessary.