NOOB brew pot question

[raptorkeeper89]

OK guys I absolutely love this site. I am on it everyday and have been for months. My wife has finally given me the green light on my starter kit!!! Any ways thats besides the point. Here is my question.

I am buy a kit from NorthernBrewer that comes with everything save for a brew pot and bottles. Now i have a turkey fryer set up from last year (burner and pot). I want to say the pot is 5-6 Gal (held 3 gal of oil and a big ole turkey), Aluminum but im not positive, but it is light and sure feels aluminum. The burner is pretty straight forward, four legs, four inch burner, hooks up to a propane bottle via a regulator. I was just using the famous search function and found so many brew pot threads my head spun. Can i use this brew pot/burner set up to do a full boil right off the bat? Or am i better dropping $50-60-70 on another pot and brewing on the kitchen stove? Or could I do a partial boil at least in this pot? Thanks in advance for your help!!!

 

[FatherJack]

I would assume you will eventually make it to all grain brewing? If so, you will need 2 pots to manage your water for mashing/sparging and boiling.

I would say you can use that pot, but if it's aluminum, which it sounds it is, you'll want to make sure it's super clean and run it through one full boil before using it.

 

[ETCS]

When I first started, what's now turned into an obsession, I used my old turkey frier. Scrubbed the hell out of it and boiled a full pot of water for an hour. Worked fine. I still use it to heat up my sparge water. Have fun and good luck.

 

[jetmac]

Can i use this brew pot/burner set up to do a full boil right off the bat? Or am i better dropping $50-60-70 on another pot and brewing on the kitchen stove? Or could I do a partial boil at least in this pot? Thanks in advance for your help!!!

I am not sure about the partial boil but you will need at minimum a 9 or 10gal pot to make 5 gallon all grain batches.

 

[jetmac]

I would assume you will eventually make it to all grain brewing? If so, you will need 2 pots to manage your water for mashing/sparging and boiling.

I use 1 pot.

I heat all my water at the same time. I drain off what I need for strike water at the temperature I need for mashing then continue heating the rest(sparge water) to about 195-200F. I then drain off that sparge water into a 5 gallon round cooler. When the mash is done, I drain the wort into the kettle and drain the sparge water from the cooler into the mash tun.

 

[crazyseany]

if it's a 5 gallon pot you will need something a little larger... For a full boil you want to boil for 60 minutes and end up with 5 gallons at the end...

if doing extract you could always start with a partial boil and add 2 gallons of jugged cold water at the end... This will also help drop your temps quicker

I got lucky and happened to have a 8 gallon stainless steel turkey fryer we bought to use at our wedding reception... (7 years prior to ever brewing!)

do a partial to start off... Make sure you go out and buy a 6 of something in crown top bottles so you can reuse them when yours is ready. The batches I've done my wife has been hanging out with me and helped and we both really enjoy it (not to mention she drinks all the rewards while I'm at work!...j/k)

sean

 

[rico567]

I have brewed AG for 2.5 years, using the same pot I used for extract. I do full 6.5 gallon boils in a cheap 7.5 gallon SS Proctor-Silex pot I got on sale from Cooking.com. I don't worry about boilovers, because 6 drops of Fermcap-S at the start of the boil takes care of that. I have a smaller (I think around 4-5 gallon) SS pot that was around earlier to heat water for preheating, sparging, etc.

 

[Brewskii]

I am not sure about the partial boil but you will need at minimum a 9 or 10gal pot to make 5 gallon all grain batches.

I use a 8 gal for all grain full boil brews. it takes a little vigilance to avoid boil overs but it'll work just fine. Less than 8 gals youu need to do partial boils for sure.

.... My $.02

 

[Begin2Brew]

I use a 8 gal for all grain full boil brews. it takes a little vigilance to avoid boil overs but it'll work just fine. Less than 8 gals youu need to do partial boils for sure.

.... My $.02

I agree with this one. I do all grain and push the batch size to 6gal. I have an 8 gal pot and I still have to be diligent at the start of the boil. Once it gets going then I can relax. I also use my old aluminum "turkey" fryer pot to heat my sparge water while I mash and if I do a decoction mash I'll use the aluminum as well.

 

[Revvy]

I would assume you will eventually make it to all grain brewing? If so, you will need 2 pots to manage your water for mashing/sparging and boiling.

No you don't. I've used one pot for years.

Been doing it this way for 5 years.

I just mash out into a bucket to get my pre-boil volume, then transfer it to my kettle after I've collected all my runnings. I heat my sparge water while I'm mashing my grains.

Up until recently I just had a 7.5 gallon turky fryer pot. Worked fine, but did require vigilance and fermcap-s.

 

[FatherJack]

Revvy,

Awesome idea. I'm gonna be moving soon and will have much more space and firepower available to me and I think I'll give your method a try.

 

[jetmac]

no you don't. I've used one pot for years.

Been doing it this way for 5 years.

i just mash out into a bucket to get my pre-boil volume, then transfer it to my kettle after i've collected all my runnings. I heat my sparge water while i'm mashing my grains.

Up until recently i just had a 7.5 gallon turky fryer pot. Worked fine, but did require vigilance and fermcap-s.

+1

 

[jetmac]

Revvy,

Awesome idea. I'm gonna be moving soon and will have much more space and firepower available to me and I think I'll give your method a try.

Hey, I mentioned it first.

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J/K

 

[raptorkeeper89]

Awesome guys thanks for the help!!!! Looks like I'll do partial boils for a few until I can get a big enough pot for full boil an eventually all grain.

 

[FatherJack]

I love this forum and how I always learn new stuff.

Cheers everyone!

 

[RM-MN]

Post the dimensions (preferably in English measurements but metric will do) and someone can tell you the capacity in gallons for your turkey fryer.

My turkey fryer is 7 1/2 gallons, aluminum. I recently did an all grain full volume all grain in that without boil over. How? BIAB with about 4 gallons of water for the mash. If you go to full volume you'll be right to the top when you add the grain, over the top if you have a big grain bill. I mashed, removed the grain bag and sparged (rinsed) the grain with another 2 1/2 gallons and squeezed out all the wort that I could. While sparging, I brought the water in the first pot to a boil and added the hops. With the grain out, there was plenty of room so I didn't boil over. Once the boil was well started, I added the sparge water to bring up the volume and returned the whole volume to boil and started my 1 hour timer for the hop utilization.

 

[dpittard]

I use 1 9 gallon aluminum turkey fryer and Jane no problems with all grain, which means I can do full boil extract too and get it out of the house which makes SWMBO happy.

 

[BOBrob]

Hey Revvy thats the same setup I use! When I brew at camp in the winter I use the gas smoker to heat and keep my sparge water in , else it freezes. I have to hand pump the water I use, but thats camp life. I cool the wort in the snow bank, just have to keep moving it or the pot will disappear. Take everything home the next day and pitch the yeast. Cheers

 

[TwoGunz]

I have brewed AG for 2.5 years, using the same pot I used for extract. I do full 6.5 gallon boils in a cheap 7.5 gallon SS Proctor-Silex pot I got on sale from Cooking.com. I don't worry about boilovers, because 6 drops of Fermcap-S at the start of the boil takes care of that. I have a smaller (I think around 4-5 gallon) SS pot that was around earlier to heat water for preheating, sparging, etc.

Same here except I don't do fermcap, I just start a slow boil until the initial foam up settles, which usually is about 5 min into the boil. I use 1 pot and a cooler. 7.5 gal does seem to be about the min size, but with a slower boil I can even do 90min boils and end up with 5.25gal. Some of that depends on pot dimensions regarding how much will boil off.

 

[ajohnson153]

I hear all of you talking about using an aluminum pot, a lot of people say not to use aluminum under any circumstances. I'm surprised no one has brought it up in this thread yet. Seems to really come down to personal preference, I would be interested in hearing you guys' reasoning though as I'm about to get into the hobby and will be shopping for equipment.

 

[lou2row]

I hear all of you talking about using an aluminum pot, a lot of people say not to use aluminum under any circumstances. I'm surprised no one has brought it up in this thread yet. Seems to really come down to personal preference, I would be interested in hearing you guys' reasoning though as I'm about to get into the hobby and will be shopping for equipment.

Do a search and you will have all the argumentative reading on the subject you could dream of. Aluminum is fine, just boil some water in it first to build up an oxidized layer.

Most turkey fryers are 7 to 9 gallons I have ever seen, so you should check to see how big of pot you actually have. But don't be afraid to do a few extract batches to get your process and sanitizing down.

 

[Transamguy77]

I hear all of you talking about using an aluminum pot, a lot of people say not to use aluminum under any circumstances. I'm surprised no one has brought it up in this thread yet. Seems to really come down to personal preference, I would be interested in hearing you guys' reasoning though as I'm about to get into the hobby and will be shopping for equipment.

I thought the same and as the OP said do a search and judge for yourself. I use a 5gal pot and do partial boils and make some pretty good beer (at least Iv been told) no off flavors or anything just make sure to season it properly by doing a boil and you won't have any problems. Cheers and welcome to the obsession!

 

[kh54s10]

I got a Brinkman 30qt turkey fryer and have done 2 partial mash and 1 all grain batches, all full boil. I think that I have dialed in my boil off so that if I start with about 6.5 gallons I end up with 5.25. 6.5 gallons is about 1 - 1 1/2 inches below the rim so I use fermcap to control the foam and start the boil fairly slow. No problems so far but I will be saving for a bigger pot. I may put a valve in the fryer pot as a HLT and set up a 3 tier gravity brew sculpture.

 

[calpyro]

OK guys I absolutely love this site. I am on it everyday and have been for months. My wife has finally given me the green light on my starter kit!!! Any ways thats besides the point. Here is my question.

I am buy a kit from NorthernBrewer that comes with everything save for a brew pot and bottles. Now i have a turkey fryer set up from last year (burner and pot). I want to say the pot is 5-6 Gal (held 3 gal of oil and a big ole turkey), Aluminum but im not positive, but it is light and sure feels aluminum. The burner is pretty straight forward, four legs, four inch burner, hooks up to a propane bottle via a regulator. I was just using the famous search function and found so many brew pot threads my head spun. Can i use this brew pot/burner set up to do a full boil right off the bat? Or am i better dropping $50-60-70 on another pot and brewing on the kitchen stove? Or could I do a partial boil at least in this pot? Thanks in advance for your help!!!

If you are in the market for a new pot, you are really close to the importer of the pots that both Norther Brewer and Morebeer use, Update International: Welcome to Update International::
Update sells the best and cheapest pots around. Look around the LA area at some restaurant supply stores and you will find them full of Update pots.
The cool thing is that when you make the leap to all-grain, both Morebeer and Northern Brewer make full false bottoms that you can put in Update pots.

 

[ajohnson153]

OP, what kit were you looking at on Northernbrewer if I may ask. I was looking at kits on several sites and the kit I have found that looks the most complete in terms of giving you EVERYTHING you would need was on Midwest Brewing's site. They sell a kit that has everything including a 5 gal brewpot and bottles. That is the one I was planning on buying assuming I can't find it cheaper locally. EVERYTHING + A CARBOY - Complete Brewing Equipment Kit #2

 

[raptorkeeper89]

Hey ajohnson153, I think you were asking me. I looked into that kit that you mentioned and I almost pulled the trigger on it. Until I read some mixed reviews on the pot. So I went with the deluxe kit from NB with glass carboys. I finally realized just about every kit is exactly the same, they all just throw one little extra thing on to one up each other. So for now I just borrow my buddies brew pot. Not ideal, but hey, It still gets sort into my fermenter!!!!!!!

 

[ajohnson153]

Hey ajohnson153, I think you were asking me. I looked into that kit that you mentioned and I almost pulled the trigger on it. Until I read some mixed reviews on the pot. So I went with the deluxe kit from NB with glass carboys. I finally realized just about every kit is exactly the same, they all just throw one little extra thing on to one up each other. So for now I just borrow my buddies brew pot. Not ideal, but hey, It still gets sort into my fermenter!!!!!!!

The way I see it, a pot is a pot. I was going to buy that kit, but I really don't need the pot as much since I plan on buying a turkey fryer and using the aluminum pot that comes with that. The only reason I was looking into that kit was because they lump a pot in with it. My research has left me with the conclusion that the pot that comes with a turkey fryer will probably be just fine. I plan a lot of outdoor brewing because if I do have boilover I would rather not have it in my kitchen where my SWMBO will kill me. I figure since I am just starting out a better pot is something I can invest in later on down the road anyway. As you said, whatever gets wort into my fermenter will do for now.

 

[baddad]

Been using aluminium almost exclusively for 2 years , just fill it to the top , and boil , don't scrub it shiny , and your good

 

[ajohnson153]

Yeah, I like the idea of buying a turkey fryer and just using that pot since it means not having to pay shipping on a pot. Most of my local brew shops charge more for their equipment than I have found it online. If I could just find one that is having a free shipping sale I would be good. If they ever have a free shipping event then I would definitely go with this kit that I just found today. COMPLETE BREWERY WITH BELGIAN DOUBLE @ Williams Brewing

 

[ajohnson153]

Upon closer inspection I might get that kit from Williams. It appears to be higher quality equipment and their shipping is CHEAP! The kit is a bit more expensive but I calculated that I would pay around $211.00 for the kit from midwest once I factored in shipping, but I would pay 233.90 ordering that kit from Williams. The wort chiller and upgraded brewkettle alone is worth the difference in price!