Small brew kettle

[vsusinga]

Does anyone know if there is a such thing as a 5 or 6 gallon brew kettle with a thermometer? I think an 8 gallon is probably too big for my stove. I live in an apt so I brew stovetop

 

[Call_Me_Tex]

I'm going to start doing 2-2.5 gallon batches on my stove top as well for the stronger beers I don't want/need 5 gallons of (Barley wine and Triples).

I personally plan to BIAB and just use a hand held digital thermometer. If you want one installed in the pot just buy a weldless from one of our many fine vendor's on HBT and install one.

 

[podz]

You will very seriously struggle to get 5 gallons boiling on a stovetop.

 

[ong]

I do 8 gallon boils on my stovetop, when I don't feel like standing outside in the rain to brew. It takes longer, but I can keep a full rolling boil.

 

[vsusinga]

Cool tex. Thanks!. I usually do 2.5 to 3 gallon boils amd top them off in the fermenter

 

[madscientist451]

I bought a 6 gallon pot on amazon, no built in thermometer, but you don't need one anyway, a standard brewing thermometer is fine.
One problem I've encountered is my pot wants to "rock" on my smooth top electric range. If I replace this pot I'd look for one that doesn't have a totally flat bottom.
I started doing 3 gallon batches but increased it about 4. I also have a 16 qt cheap walmart pot that I'll also use to help get everything boiling faster with less chance of boilover. After 30 mins or so the volume is reduced, and I'll dump the smaller pot into the big one. The small pot is also useful to cook pasta.
I started with BIAB, but controlling the mash temp was a hassle, so I bought a $20 round cooler (5 gal) and do Bag in a cooler for the mash.
After the boil, I set the brew pot out at night to chill and siphon to the brew bucket in the morning. The setup works pretty good and doesn't take much space.

 

[wilserbrewer]

For what it is worth, I have brewed for years with nothing more than hand held stick thermometers. Just my opinion, but I feel kettle mounted thermometers are not worth the effort.

 

[AnOldUR]

Knowing the temperature of your wort as it approaches a boil is a nice advantage for preventing boil overs. Makes it easier to utilize that time for other things than baby-sitting a kettle. The best thing to use is one of the many digital thermometers with alarms.

 

[rekoob]

The best thing to use is one of the many digital thermometers with alarms.

yup, you don't need it mounted in the pot. I just hung the probe over the edge of the pot so the probe was submerged, worked great.

later if you really feel you need to have the probe in a port on the side of the pot, add one.

I used to boil on a gas stove with a 10 gal polarware pot doing 5 gal batches. Took some time to get to boil, otherwise, no problems.

 

[dkevinb]

I use an analog dial thermomter (frothing thermometer) with a 12" probe that clips to the top lip of the kettle. I picked it up for not a whole lot at my LHBS. Something like this, but with a longer probe:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/large-dial-frothing-thermometer.html