Turkey Fryer for a Brew Pot?

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agentEhrman

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I have recently been advised that getting a turkey fryer is a good and cheap method for brewing. At $50-60 for the 30qt pot and burner, it's looking pretty good right now. Can anyone confirm or refute this? I'm about to go buy one and start doing full boils. Any input is appreciated.
 
Turkey fryers are perfect starting kettles. Bass pro has a deal on a stainless fryer right now too.
 
Works great! If you go with an Aluminum pot, boil some water in it the first time to add a good layer to it. That way you will not leach the aluminum flavor in. A turkey fryer works great!
 
Thank you all! I'm thinking the bass pro stainless might be the way to go, as leaching aluminum sounds pretty nasty! Too bad aluminum is half the price!
:mug:
 
It's minimal if noticeable at all but stainless is much easier to clean and so pretty compared to aluminum.
 
Restaurants use aluminum pots and pans all day, every day. Anyone who tells you that your beer will be tainted if you use aluminum doesn't know what they are talking about. Stainless steel is pretty but completely unncessary. Save your money.
 
Aluminum is no problem and unless you brew in a brand new pot or scrub right through the oxidized layer you would probably never be able to tell the difference. If you can find a fryer with bigger that 30 qts. get it. I fill to within 1 inch from the brim.
 
Even if you 'scrub' through the oxide layer in your pot while cleaning, it builds again as soon as you fill it with hot water. Boiling isn't even necessary.
 
Damn, $40 for aluminum and $90 for stainless. The stainless is also 20,000 more BTU, and free shipping. Not a tuff call if aluminum leaches into my precious wort, but hard to justify if it doesn't. Can anyone comment about the difference between 38,000 BTUs and 58,000 BTUs? Would 58 be much real benefit over 38?
 
agentEhrman said:
Can anyone comment about the difference between 38,000 BTUs and 58,000 BTUs? Would 58 be much real benefit over 38?

Stainless Steel does not heat up as quickly as Aluminum (It doesn't cool down as quickly either, that's both a pro and a con). I would guess the extra BTU is just enough to heat the SS pot in the same time as the Al pot.

If there's a better reason I'm all ears. Im looking into this purchase as well.
 
Damn, $40 for aluminum and $90 for stainless. The stainless is also 20,000 more BTU, and free shipping. Not a tuff call if aluminum leaches into my precious wort, but hard to justify if it doesn't. Can anyone comment about the difference between 38,000 BTUs and 58,000 BTUs? Would 58 be much real benefit over 38?

Some kitchen ranges have powerburners in the 20,000 BTU range and heat pretty quickly. You will most likely be using this outdoors so wind will be an issue. it is used for heating oil and usually takes about 30-45 min to get oil upto cooking temps of 325-350 deg so boiling water prob not much of an issue at 38,000 btu. I'm buying one right now and the aluminum at 38,000 BTU is the one.
 
Stainless is over rated in my opinion. A lot of people me included started with aluminum 30 quart fryer kits. They're great but if I was just starting out and knew what I know now and didn't want to spend a lot of money I'd buy a Bayou SQ-14 or something similar. I have two now. I forget the BTU info on them but I can bring 7 gallons to boiling in about 20-25 minutes in a 42 gallon aluminum tamale pot which is my hot liquor tank and get my boil kettle (a converted keg) up to a boil in no time. I paid 52 dollars (free shipping) from Amazon for the burner and 25-30 for the pot from a grocery store close by my house. The burner holds a 15.5 gallon boil kettle with room to spare and can handle the weight of the kettle filled to the top with no issue. This set up is few more dollars than a turkey fryer but you'll avoid spending money on a bigger pot as soon as you outgrow the 28-30 qt turkey fryer pot and if you ever decide you want to make a boil kettle out of a keg, you won't have to buy a new burner that holds it (or build a frame using your turkey fryer burner. I did that)

Do a little more research before juming on the turkey fryer route. Nothing wrong with them, but there are better options out there for only 20-30 dollars more.
 
I started all grain years ago with an aluminum turkey fryer rig. It worked ok but I would have done differently in retrospect.

the 7.5 gal pot is too small. Boil overs were frequent. Get a keg off craigslist and put an electric element in it. 120v 2000watt element will boil 5 gallons. No risk of boil over and when you move to 10 gal you can use it as a HLT, just swap the element for a 240v element and wire it up.

Remove the spear, put a tri clamp on the fitting, and cut a hole in the bottom (which is now the top) and you are all set with a sanitary welded fitting.

Gas is expensive, I would definitely go electric.
 
DMartin said:
Stainless Steel does not heat up as quickly as Aluminum (It doesn't cool down as quickly either, that's both a pro and a con). I would guess the extra BTU is just enough to heat the SS pot in the same time as the Al pot.

If there's a better reason I'm all ears. Im looking into this purchase as well.



This

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The one drawback to the aluminum pot that I would call out is that they are usually thin, and are dented very easily. This is really only an issue when they are full of water/wort. I prefer SS for it's ease in cleaning and thicker pot quality, but there's nothing wrong with cooking in aluminum.
 
I love my Turkey fryer brewery...

DSC00331.jpg
 
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