Turkey fryer

[Jrblessing1]

Walmart has a 30 qt fryer on clearance. Thinking of getting back into brewing and would like to do Biab. Go for it or just do stove top extract brewing

 

[grampamark]

A 30 qt kettle will work fine for 2 1/2-3 gal. BIAB. It would be marginal for full volume 5 gal. batches, though.

I bought an 8 gal. turkey fryer last year so I could do smaller scale brewing in a different location from where my 3 vessel system is located. I found it in a sporting goods store on sale for $45. I happened to have a $25 gift card from the store so my out of pocket cost was only 20 bucks. I added a weldless fitting and a ball valve and it works fine.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

Walmart has a 30 qt fryer on clearance. Thinking of getting back into brewing and would like to do Biab. Go for it or just do stove top extract brewing

I started with a turkey fryer. Honestly, I do not recommend. The burners always have some idiotic "safety" feature that requires fiddling and the kettles are of mediocre quality. I've thrown away two turkey fryer burners (one of which was a free second hand product). Granted, I replace those components with $200 worth of burner and keggle, but the quality difference is there.

Maybe for like $30-$40, and YMMV, of course.

Though for fried turkey, which is delicious, they can be useful.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I say go for it. I don't do BIAB so I can't comment on capacity, but I've always been a proponent of being outdoors, full boils, and all grain. Worst case if it's too small for BIAB you can always buy an igloo cooler and mash in that.

 

[jrgtr42]

I would say to go for it - I got one, then got a 33-qt Graniteware pot, and brewed out of that for a good long time. 30qts is barely adequate for a full 5 gallon brew - you have to watch carefully for boilovers, but the 33 works. I used the 30 that came with for my strike and sparge water heating.
For a BIAB, you probably want a 10-gallon pot.

 

[Beernik]

I used a turkey fryer stand for a long time with a 10 gallon kettle.

The one downside of my turkey fryer was there was a button on the propane line I had to press every 10 minutes as a safety feature.

You’ll probably want at least 40,000 BTUs if you ever plan to up to 5 gallon brews. Any smaller and you’ll spend a lot of time waiting to boil.

I replaced it with a 55,000 BTU Bayou when I stepped up to 8 - 10 gallon brews.

 

[stosh]

You should pull the trigger. I brew mostly smaller batches and my 7 gallon fryer kettle works great. In the meantime
keep your eye on Craigs List, Offer Up, and the like for a used hi quality burner. I found a used Hellfire with leg extensions for $50.

 

[MT2sum]

I use an electric turkey fryer (uses oil) that I got cheap at the AMVETS store. It will hold about 4 gallons of water/grain mixture for the mash and 4 gallons of wort for the boil, and I use the basket (included with the fryer) to keep the brew-bag off the heating element on the bottom. It just means topping up a gallon or two of cold water to make the 5 gallon batch mark on the fermenter and to bring it down to pitching temp. It saves me a lot of time in our tiny cabin, and I can make small 2 1/2 to 3 gallon batches or up to 5 gallon batches IF I'm willing to babysit the boil and the hop additions! This works well for me because I like to do smaller batches to see if I like a recipe, and then I can do a larger batch down the line if I do like it.

The second thing that makes it good for me is that I can brew inside if it's too hot out or if it's raining or snowing - can't do that with my propane burner, which is just sitting in the box again!

 

[kh54s10]

I started with a turkey fryer and a water cooler mash tun. I am not sure how much grain you can do in one for BIAB but I would collect almost 7 gallons for the boil. It was about 1 inch from the lip of the kettle. I really had to watch and throttle the heat for about 10 - 15 minutes until the hot break dropped. It was a PITA but doable.

I got two 10 gallon pots and use one on the turkey fryer burner for my hot liquor tank to this day. It is somewhat slow, but I want to go electric so I don't want to buy a better burner. I do use a Bayou Classic SP10 for my boil kettle.