What to do about a brew pot?

[jtmwhyte]

I am looking forward to trying my hand at AG using some of Edwort's recipes (starting with his Kolsch made with Saaz aroma hops) but I'm confused by whether or not the setup I'm eying will work well. I was looking at a 32qt (8Gal) Turkey Fryer setup (pot and gas burner). I think that the boil will be just short of 7 gallons and performed outdoors (obviously). My questions are:

a) Will this be about the maximum grain bill I can brew with this equipment?
b) Will it be a disaster trying to avoid boil overs?
c) Is there any way I can reduce the chance of question b?

 

[JesseRC]

Yes 8 gal comes pretty darn close. The pot sizes that I recommend are 10g, 15g or 20g for beer batches of 5,10,15 g respectively.

If you only have 1g of reserve space, that really only equates to about an inch (depending on pot). Some follks will tell you to just boil with 6g ending up with 5g post boil . You can do that too, but I always shoot for 5.5-6g post boil so that I can account for losses in the kettle and fermenter. If you already own the pot, then work with it. If you're about to spend the money, do it right. Boil overs suck and it only takes a few seconds for it to go from almost boiling to boiling over.

c) some folks use fermcap. I'll let them chime in.

 

[RM-MN]

I can do a 5.25 gallon batch starting with about 6.5 gallons in a 7.5 gallon pot without boilovers but I'm good.

 

[Chap]

Amazon has a 44qt stainless steel pot and Bayou Classic SP10 burner for $140. I have been using this combo for 5 gal batches for over a year and love it. I have a keggle but don't use it because the 44qt is so convenient.

 

[lemmiwinks]

Let me share the perspective of someone who's been brewing for 4 months (6 batches - 2 AG) and has a 5g SS pot that has now been relegated to kitchen duty, a 7.5g alum pot that does work as an HLT and a 10g SS kettle - do it right the 1st time and get the 10g. You'll never have to worry about boil overs, fermcap, etc. - regardless of how big the recipe is. Well worth the initial investment, imo. Grab a weldless valve kit and step bit (if you don't have one already) from bargainfittings.com and drill yourself a hole. I've done it to 3 pots now and there really is nothing to it.

 

[1KD1]

I picked up a 42qt (10.5 gal) SS kettle on eBay for $80 with free shipping. Sellers name was sunflower supplies.

For the burner, Walmart sells turkey fryers at a discounted price this time of year. My local Walmart has the fryers on sale for $35 and it comes with the large aluminum pot. Or pick up a used one from Craigslist.

I use the aluminum pot for carrying my immersion chiller and other odd jobs but use the SS 42qt kettle for 5 gal batches with such ease that I will never try the turkey fryer pot again.

 

[Strangelove]

Why not use a program like Brewsmith to scale the recipe to your equipment. Beersmith was one of the best investments I've made, though I now scale up so I can do 6 gallon brews in bigger fermenters. 15 gal Blichmann FTW!

 

[lylo]

Why not look into maxi-BIAB methods at http://www.biabrewer.info/viewforum.php?f=89

 

[jtmwhyte]

Picked up a 50qt. Aluminum on ebay for 80 including shipping.