Will a 8 gallon pot suffice. Do I really need a 10?

[ObsidianJester]

I would advocate starting with at 10 Gallon. I did the standard tin pot for extract then went to a 10 gallon pot. The next pot will be at least 15 gallons but if you do not anticipate doing more than basic five gallon batches a 10 gallon will be supported by most burners, is easy to find and heat and will not serve you wrong. However there is advice here for the 15 gallon ones. My take considering I will go to a 15 gallon pot in the future (Not the near future but perhaps... After all I can double my brewing recipes and cut my taste time for what I do in half..) Judge what you are going to do. Go off established recipes for five gallon batches? Go to Ten gallons and never look back. IF you are going to experiment and split batches often 15 gallons is the way to go. Nothing under 10 though.

 

[Ivypunx]

Well I ordered the 10. 15 is just too big for what I do right now. Maybe in the future I can see upgrading to a 15 and having my 10 as a HLT

 

[Smellyglove]

Well I ordered the 10. 15 is just too big for what I do right now. Maybe in the future I can see upgrading to a 15 and having my 10 as a HLT

You did the right thing comparing your other option was 8 gallons. Perfect size kettle for five (or six) gallon recipes.

 

[fosaisu]

I see you bought the 10 gallon already. To echo what everyone else has said, you made the right call. I have a 10 gallon pot, do only 5 and 5.5 gallon batches, and have still managed to boil over more than a few times. This is for the following reasons: a) if you're shooting to end up with 5 gallons in the fermenter you'll need substantially more in the pot to acount for boil off and trub loss (I do about 6.5 gallons); b) assuming you're doing extract brews, 6-10 lbs of extract adds yet more volume to the pot; and c) tossing things into the brew, especially hops, really causes it to foam up.

 

[tjnowak]

I decided to go with a 10G pot and am just starting out, and making 5G batches. This past weekend was my first batch and the 10G pot seemed perfect, but it did get darn close to the top, too close for comfort. I'd say 10G would suffice, but if you plan on upgrading in the future, go big now.

 

[Dirty25]

I sometimes boil 8g of wort when brewing a beer. Big hoppy beers I will make it more of a 6+ g batch to account for trub loss