stock pot?

[Arbe0]

I have a chance to get new a ss stock pot from my job. Being kind of new to brewing ( about a year now and have done extract with grains) I am thinking of what would be best to venture into all grain brewing. I have been brewing 5 gallon batches and that seems to be ok for me at this time.
there are two questions that I would hope to have answered. What size pot would be good for a hot liquor tun and for a brew pot, and do you think I would be wanting to go to 10 gallon brews in the future?
The stock pots I have a chance to get are a 38.5 quart Panderno ss stock pot or a Barbour international bc 44 quart ss Fryer/steamer with a lid and basket. Kind of like a turky fryer type.
I have put together a 10 gallon mash tun already and have a 20 quart ss brew pot that I use for my extract brewing.
I have added pictures for you to look at if that helps.
thank you for your input
Russ

 

[Head First]

If you already have a 10 gal. mash tun then you should really consider a boil pot large enough to boil a 13 gal. batch. A 10 gal. tun will fit enough grain to mash 20 to 25lbs. which will turn out approx. a 1.060 10gal. batch. I have found it much more efficient time wise to do 10gal. at a time. It really takes only a little longer than a 5gal. and you get twice the beer. You can also experiment with yeasts this way, comparing with the same wert in 2 5gal. batches. Of course storage space or burner or a number of other things will need to be factored in for what works for you. SS is for sure the proper road to be on.

 

[LarryBrewer]

You can also experiment with yeasts this way, comparing with the same wert in 2 5gal. batches. Of course storage space or burner or a number of other things will need to be factored in for what works for you. SS is for sure the proper road to be on.

+1 - love doing 2x 5 gallon batches at once and seeing the difference the yeast makes - its amazing!

A 15 gallon kettle is just enough for me to do an 11 gallon batch. I shoot for 5.5 gallons in each fermentor. Plus, I don't think the 15 gallon kettle is exactly 15 gallons, probably more like 14.5, and you need to leave room for the rolling boil.

 

[Conservidave]

For what it's worth, i batch sparge and my 7.5 gallon (30qt) keg/brewpot works pretty good for 5 gallon batches. I can heat my mash water (usually +/- 5 gal) and then another 3.25 gallons for my second running. I'll wind up with 6-6.25 gallons of pre boil volume. Your 44qt pot would be sweet but probably not enough for a 10 gallon batch with the heat expansion, hop additions etc, but you could still do 8 gallons or what ever best suits the equipment. I would get it if i could, can you ever have too much stainless?

Dave,

 

[Altbier bitte]

If it's a decent deal, I don't see how you can go wrong. If you have a setup for 10 Gallons, you can still do 5 gallon batches.

 

[Arbe0]

good info , thank you for your input.
I only have enough points to get one of these pot so it will probably be the 44 quart.
Next question...soooo I may have enough points to also get a Aluminum pot ( I can hear the objections now) . I would think i would use it as a hot liquer tun and use the 44 quart as a boil pot.

 

[LarryBrewer]

good info , thank you for your input.
I only have enough points to get one of these pot so it will probably be the 44 quart.
Next question...soooo I may have enough points to also get a Aluminum pot ( I can hear the objections now) . I would think i would use it as a hot liquer tun and use the 44 quart as a boil pot.

I don't see a problem with that.

 

[Head First]

good info , thank you for your input.
I only have enough points to get one of these pot so it will probably be the 44 quart.
Next question...soooo I may have enough points to also get a Aluminum pot ( I can hear the objections now) . I would think i would use it as a hot liquer tun and use the 44 quart as a boil pot.

If you really research internet info on aluminum pots there is way too much out there just like anything else. I came to the conclusion that if you pre-boil water in it to form that tarnish inside it shouldn't leach out any off flavor. I was going to do just as you say and boil (hot liquor tank) with an aluminum when I found my 3 SS pot RIMS all set up so I don't have any experience with aluminum for ya to back this up.

 

[Nosybear]

Get the aluminum pot. Unless you're Jenny McCarthy, there's no indication that trace amounts of aluminum are harmful. Indeed, it's one of the most common elements in the Earth's crust! Be careful with cleaning it - it stays untarnished due to a layer of aluminum oxide that you don't want to strip off either chemically or abrasively. And be careful of all the superstition out there. There are times when the herd is wrong but as millions of years of herd animals on the earth has proven, it's rare.

 

[LarryBrewer]

There are times when the herd is wrong but as millions of years of herd animals on the earth has proven, it's rare.

Mooooo!!!

 

[Kaiser]

Aluminum as the HLT will be fine. The concerns are around using aluminum for mashing our wort boiling.

Kai