Boil Volume & Pot Quality

[Aaron86]

Hi all.

I am about to make my 4th extract brew and have a couple questions regarding boil size & pot quality.

1) I am looking at getting a cheap stock pot for now, possibly the 19L you can buy in Big W for around the $20 mark. Bear in mind at $20 this isnt a great bit of kit, but it is stainless steel. Some of you may know exactly what pot I am talking about, it is fairly thin with a thin tinny base. Do any of you have any experience boiling with this pot? Is it likely to warp and buckle through a 60 min boil? What about when I rapid cool the pot in a sinkful of cold water? Some are saying it should be ok for a couple of uses and others are saying it might break/warp/crack. What are your thoughts?

2) As I am only brewing extracts for now, my gear is limited. If I was to make the boil size a total of 15L at flame out, cool the wort before I put it in the fermenter and then top it off to 22L with cold water, would there be a noticeble taste difference as opposed to if I had a boil size of 22L? Do the 2 different methods affect the beer in any way?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[Gavo]

I have used to use the same type pot when I was doing stove-top extract and partial brews. They handle the boil and cooling just fine.
As for boil size vs taste difference... so long as your methods are sound and you adapt to the gear you won't have any problem.
The best way to achieve the same outcome as a full boil is to add only enough fermentables to achieve the same boil gravity in the small boil as it would be in a full boil and add the remainder of the fermentables at the end of the boil. This is what I used to do and the only diff I found when I went to full boils was the bitterness level, but this was more to do with cooling methods than anything else.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[WarmBeer]

Bill,

I have the exact same pot, purchased from the exact same chain. After 10 or so extract brews, it is still absolutely fine. A little discolouration on the base, but that is more from hot-spots from my wok-burner than anything else.

The only worrying thing with these pots is the flimsy way the handles are attached to the pot. They are probably "good enough", but any time I had the pot any more than half full of boiling wort, I would kind of "scoot" the pot from surface to surface, rather than carry it by the handles. I can't think of much worse than one of the handles falling off with 12 or more litres of near boiling liquid inside, and it dropping 4 feet to the floor.

Cheers

 

[MarkBastard]

What you have heard about the pot is completely false. It is pretty good quality and it would actually be hard to warp it even if you were trying.

The only one concern would maybe be the handles on it being spot-welded on and some are concerned that these welds could give way when the pot is full, but I don't have any concern for that myself.

I reckon you could get hundreds of uses in exactly the way you described without any problems.

It also makes a really handy bucket later on if you go to full all grain.

 

[warra48]

I also used the 19 litre version of these in my extract days.
There also is a smaller 11 litres version of the pot, which I use for decoctions. It's absolutely fine, it doesn't distort, even when used on a 3 ring burner.
As mentioned, there's a little discolouration on the bottom, but the pot's easy to clean.

I now use the 19 litre pot to capture and store some of my chilling water, as well as in my 30 litre SS HLT. The water sits in there until my next brew.

I'd say go for it. It's cheap enough for what you get.



Edit: Spelling

 

[Florian]

As others have said, great pot. I have actually boiled 18 litres in it on sunday, so it was just 15mm away from being full. I would not recommend this though, as, depending of the power of your element, it is likely to boil over. Mine didn't though. I have also lifted the pot with about 15 litres in it, but have to say that I was a bit worried about the handles giving way, too. I would ensure that you don't have to lift it up and down bench tops or similar before you start, so have everything on the same level, so you can carry the pot just a cm or so above your bench.

Florian

 

[jbirbeck]

got one, been using it for the best part of 6 years, brilliant pot; done many a brew. I filled it to the max to get a 16l batch down.

Has been relegated to decoctions and partials in the last 6 months. Buy it, use it, enjoy it.

Rapid cooling in ice/ice water is fine no warping or cracking

 

[Wolfy]

What you have heard about the pot is completely false. It is pretty good quality and it would actually be hard to warp it even if you were trying.

SWMBO dropped mine on the floor, it has a kink in the bottom/side now and does not sit as well on our (stupid) ceramic hot-plates as well as it used to - luckily I just use it for backup or decoction and the like.

 

[MarkBastard]

Okay, I'll concede it's not woman proof

 

[Aaron86]

Well its 1:35am, I just finished sprinkling the yeast a half hour ago. LOL.

What a mission that was. Steeped the grain @ 9:06 pm, at 9:30 took the grain out, put the full boil on. Hot kettle after hot kettle into the pot..then all the malts. Waited for a rolling boil before I added the first hops probably about 30 mins after I took the grain out. 60 min boil from first hop addition.

After the boil it took me about 45 mins to get the wort temp to a respectable level. Unfortunately I had no ice, so I had to resort to using cold tap water and filling up 2L coke bottle and chucking them in the freezer, and replacing water in the sink whenever it got warm. But hey it worked.

The whole process was the longest 4 hours of my life, but it was my first boil, so Im still learning. If this brew turns out good I might give AG a crack next

 

[MarkBastard]

Yeah I definitely found the hardest part about stove top brews was getting the wort cooled down enough afterwards.

When I did my first AG with a no-chill cube I was like...what, is that it? Too easy. No stressing out at all.

 

[WarmBeer]

Bill,

Best advice if youre looking to move to AG next is to fill in your location, and look for somebody near you that is having a brew day. There's no better way to learn than to see what needs to be done.

FYI, have a look into "No-Chill" on this site. It will save you a whole lot of time in waiting for your wort to come back down to yeast pitching temperature. I do an AG batch in about 3 1/2 hours due to using the no-chill method of pouring the hot wort directly into a cube, then letting it cool naturally overnight. You need to do a full volume boil, so is a natural fit for AG, but is still possible if you're brewing from extract.

Good luck.

Well its 1:35am, I just finished sprinkling the yeast a half hour ago. LOL.

What a mission that was. Steeped the grain @ 9:06 pm, at 9:30 took the grain out, put the full boil on. Hot kettle after hot kettle into the pot..then all the malts. Waited for a rolling boil before I added the first hops probably about 30 mins after I took the grain out. 60 min boil from first hop addition.

After the boil it took me about 45 mins to get the wort temp to a respectable level. Unfortunately I had no ice, so I had to resort to using cold tap water and filling up 2L coke bottle and chucking them in the freezer, and replacing water in the sink whenever it got warm. But hey it worked.

The whole process was the longest 4 hours of my life, but it was my first boil, so Im still learning. If this brew turns out good I might give AG a crack next

 

[Aaron86]

Bill,

Best advice if youre looking to move to AG next is to fill in your location, and look for somebody near you that is having a brew day. There's no better way to learn than to see what needs to be done.

FYI, have a look into "No-Chill" on this site. It will save you a whole lot of time in waiting for your wort to come back down to yeast pitching temperature. I do an AG batch in about 3 1/2 hours due to using the no-chill method of pouring the hot wort directly into a cube, then letting it cool naturally overnight. You need to do a full volume boil, so is a natural fit for AG, but is still possible if you're brewing from extract.

Good luck.

Will most definately look into that.The problem is getting all the kit to do full volume boils. I will definately need to get a bottle & burner set up outside.

I just woke up, it has been about 8.5 hours since yeast pitch. Still not bubbling and no krausen. As I am half asleep I wasnt thinking, and decided to shake the fermenter up a bit. Infection bells started ringing. Is this really a cause for concern?

I did thoroughly clean the lid & grommet and all parts were sanitised several times before finally putting the lid back on.

 

[WarmBeer]

Assuming you sanitized everything well last night, you shouldn't have a problem. Relax, Dont Worry, Have a Homebrew ...err Coffee :lol:

I wouldn't start upsetting the little yeastie buggers unless they've been slack for more than 48 hours. Even then, you should take a hydrometer reading to confirm if fermentation has commenced. You can't rely on the presence/absence of krausen to indicate fermentation. Just give it some more time.

Will most definately look into that.The problem is getting all the kit to do full volume boils. I will definately need to get a bottle & burner set up outside.

I just woke up, it has been about 8.5 hours since yeast pitch. Still not bubbling and no krausen. As I am half asleep I wasnt thinking, and decided to shake the fermenter up a bit. Infection bells started ringing. Is this really a cause for concern?

I did thoroughly clean the lid & grommet and all parts were sanitised several times before finally putting the lid back on.