Will upgrading my brew pot improve my beers?

[jbaker9]

Hello all,

My current boil kettle is a cheap 50L stainless steel pot. I have used it for some time now with good results. At the end of a brew I don't see any signs of scorching on the base (I use a HP gas burner).

Is there any reason (except aesthetic) that an expensive brewing specific brew pot will improve my beer? I understand that a sandwich aluminium construction better distributes the heat, but if I'm not seeing any scorching is it even a problem?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Cheers
James

 

[mtb]

Thicker steel ought to insulate better, for one

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Hey James,

Not improve your beer IMO. The biggest improvement to beer is generally knowledge (then applied).

Depending on what the upgrade is, it could save time, save skin being burnt off, make the process easier, all sorts.

 

[homebrewnewb]

if it ain't broke fella.

unless you want to improve thermal mass like mtb said, there's that.
i.e less energy to boil

direct fire is a great place to start and not have to worry about more fiddly things like electrics.

 

[captain crumpet]

If you want a new pot, upsize. Make more beer for the same effort.

 

[jbaker9]

Thanks for your feedback. I expected that improvements would be in process and recipe, but I wanted to eliminate this as a potential factor in final beer quality. I'm happy with what I have now for size.

Cheers
James

 

[warra48]

Fermantation temperature control, and oxygen aeration, will give you much better return for bucks spent in terms of quality than upgrading your kettle.
If it's not scorching, you don't have a problem. Hard to see how it would scorch, anyway, given the thermals in the wort during the boil.

 

[stm]

No.

 

[Lionman]

If you upgrade to a bigger pot then you can brew more beer and more is always better when it comes to beer.

So yes, it will improve your beer.

 

[homebrewnewb]

more wort, not beer.

 

[mtb]

You know what he meant.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

What was that book by Lance Armstrong?

"It's Not about the Bike" ?


edit: except that Lance had a very flash bike, and drugs. Sorry I'm not really sure where I'm going with this.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Alcohol is a drug, and doesn't give you tiny nuts either.

 

[Lionman]

more wort, not beer.

Wort is just baby beer.

 

[malt and barley blues]

Quality will always beat quantity, and if your happy with what you have then reading up on process is the only way to improve the quality.
Slightly off topic I took my Walton's bike in for repair years ago and the guy in the bike shop told me that my bike was the second worst bike ever made, I asked what was the worst bike ever made and he told me the model before this one.

 

[pcqypcqy]

IMHO, I'd go MLT upgrades on the brew side, and pressure fermenting/closed transfers on the ferment side.

A pot is a pot.

 

[husky]

I think you are asking the wrong question. It should be "will upgrading my brew pot improve my happiness".
A new pot will be a lot less unlikely to improve your beers than would additional process improvements as others have said. If your current pot works keep using it and add some additional process related equipment(oxygen, controlled ferment etc). Unless of course you can justify both then happiness improvements increase again!
On our scale don't worry about scorching, I haven't even seen it present an issue doing light lagers with electric elements that have very high surface temperatures.