Need help finding my first brew pot.

[BlueLoon]

I brew 3.5 gal all the time on my glass top stove with the large burner that has the ultra high setting. It works very well. I do have a nice pot from Kohls with the thick bottom. I'd get a 20 quart min so you can boil at least 4+ gallons. You can always get into canning salsa if brewing doesn't work out. I've see the 20 to 24 quart around for $50. Kohls, Walfart, Fleetfarm some times.

[one_dead_soul]

get yourself to a walmart and pick up the 22 quart stainless steel (with a tri-clad bottom for even heating). $49.95 -- I have a ceramic top stove also. Put it on one of the big burners and you can boil about 3.25 gallons max. Still makes damned good beer. My last batch, I took it outside on the propane burner and boiled 4.5 gallons without a boilover. This batch tasted scrumptious going into the fermentor. Supports the thought that the more you can boil the better your beers. I figured I could always use this pot as a hot water supply when I migrate to all grain.

i have this pot. its great. i had no problem getting 4 gallons to a boil using just one of the big burners on my old electric rang. i still brew on the stove but also use an electric element out of an old turkey deep fryer to supplament it. when it gets to a boil i usually turn off the stove completely. with that i can boil a full 7 gallons with no real problem. it wont heat up as fast as a gas burner but you'll never need to go fill up a propane tank eather.

tom

[NikoBrew]

For just boiling a few gallons getting a cheap stainless steel at walmart or shopko works (shopko's where I got my first). The thing is you want a much bigger pot than the wort youre boiling (at least I do cuz I always boiled over in the kitchen). When I went all grain I just spent $40 for a turkey fryer that came with a 7.5 gallon aluminum pot, stand and burner from home depot.. If you have somewhere to put the burner I guess you could just do that and take the pot out and use that on your stove. If anyone else can confirm if a aluminum pot that big would be bad on direct heat? I don't know why it'd be a problem though since aluminum seems to heat up much faster you'd want to be extra careful to make sure your extract to stir in so it doesn't burn. That way when you decide to go ag or full boil you'll already have some of the equip.

[one_dead_soul]

For just boiling a few gallons getting a cheap stainless steel at walmart or shopko works (shopko's where I got my first). The thing is you want a much bigger pot than the wort youre boiling (at least I do cuz I always boiled over in the kitchen). When I went all grain I just spent $40 for a turkey fryer that came with a 7.5 gallon aluminum pot, stand and burner from home depot.. If you have somewhere to put the burner I guess you could just do that and take the pot out and use that on your stove. If anyone else can confirm if a aluminum pot that big would be bad on direct heat? I don't know why it'd be a problem though since aluminum seems to heat up much faster you'd want to be extra careful to make sure your extract to stir in so it doesn't burn. That way when you decide to go ag or full boil you'll already have some of the equip.

well you would probably get some scorching. i would just be afraid of all that weight on that glass top. i wouldn't put more then like 4 gallons on it. wile its sitting there it would be fine but if you try to move it full of wort and put it down to fast you can crack the glass. then your cheap pot and $30+ of beer woill cost you an adittional $250. so i wouldn't even try a full boil on a glass top. and you don't want a huge pot for a little bit of beer. it would have a shit load of boil off.. and again.. scorching. so don't get a huge pot.

tom

[NikoBrew]

For just boiling a few gallons getting a cheap stainless steel at walmart or shopko works (shopko's where I got my first). The thing is you want a much bigger pot than the wort youre boiling (at least I do cuz I always boiled over in the kitchen). When I went all grain I just spent $40 for a turkey fryer that came with a 7.5 gallon aluminum pot, stand and burner from home depot.. If you have somewhere to put the burner I guess you could just do that and take the pot out and use that on your stove. If anyone else can confirm if a aluminum pot that big would be bad on direct heat? I don't know why it'd be a problem though since aluminum seems to heat up much faster you'd want to be extra careful to make sure your extract to stir in so it doesn't burn. That way when you decide to go ag or full boil you'll already have some of the equip.

well you would probably get some scorching. i would just be afraid of all that weight on that glass top. i wouldn't put more then like 4 gallons on it. wile its sitting there it would be fine but if you try to move it full of wort and put it down to fast you can crack the glass. then your cheap pot and $30+ of beer woill cost you an adittional $250. so i wouldn't even try a full boil on a glass top. and you don't want a huge pot for a little bit of beer. it would have a shit load of boil off.. and again.. scorching. so don't get a huge pot.

tom

Well just when I thought I could finally some help to someone lol! K I hope the OP didn't run out and buy that setup I think he said he was only doing a few gallons on the stove top so I didn't think weight would be an issue, but scorching with aluminum could be. I've used my stove to heat up sparge water in the same pot while I was doing AG in the garage and my burner was holding my keggle so I needed the kitchen. Didn't crack the stove top but then again I didn't do a boil, just heated up some water. Thanks for setting that straight.

[one_dead_soul]

Well just when I thought I could finally some help to someone lol! K I hope the OP didn't run out and buy that setup I think he said he was only doing a few gallons on the stove top so I didn't think weight would be an issue, but scorching with aluminum could be. I've used my stove to heat up sparge water in the same pot while I was doing AG in the garage and my burner was holding my keggle so I needed the kitchen. Didn't crack the stove top but then again I didn't do a boil, just heated up some water. Thanks for setting that straight.

yeah the aluminum is thin on those cheep turkey fryer. i know a bunch of people who get holes in them in about a year. he could probably use it on the stove no problem. he would just have to be carefull with it. like once he puts in the extract he would have to turn it down so it was bairly boiling. and like i said. he would have to be careful with the weight. and i know the bigger the pot you use the more water your gonna want to put in it. if thats the way he want to go though (the deep fryer) i would suggest just doing it outside all together.

[beerdrinker]

Another solution could always to get two 4 gallon pots and boild the two seperatly...

The two pots on separate burners will boil faster, and all you need to do is put the two together.

[NikoBrew]

yeah the aluminum is thin on those cheep turkey fryer. i know a bunch of people who get holes in them in about a year.

I was just reading this again and saw the holes comment. How does that happen? I was just figuring if you want a big pot and you only boil a few gallons of it (self restraint) that would work but holes..that would suck. A brew pot is not something I'd want a hole in I know when you add the extract you'd want it taken off the heat anyhow as usual, but you're saying boiling extract in a cheap aluminum pot on the stove would burn or make holes and you wouldn't be able to get a good boil? Wierd. Would there be a difference in this or doing a full boil in one outside with extract? Maybe the heat being a few more inches away from the bottom since it'd be on a burner/stand? Interesting.