All-grain Size Question

[GilesTH]

This worked for me because I had more time than money... It took almost an hour to bring 6+ gallons of wort to a full boil on the stove - and this is with a professional style 6 burner stove with the two burners under the pot blazing.

Eventually I found a turkey fryer marked down to half off after the holidays - it was about $40 with burner, aluminum pot and insert (Don't be afraid to use an aluminum pot for hot liquor tank) and a nice long stem thermometer. It also fries a nice turkey.

Also if you have more time than money, check out the homebrewfinds blog - things go on sale all the time and you can pick up stuff for cheap if you shop around.

Yeah, aluminum doesn't scare me that much as long as it doesn't create weird flavors. But I've breathed in enough aluminum dust in my day (I work for an audio/video company with tons of aluminum truss) that the damage is probably already done. If there's any damage to be caused.

If I can get the cash together, I'll definitely do the fryer method, but split-batching doesn't intimidate me since I have a big enough bucket to hold the wort while I boil the first half of the batch.

[Ozwald]

Turkey burners will likely be on sale this upcoming weekend for a short sale post-thanksgiving. They tend to go back up for a few weeks & then the price plummets again the week after christmas. That's the trend I've noticed the past several years anyhow. Good time of the year to be looking for one.

[spiderwrangler]

Even if you don't need a burner, aluminum pots can be had cheaper this time of year too.

[PorkSlapper]

This is exactly what I did, found a turkey fryer at a good price, before that it was BIAB on the stovetop. Cant complain, its made some decent beer for what Ive spent on equipment. Ive found that good sanitation and keeping your yeast happy really makes a big difference in homebrewing

-Sak

[Ozwald]

Even if you don't need a burner, aluminum pots can be had cheaper this time of year too.

2 or 3 years ago I picked up a kit from Bass Pro Shops around this time of year. I think I paid ~$50 & got the burner/regulator & a pretty spiffy 6+ gallon pot. It's a bit thin-walled but it would work pretty damn well especially for someone who's stuck doing partial boils on the stove. Since I don't need it for anything, I keep it with my grain & use it to hold the measured malts pre-milling. Since it was designed as a fry pot, it even has a partial spout on the lip & works great to pour malt either into the mill or mashtun.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-3 ... /10213296/

Not on sale yet & they changed the burner style a bit. Even at $90 it's not a bad deal to get out of the kitchen.

[anday6]

Did the same with 2 $60 turkey fryers and my bottling bucket as the hlt for almost 2 years. Direct fired mash tin because I wanted full control. Went all grain for around $150-200.