Beer Forum

Anyone tried boiling crawfish in their brew kettle? My initial instinct is to not try it for fear that it will permanently flavor my kettle, but I'm wondering if a good PBW cleaning would be able to get it clean.

I have a turkey fryer I used for boiling crawfish and lobsters before using it for beer...I didnt notice any flavors carrying over... But haven't done that since I started brewing. I would guess PBW would take care of it.

PBW will clean it fine. You could disassemble all valves and fittings and soak them seperately too if it makes you feel better. Mmm...crawfish!

I was told by someone very knowledgeable NEVER TO BREW IN ANYTHING THAT HAS BOILED CRAWFISH. Down here everyone has a crawfish boiling pot so that would be very convenient. He said that the seasoning gets into the pours in the material (especially aluminum).

New Style: Crawfish Stout?

Every beer you make will taste like

All joking aside, I would refrain from cooking anything in your kettle except beer. But if it's all you've got, I'm sure you'll be fine. I think that you do run the risk of flavor carry over but it maybe undetectable dependant on you cleaning regiment.

I have a 5gal aluminum stock pot that I'm better off using, just wondered if it would be ok to use the 20gal and make enough crawfish to feed the whole town
Sounds like it's better to not risk it, though.

Kill two birds with one stone. Next time your brewing, throw some crawfish in there. That way you got your beer you got your crawfish, everyone's happy...