Decent Price on a Big Pot?

[Michael]

During my most recent foray into BIAB, I realised that my pot is way to small. (It is only 17L)

I saw a 40 Liter pot at Moore Wilson, but they wanted around $145 for it.

Can anyone here recommend a place to get a pot that is around 40L for a reasonable price? Whilst making one out of a keg sounds interesting, I do not find full size kegs as being available very often in Welly. (atleast on trademe.)

Cheers!

[MrC]

I suspect the Moore Wilson pot would have been Aluminium. Some people don't mind aluminium while others won't touch it.

I always thought the HHB 30-35L SS Pot was a pretty good deal. Don't forget you'll probably need chiller also.

[Michael]

Thank you Mr. Cherry...

As I look at these, the 27 Litre Stainless Steel Boiler complete with 2000 W Element that they have looks pretty good. I imagine that would be pretty convenient.

That is the shame of looking at these sites, I keep finding more expensive stuff to purchase!

[MrC]

I believe jt uses a 27 Litre Stainless Steel Boiler which is actually a still base. jt?

I use 2 x 17L Warehouse pots for mine. That allows me to do a full wort boil for an AG grain batch and still manage to carry a pot of hot wort reasonably comfortably to the bath for cooling (no need for a chiller). Several times I have split the wort and created two different beers. It also allows me to brew two extract beers simultaneously with a concentrated boil should the need arise.

[jt]

Yes, I have the 28 litre still base - Michael came over one morning with the firestone kegs while I was brewing.
What I've got is too small. I only do a 26 (sweaty) litre boil in it and dilute - firstly because I have a small batch size and secondly to get a lower gravity.

I ended up with it because I had a lot of hand me downs, gifts and things appear that meant that that was the quickest, cheapest, easiest way to step up from extract to all grain. I think it was $70 from Hauraki

Yes the Moore Wilson $145 pots are Aluminium - I've looked at them too.

[denimglen]

Try your local scrap yards for kegs mate.

[Michael]

Thank you Glen.

I have not seen any there in a while, but I will give them a go again. There is a scrap yard just down the road in Porirua.

[jt]

OK, with a 17 litre pot you can still make some damned fine beer. You can probably do a half size BIAB batch and add a tin of extract to make up a full batch size.

Meantime size up the options and prices for a supremo full size system. Think that whatever you put together is going to cost a bit - an investment though - and be in use for some years. It might even take some time to put together. I'd suggest looking at different options, go check out different brewers kit and brew days - it's all good learning too

Opinions and suggestions chaps ?

Cheers, jt

[vdog]

All depends how big you want to go - hot water cylinders can be got cheaply(ish) and make up a decent system - at present we (three of us) have a system based on HWCs that will do up to 80L in a single batch, which we do about every four weeks. 3xHWC on trademe - anywhere from $90-200 depending on age, size and condition. Just add ball valves and a gantry frame, and it's all ready to rock.

[Matthew]

I've been doing some smaller batches (12L-ish) and the 17L pot does the trick no sweat. Easy solution is to use two pots and double boil if you want to go larger. I got mine from the Warehouse for $20.
I've found the smaller batches good for learning, it's a little easier to work out your processes particularly using all grains. I've found the BIAB the best and easiest so far and can't see myself switching to other methods anytime soon. I also have gas cook tops on the stove so I haven't had the need to buy burners and wot not.

[Mark]

I got a monster of a pot from an Asian market across the road from my work, cost me $90 and is close to 60L. It's stainless steel and fine for the job, although I've upgraded to a kettle from Craftbrewer since. So maybe try an Asian market, you can haggle the price a bit too.

[Nick T]

Is it possible to increase the capacity of the craftbrewer kettle from 40 litres to say 50-60 by 'welding' on an extra piece? The stainless is quite thin. (Thinking about future-proofing, as I can see double batches looming...)

[Reviled]

My flatmate who is a metal fabricator reckons this is possible and is trying to convince me to let him do it to my pot, but I just cant bring myself to let him do it cos im sure that A, it would look like a piece of shit, and B, I dont trust how thin the stainless is...