Boiling Pot

[Steven Driessen]

Hey folks,
Was hoping to get some advice as to where I can buy, or how I can make a nice big boiling pot. About 20-30L... Or something close, in case they don't come that big.
I live in Dunedin and I'm straight outa' Lo-cash.
Cheers

[jt]

Yes, it's surprising how much you can boil with some care.
I go 25-26 litres in a 28 litre kettle - just watch the foaming hop additions though ...
But 27 in 27 ? That's an exercise in good wort management !

[denimglen]

Easy, I haven't used mine yet but plan is to boil 30 - 32L down to around 22ishL.

[Ian]

I contacted the local off-sales and a couple of the SI breweries, and one of them came up with a 50L beer keg in good nick. We cut the top of and made a lid of it (put some hose split down the middle around the edge) and put a tap in at the bottom and also a thermometer woth a probe - but you could do without the latter I'm sure. It works great. We also contrived to make a tin shroud around the base to shielt the gas flame whilst boiling outdoors. The whole thing was cheaper than buying a flimsy one and a good stock pot of that size costs a bomb.

[Nick Demetras]

If you can find it cheap enough 50L beer keg is the way to go!

[Pilgrim]

Hey denimglen, I had a look at the link you provided, looks good. How thick is the base on these? The one I was looking at on TradeMe was 32 Litre with an 8mm encapsulated base for $165 Buy Now. I'm picking the thick base would be better to prevent scorching of the Wort but the price is a bit much for me at the moment.

[denimglen]

Sorry mate, only saw this now, definitely not 8mm, at a guess I'd say it's 1 - 1.5mm.

Yeah the thick base would be better to prevent scorching but unless you're doing VERY concentrated boils or have extremely large amounts of solids sitting on the bottom not moving I don't think you'd have a problem. Most burners won't put out enough heat to scorch the relatively low density wort with very little solids.

...I hope anyway ;-)

[Mark]

dude, check out asian markets and shops. they often have large stainless steel pots, relatively cheap. i got a 60L pot for $90

[Mark]

just saw denimglen's suggeston, that's a pretty good deal

[denimglen]

Just saw your deal, even better, I think Studio1 mentioned a similar deal.

Just did the volume calibration on mine, I'll be pushing it doing boils larger than 30L, maybe 32 with some fermcap.

[Steven Driessen]

Hey folks,
Thanks a lot for all your help, eh. Lots of really good ideas.
There are quite a few asian supermarkets here in Dunedin so I'll check them out. Other than that, I'll probably go with the pot on trademe, suggested by denimglen (I boiled some reasonably sugary wort using two smaller pots of the same make and there was no scorching - not with gas).
The keg thing could be a good idea also, might see if Emerson's or something are keen to give/sell me one :P
The Warehouse(s) down here are useless, the biggest pot I found I think was 8L, and they wanted almost $100 for it! They're having a laugh.

Next mission is building a mash/lauter tun! I was thinking either buying a large insulated chilly-bin and installing a tap and some grating on the bottom (to prevent clogging the tap and doing a nice sparge). Any suggestions? Would a chilly bin maintain about 60-70 degrees for 90 minutes with a lid? Should I start another thread for this question? Heh heh.
Cheers.

[James P]

Hey Steven, I would recommend the stainless braided hose fom mitre 10 for a manifold. All up my tap and manifold cost $50 ~ 60 to make. The chilly bin was another story....

[Steven Driessen]

That looks pretty awesome. I was thinking of something like that, also.
How much was the chilly bin? I suppose fricken pricey brand new. Maybe I could find one second hand.

Anyone? :P