Brew Pot

[Neil1454]

Hi,

So after doing the odd 5 or so can kits. I'd like to start looking into grain brewing.
Starting the the very basics.

I was going to start with this as this was suggested by Matt76 on one of my threads and seems a good place to start.

I've got...

2 x FV's
Glass Thermometer.
Siphon
Trial jar
2 x Stiring paddles
Bottle tops & Bottler & bottle filler & bottle cleaner
hydrometer
Air lock
Wilkos Straining Bag (quite large)
Starsan

So as far as I can see I just need stuff for All grain.

Wondering what size pot I'd need and also best place to buy one at a good price.
I need one that will fit on a gas cooker. And also one that will be of decent capacity for when adding hops and the boil rises. Was also thinking with a tap on the bottom for easier emptying and also would it be better getting one with a built in temperature gauge?
I'm not going to be brewing every week so the pot does not have to take allot of usage. But at the same time I don't want to be buying one again in the near future.

Any suggestions on the Pot and also anything else I'm missing please?

Thank you.

 

[Portreath]

Hi Bud

For gas appliances I have the bigger version of this
https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.u...er-with-Tap-Hop-Strainer-and-Thermometer.html

However, I would recommend going as big as you can so you can future proof your brew days should you wish to brew bigger batches some where down the line.

 

[Clint]

What gas cooker have you got? What batch size do you want to brew?

 

[Neil1454]

What gas cooker have you got? What batch size do you want to brew?

Cooker is this...
https://markselectrical.co.uk/44444...lQOAFG4oIkO5R6kpdP3RMsux3HjF1kiYaAquyEALw_wcB

Well at the min I'm bottling between 20 and 23 Litres. Usually I brew to 20 unless 2 can kit then I'll go 23.

When I start off I'll start small. With the link I provided in my original post I'll prob go for the 10 liter option.
But as soon as I've got one or a few good brews done I'll want to make it worth my time by doing as near to the 20/23 liters as I can.

 

[Clint]

You may struggle to heat up to 20+litres with your cooker.

 

[Neil1454]

You may struggle to heat up to 20+litres with your cooker.

Ah ok thought as much.

So what kind of top end litre wise would you say is more realistic ?

 

[Portreath]

You could take a look at the electrim peco 25ltr boilers. I have one and they are not too expensive and easy to use.

 

[aamcle]

Have a look on Shpock or Facebook buy/sell and get a Burco type urn the bigger the better.


Aamcle

 

[Clint]

You could probably do up to 15 litre but if your goal is 23+ I'd buy an electric boiler as suggested.

 

[matt76]

Ah ok thought as much.

So what kind of top end litre wise would you say is more realistic ?

My volume in the brew kettle pre-boil is typically 16-17L in a 19L kettle.

It takes about 20 minutes lid on to bring it to the boil from around 50-60degC once I've finished messing around with sparging and bag squeezing. I remove the lid once it's boiling and lose about 5L in 60 mins.

This is on a large kitchen gas hob (not a wok burner) rated at 3kW (N.B. an A rated gas hob is only about 55% efficient - so effectively this is only about 1.6kW)

 

[Neil1454]

So any recommendations for a brew kettle or should I just go electric?

You could take a look at the electrim peco 25ltr boilers. I have one and they are not too expensive and easy to use.

Do you know where they sell them ?

 

[matt76]

So any recommendations for a brew kettle or should I just go electric?



Do you know where they sell them ?

Google and ye shall find:
https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Peco-Electric-Digital-Mashing-Bin--Boiler.html

https://www.geterbrewed.com/peco-boilers/

 

[andylynch9]

I would recommend looking at an all in one solution like a Robobrew Hopcat Grainfather type. The reason is you will end up spending more money in the long run with the 'cheaper' solutions. At least if you don't like all grain home brew you can sell an all in one system much easier than a cobbled together one. Anyone else agree with this?

 

[Clint]

I agree...depends if you are willing to spend/spend the money.

 

[Portreath]

There's a lot of fun to be had 'cobbling ' together your own brew-house set up. I have learned a phenomenal amount in a relatively short amount of time with my set up. My (not-so-old tea urn) 10ltr Buffalo electric water boiler (not a total necessity as the peco could to the job of heating the water for the mash) , 25ltr peco boiler which does me fine for up to 23ltr brews, and a decommissioned 45ltr Igloo cooler box converted to a mash tun.
As a starter I think an appropriately sized mash/boiler vessel and grain bag is a great way to get into AG brewing, and of course making mistakes along the way is invaluable in the learning process.
Personally I'm not a fan of the single system brew units, simply because I like the challenge of working with my set up and the constantly changing variable involved, and I like to tinker. I'm not a one system hater, but the price tags bring me out in hives!!

 

[Neil1454]

I would recommend looking at an all in one solution like a Robobrew Hopcat Grainfather type. The reason is you will end up spending more money in the long run with the 'cheaper' solutions. At least if you don't like all grain home brew you can sell an all in one system much easier than a cobbled together one. Anyone else agree with this?

There quite expensive. Do you have one of these yourself?