Brew pots

I have been using a 19 qt brew pot, I think it is aluminum, it's very light weight. It seems to take a while to get water to boiling, sometimes about 20 or more minutes. Then if I am steeping grains it takes another while to get the wort back up to boiling.
So, I think I may sometimes be cooking my beer way longer than an hour, and I think the aluminum pot is giving it a metallic taste. I use spring water most often, but still get the metallicky taste.
I want to get a new pot but can't decide on Stainless Steel or enameled, and I think I also need a smaller maybe 12 qt size.
Opinions?

You would be able to tell if it's aluminum. I use al for big batches. Well, 5 gal. Batches. I was told heat treating al pot. But stupid me. Didn't ask for why. Anyways. Water should not take as long to boil in al kettle. How much are you brewing at a time? I would only get a smaller one if I was doing 1, 2, 3 gal batches. I'm not sure on enamle. It's chips. That I know. I never heard any one saying they do or don't on this forum. Keep asking around. Ss or cooper. But, think you'll be fine with the aluminum one you have.

Aluminum is fine for boiling in. Stainless is much more expensive but works great. With aluminum you probably want to form a passive oxide layer by filling it with water and boiling for a while. It will form a hazy coating which will protect from any aluminum toxicity that people warn you about. I have had no problems from using my aluminum kettle.

With boils youdont really need to start the clock until the hot break, err, uh, breaks so the extra time on the elements is fine.

Just an FYI, you should not be steeping your grain in boiling water. You can toss the grain bag in at the beginning and pull it out when the water reaches 170F, or you can let them steep at 150-170F for half an hour, whatever you prefer. You don't want the grain to get hotter than that though.

If you plan on progressing you will eventually want a bigger pot not smaller. You may need to get a propane burner and brew outside. Stainless steel will take longer to heat than aluminum. I would stay away from enameled, if the coating gets chipped to the metal it is a goner.

Right, I caught on to that thru trial and stupid error, aka not reading my Papazian thoroughly. My issue is that it takes quite a bit of time after steeping the grain at the recommended temp to return the wort to a full boil so I can stir in Malt extract. I didn't explain that I do extract brewing. What kind of brew pot do you use for extract brews? How Large is it?

daksin said:

Just an FYI, you should not be steeping your grain in boiling water. You can toss the grain bag in at the beginning and pull it out when the water reaches 170F, or you can let them steep at 150-170F for half an hour, whatever you prefer. You don't want the grain to get hotter than that though.

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Ideally you'd get a big enough pot to boil down to 5 gallons of wort. I've found 7.5 gallons isn't quite enough. 8+ would be ideal. If you put your grains in at the beginning and remove them at 170F you won't have any temp loss and the wait will be reduced. Same effect.

When I was doing partial boil extract/partial mash I would put the lid on after steeping the grains to help it get back up to boiling temps faster. If you do this, keep an eye on it as boilovers tend to happen pretty easy with the lid on.l