Brewing without a brewpot

[johnnyboy847]

Hi guys!

I'm pretty much a beginner. I have only made coopers kits so far, and now I'm thinking about taking the next step with my brewing. I was thinking about making an IPA, using a recepie including unhopped malt extract, special grains and hops.

The problem is, I don't have a brewpot, and I'm unwilling to get one since they are pretty expensive Is there any chance of making something like this using just a regular 1 gallon pot?

 

[ivegot2legs]

How did you make the first few batches?

A one gallon pot is ok for a one gallon batch, with a bit of top off water at the end. Really won't work out too well for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[NewWestBrewer]

I would suggest going to Wal Mart, lots of cheap stainless pots. Up here in Canada a 4 gallon pot is only $20 bucks. In the US I would imagine it would be like $10

 

[unionrdr]

Def go get at least a 5 gallon (20qt) stainless steel stock pot. I'm using the same one now that I started with when doing Cooper's cans with plain DME & hops. I now do partial boil,partial mash brew in a bag. Same kettle does a 3.5 gallon boil topped off to 5 or 6 gallons,depending on the recipe.

 

[Klutz]

I started with a 15 quart porcelain pot from Walmart on my stove.
Cost about $20

i think 1 gallon would be to small

 

[johnnyboy847]

The problem is not getting a big enough pot, the problem is, there's no way my stove would be able to get 5 gallons of wort to boil, so the pot would have to have some sort of heating system itself.

With coopers kits you only have to boil the sugar/DME and for that, my pot has been easily big enough. I was hoping I could keep doing it this way, but apparently that's not an option.

 

[unionrdr]

Well,in my 5 gallon pot,I've made extract beers in as little as 2.5 gallons. But for partial mash biab,I upped it to 3.5-3.75 to account for boil off,sparge,etc. So boil a couple gallons & you should be ok.

 

[Trox]

Can your stove boil 3-4 gallons of water? You don't need to boil the full 5 gal but you want around a 5 gal pot so as not to worry about boil over. I only do 4 gal boils and then top of with cold water at the end.

 

[Malted_hops]

You are going to need a bigger pot to make the new kit you have. You could probably find a good used 3 gal pot at the thrift store very cheap. A pot that size will let you do enough to get by until you start upgrading your heat source.

 

[flars]

Are you married? If you are who does the cooking. May be able to justify a good quality stock pot for doing partial boils.
I bought a 5.5 gallon pot at Walmart. Half inch encapsulated disc in the bottom for good heat distribution. Price $62 a few years ago.
Justified the quality because it does double duty. On St. Patricks day it will hold 10 pounds of brisket, 5 pounds of potatoes, 5 pounds of cabbage, 5 pounds of carrots, and 5 pounds of onions.
Occasionally a few chickens for poaching.

 

[ivegot2legs]

A lot of people want to keep costs down. But an extract kit is probably $40-$50. You could buy a walmart pot and a 12 pack of Sierra Nevada for that money.

 

[RM-MN]

You might take a hint from the British where turkey fryers are rare and cooking stoves are rather anemic. Some of them make their batch right in the fermenter bucket by using an electric "heat stick" to bring the wort to a boil. Just a thought.

 

[Queequeg]

Get a cheap 4 gallon pot. Here you can get one for around £15. Do 3 gallon boils and top up with preboiled and cooled water in the fermenter.

This will allow you to do extract batches with steeping grains and small partial mash mini biab batches.

 

[adiochiro3]

+1 on thrift store scores & CL for burners and kettles if $ is an issue.

 

[unionrdr]

A 4 gallon pot can do 5 or even 6G partial mash biab's. You're only mashing 4-6 pounds of grains,sometimes less in no more than 2 gallons of water. Then sparge with 1.5 gallons 170F water & boil away. Then dry the grains in the oven,grind them into flour with a coffee grinder & bake with it.

 

[MindenMan]

I agree on keeping costs down whenever possible. I have the SS triple bottom pot, I got it as a gift, but $60.00 is still about the same price same now. There are cheap pots available at Wally World; a 12 qt thin walled stock pot was somewhere in the $18-19 range. A couple of weeks ago, Wally World was selling Turkey Fryer set ups for $20.00. Pot, burner, etc. It might be worth your while to go see if your local store has any left. I first tried the grocery dept., and was suggested to go to the Garden Dept., and found a palate full. I bought 2 just in case next year I want to brew and deep fry a turkey.

 

[firestem4]

OP, I bought this one a while ago and it works really well for Partial Mashes if you top-up at the end of the boil.

http://www.boscovs.com/StoreFrontWe...er=12585&departmentNumber=7052245&pdn=7052200
5 Gal Stainless pot for $11.99. Shipping is pretty reasonable.

Good luck!

 

[MikePote]

8 gallon aluminum tamale steamer at target. $20. I am also new and have used this for 5 extract batches. No brainer.

 

[Rebeld27]

Just picked up a 32qt tamale pot...hope it will be ok to do my boils. Eventually it will be my HLT. Going to be getting a keggle after tax return.

 

[JimRausch]

I started with a 15 quart porcelain pot from Walmart on my stove.
Cost about $20

i think 1 gallon would be to small

I used one of these as well for the 1st year and 1/2, until I started with AG batches. At that point I got a 7.5G aluminum pot/turkey fryer setup from Bass pro shop. About $75 for the burner plus pot.

 

[progmac]

OP (johnnyboy847) -- what is the capacity of your largest pot?