I'm still doing kits, just thinking about extract brewing and what equipment I would need to get for it.
I'm wondering what size pot people use to do their boils with? If you're doing a 23 litre brew, do you have to boil up the full 23l or is it sufficient to boil your extract/hops in say 8 litres of water in a 10 or 12 litre pot? And then dilute down with tap water when adding to the fermenter.
I started with a 12 litre stock pot which you use for your boil ad then top up to your final volume. I still use for small batches but my advice would be get as big a pot as you can afford.
Cool. Did you upgrade to a bigger one after that?
Or convert an FV into a boiler with a couple of kettle elements.
This thread (http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=2672) is a good read.
Nice thread, cheers. Nice pics too!
I use a 15L pot, and will upgrade at some stage, but since I use the cooker for heat and it already takes ages to heat the water, i'd be worried that 20L water wouldnt boil vigourously enough for good hop utilisation. I think I'd have to go gas if I got a bigger pot, but I do have a crap cooker...
My brews with the small pot have been fine though.
http://nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,2981.0.html
here's a very viable option