Boilers...

[Orkney_Rob]

Just a thought, but looking at all these plastic boilers got me thinking...

Would a second hand catering boiler work for making homebrew? You get up to around 30l electric units for the same sort of money as the cheap plastic jobs from Leyland Home Brew.... they even have thermostats and everything ...

It's just a thought at the moment

Oh aye - would 30l be big enough.... or should I look for something with more capacity?

[Andy]

A few of us on here use Burco electric boilers - mine's 27L so I have to top up the boil with wort as it boils off. Got mine off Ebay

[Jim]

I've not used a Burco, but as far as capacity is concerned, even my 33litre SS pot is a bit undersized to take account of evaporation on a 5 gal brew length.

[louthepoo]

i've bought the 50 litre version of jims but its not up and going yet looks plenty big enough though

[Orkney_Rob]

Yep - it was a Burco I was looking at, but if the capacity is a bit short perhaps I should just bite the bullet and go with the Hop and Grape 10 gallon job (when I buy that is!)...

10 gallons though - sounds a bit big really!!!!!

[johnmac]

I've got both a Burco and a H&G 60L plastic boiler. I much prefer the plastic one, even when I'm only doing a 5 gallon batch.

[Orkney_Rob]

Cheers John that is useful information,

By the time postage is included I would probably be looking at the same kind of money either way... I would probably just get a single element one though... actually - their full mash starters kit looks tempting, throw in an immersion cooler for another £27... hmmmm......

Maybe after payday or something

[Wobbler]

I'd also recommend buying a 10 gal boiler, even if you're only making 5 gal. I've got an old Ritchie 5 gal boiler I used to use for boiling the wort, but I wouldn't like to go back to that system again. I now use it as a HLT. You may also decide in the future to start making 10 gal batches.