First time on extract - a question on boilers

[nzxray]

Hi. I'm looking to upgrade from a kit to extract brewing, and I have a question about boilers.

Looking online these things tend to be priced between £150 and £400 - I already own a stainless steel 30L pot (and matching lid, if that makes a difference). Can I use this on the stove instead of a purpose-built boiler? The only differences that I can tell are:

- No tap/strainer, which would affect the ability to decant into the FV (can it be siphoned?)
- I assume there is an electric coil in the boiler to ensure a central heat source, gas stove would heat the bottom.
- Harder to hit and maintain desired temperature

Thanks all.

[Morten]

Your pot is absolutly fine for boiling.
How do you plan to chill?

A tap is nice to have, but a siphon does the job just fine.
You can use a kitchen strainer to keep hop debris out of the fermenting bucket.

EDIT: For extract/semi grain purposes, you do not need to fine tune your temperatures.

[Mattpc]

What he said really. A 30l pot will be great and you don't need to syphon. Post boil but pre ferment you want to be putting air back in to the wort not keeping it out so there's point in syphoning.

Boil with the lid off tho.

[nzxray]

Your pot is absolutly fine for boiling.
How do you plan to chill?

A tap is nice to have, but a siphon does the job just fine.
You can use a kitchen strainer to keep hop debris out of the fermenting bucket.

EDIT: For extract/semi grain purposes, you do not need to fine tune your temperatures.

My plan to chill is to fill my sink (which is pretty much next to the stove) with ice water and drop the pot in. It's a double sink so it will deal with any overflow nice and easily.

What he said really. A 30l pot will be great and you don't need to syphon. Post boil but pre ferment you want to be putting air back in to the wort not keeping it out so there's point in syphoning.

Boil with the lid off tho.

Is that meant to say there's no point in siphoning? If I am literally pouring out of the pot into the FV then my initial concern was burning myself. But then I will be cooling it anyway!

[timbo41]

Chilling will help produce cold break, which is undesirable into fermenter ..not deadly though!. or you could " no chill"

[far9410]

or its not too difficult to fit a tap/strainer plenty of info on here and youtube

[Mattpc]

There is no point in syphoning it because the yeast needs oxygen. One usually syphons to avoid getting air in to the beer.

[Morten]

There is no point in syphoning it because the yeast needs oxygen. One usually syphons to avoid getting air in to the beer.

True, but juggling a pot with 20+ liters of wort can be quite a challenge

[nzxray]

There is no point in syphoning it because the yeast needs oxygen. One usually syphons to avoid getting air in to the beer.

Hmmm. OK so just to double check, I don't want air getting into the beer during bottling (makes sense) but I do when putting it into the FV (again, makes sense).

Would a 'violent' siphoning work, i.e. exiting the hose from a height, or maybe through a sieve?

[fisherman]

Hello I brew 50 lit re A.G. Brewing only but if I wanted a 23 lit re boiler I would buy the Copper Kettles 30 litre plastic bucket. Holes are drilled free ,so a 22mm hole for a tap and a 40 mm hole for a electric element total cost. Bin £23 tap £5 element £24. Look at the copper kettle website. I use the same setup but 50 litres.

[nzxray]

My first extract brew has been fermenting away for 15 days now, and there’s still a fair amount of krausen in there. I took the OG and promptly forgot what it was. I have a feeling it was around 1.036 but that seems pretty low for a Belgian Blond?

SG is now at around 1.010 though and has stayed there for a while, yet (and I don’t have an airlock) the pressure in the FV is still increasing! So I assume the fermentation process is still ongoing, and may well carry on that way for a while? I’m quite patient (although would like to have it ready for Christmas!) so as long as keeping it in the FV for longer won’t damage the brew I am happy to wait some more.

Can take some pictures tonight if necessary.