I'm Firing up the 25g Mega Pot

johnplctech · February 11, 2012, 8:15pm

First thing I was totally surprised to see my fresh yeast and other ingredients that I ordered from Northern Brewer sitting on my porch when I got back from town today (Saturday). I totally thought that date was a mis-print on the shipping conformation from fedex.

Ok, I forgot to order fresh hops… I checked my freezer and have plenty left from times gone by… they look ok and smell ok. Any thoughts on using hops that have been in the freezer for a few years?

I think I have decided to brew a Kolsch first…

Thanks
John

brewbeer22 · February 12, 2012, 12:08am

Go !!

Nice pot.

johnplctech · February 12, 2012, 11:46am

Here is the whole setup.

Well I don’t see the turbo CFC chiller in that photo…

John

johnplctech · February 16, 2012, 4:45pm

I’m doing a basic equipment check and cleaning today, any suggestions for cleaning beyond running some PBW and or One Step through the system then rinsing well?

John

drexelbrew · February 17, 2012, 5:54pm

Where can I possibly find a reasonable 20-25 gal mega pot, the most I saw so far is in the $400 dollar range. thanks

guskoff · February 17, 2012, 6:07pm

Check out www.spikebrewing.com. Email them and the guy will custom make you anything that you want, and usually the shipping is free. I just had him make me a 15 gal pot with welded couplers. Very nice!

johnplctech · February 17, 2012, 10:51pm

I purchased mine from our host Northern Brewer…

John

adam20 · February 17, 2012, 11:17pm

Im considering getting one of these. Worth the investment?

johnplctech · February 17, 2012, 11:37pm

If I had to do it over again, yes I would buy another one from NB. The worth of the pot depends on the user…in other words it works for me better than my 20 gallon crayfish pot, my 10 gallon turkey fryer and a few others that I have tried. I don’t do less than 10 gallon batches in it… I do use a smaller pot for < 3 gallon batches…

I just noticed what was missing yesterday… my milk crate pump stand. Good to know the cat box is still in the same place

John

dcbc · February 19, 2012, 12:33am

I have owned megapots from NB, triclad kettles from B3 and triclad kettles from homebrewstuff.com. They are all basically the same kettle. The only difference is that B3 and HBS use weldless fittings and B3 has welded ports. The best prices are at HBS and I have bought my last two kettles, a 20 G brewpot and a 20 G mashtun from them.

Go 2x your batch size at least. I have sold 8 and 10 gallon kettles over the years to get where I want to be. Every time, the brew pot gets pushed into the HLT spot.

troybinso · February 19, 2012, 4:10am

What burner are you using for the boil kettle? And how long does it take to get to a boil?

johnplctech · February 19, 2012, 12:24pm

I use this burner that I mounted in a cheap SS pot and built a SS stand for the Mega Pot to sit on.

Time to boil depends on quite a few factors and techniques. I start the burner when the mash has finished transferring to the boil pot so it gets preheated while I sparge. The burner is almost completely silent and that is important to me.

John

johnplctech · February 25, 2012, 12:45pm

Just an update, yesterdays brew session went without a hitch and I only forgot a few things… wind was blowing kinda hard all day so I boiled off a bit more than normal but no biggie just pushed my SG up a tad.

I’m glad to be back, the wonderful smells on brew day just made my day.

John

mullerbrau · February 25, 2012, 2:58pm

Welcome to the 25gallon Megapot club John! You already found out about the greater evaporation losses but that is easy to account for and you are going to love that pot. Bringing the wort up to a boil while you are sparging is key. I also insulated my pot but my burner is only 58,000 BTU and natural gas. I like to support our host when I can but if you are on a tight budget, these guys have great deals on the same pot. This is provided you don’t mind drilling a hole and putting in your own weldless fitting. 100 qt SS Stock Pot
http://www.instawares.com/nsf-stainless-steel-stock.rii-royssrspt100.0.7.htm?view=list

johnplctech · February 25, 2012, 3:10pm

Hi Greg,

I’ve owned the 25 gallon Mega Pot from NB since about 2005 or so… I’ve just be on a short hiatus from brewing for the last couple of years. I have the boiloff rate down pat except when the wind is blowing. Image me not taking that into account when I calculated the pre-boil amount.

John

johnplctech · February 25, 2012, 5:15pm

Greg,

What do you get for a boil off rate on your 25 gallon Mega Pot? I usually have 2.1 gallons per hour but yesterday with the high winds it was 2.3 gallons per hour.

Thanks
John

mullerbrau · February 25, 2012, 5:23pm

[quote=“johnplctech”]Greg,

What do you get for a boil off rate on your 25 gallon Mega Pot? I usually have 2.1 gallons per hour but yesterday with the high winds it was 2.3 gallons per hour.

Thanks
John[/quote]I get between 8-10% but it depends if it is cold out. When it is cold, I keep the garage shut and the furnace on. The garage gets real humid which slows down the evaporation. In the warmer times, closer to 9-10% because of better ventilation and lower humidity around the brew cart.

Glad you are back in the brewing scene. I wondered about you from time to time.

johnplctech · February 25, 2012, 5:33pm

[quote=“MullerBrau”][quote=“johnplctech”]Greg,

What do you get for a boil off rate on your 25 gallon Mega Pot? I usually have 2.1 gallons per hour but yesterday with the high winds it was 2.3 gallons per hour.

Thanks
John[/quote]I get between 8-10% but it depends if it is cold out. When it is cold, I keep the garage shut and the furnace on. The garage gets real humid which slows down the evaporation. In the warmer times, closer to 9-10% because of better ventilation and lower humidity around the brew cart.

Glad you are back in the brewing scene. I wondered about you from time to time.[/quote]

I wonder about me from time to time too… I’ve been busy building a new machine shop and refitting some machines for my business as well as a bunch of other stuff.

I brew in a screened in area my wife calls “the Florida room” so when the wind is blowing I get very low vapor pressure on the pot… how much do you normally start with for pre-boil in your 25g pot?

Thanks
John

mullerbrau · February 26, 2012, 3:32pm

[quote=“johnplctech”]I brew in a screened in area my wife calls “the Florida room” so when the wind is blowing I get very low vapor pressure on the pot… how much do you normally start with for pre-boil in your 25g pot?

Thanks
John[/quote]I fill it to the top of the top rivet which is probably about 24 gallons. Then I end up with about 22 gallons at the end of the boil.