Ok im pretty sure im going to buy a Bayou Classic Stockpot 60qt They seem to be a good quality and the prices are not bad. $110 and up depending on where you buy.
that will enable me to do 10g batches later on. My question Stainless or Aluminum? Aluminum seems to be cheaper no matter what brand and it does conduct heat better than steel. Ive noticed though that alot of brewers prefer stainless. Is this because it last longer than aluminum?
My plan is to go to my brew shop and get the drill bit to install weldless spigot and therm. DIY
Breweries use caustics in Clean In Place systems. SS holds up to caustics, Aluminum does not.
You may have lesser hot spots with AL vs SS. Other than that the conductivity does not do much for you, as the big resistances are on the gas to metal and metal to liquid parts of the heat transfer (assuming you use fire for heating).
Yep, it does pretty much come down to preference. And like Jeff implies, the biggest difference is in the cleaning. With stainless, you can scrub all you want with something like Barkeepers Friend and keep your kettle looking all shiny and new. With aluminum, you need to “season” it first to build up an oxide layer and then don’t get too carried away with scrubbing so as not to remove that oxide layer. The oxide layer may not look as pretty as the stainless, but they both will function well for you.
I use stainless also and I think you’ll be happy. Two things I always look for in a stainless kettle are relatively thick material and the 3-ply “sandwich” bottom, neither of which I think the Bayou Classic gives you. You might want to look at…
