Wilko 16L Stockpot

[TempTest]

Hi,

Wilko sell a stock pot for £15. It's listed at 18L but this is an error - Based on dimensions it's really 16L (to the brim). This is confirmed by others who have bought the item. One review on the Wilko site says:

"Overall a good stockpot, Good quality build, and fairly heavy base....However, it is not 19 litres as advertised in the description.
The absolute maximum you can fit in this pot is 15 litres, and that is to the brim.
I would not advise you boil any more than 11 or 12 litres in this pan."

Would this stockpot be suitable for:
(a) extract brewing
(b) BIAB
(c) Partial grain

I'm currently at kit level but hope to move through the ranks in due course and so while budget is tight (<£20) I'd like to buy the best pot to last me as long as possible - E.g, until I can afford/justify a 50L pot or similar. So, for now, is this worth it? Or would I be better going for something like a 20L Buckingham pot off of eBay for approx £23? Not sure the largest gas ring on my cooker will *quite* manage a 20L Buckingham but I'd probably manage... Certainly no larger though!

Cheers.

[boingy]

Definitely the bigger one. Your gas ring will cope fine.

[TempTest]

I understand that might be the case later but, for example, will 19L ever open a method of home brewing that a 16L cannot? Both should be okay for extract... So I guess the question is can 16L do BIAB? Can 19L do BIAB? Thanks.

[PhilB]

Hi

... the question is can 16L do BIAB? ...

... yes ... using "mini-BIAB" techniques you should be able to get 9-10 lts of wort into your FV ... or using "maxi-BIAB" techniques you might be able to get more like 18-20 lts brewlengths ... have a browse around the BIABrewer.info forum for info on those techniques ...

... Can 19L do BIAB?

... with a bigger pot like that you should be able to get 14-16 lts if you mini-BIAB or 22-24 lts from maxi-BIAB ... so, you see, it depends on how much beer you want to make (some people might feel it's not worth the effort of a 5-6 hour brewday, to make "only" 10 lts of beer ) and how much effort you're willing to put in to sparging your grain bag in a seperate vessel (something like a spare FV, which you'd have to do to maxi-BIAB) and scaling the recipes you want to brew (which you should do for all BIAB but these mini and maxi approaches make it even more necessary)

Cheers, PhilB

[Shaun21]

Hey TempTest, did you end up buying this pot? I'm in a similar situation to you, want to start moving on from kits but can't realistically do a full size boil. So looking for a smaller pot is all I can do for now.

Did this pot end up being any good for smaller BIAB's and full size extract?

Thanks.

[sbond10]

Search nest of pans or catering nest of pans on eBay should get 4-5 for about 30 quid and you may even get a free kettle

[TempTest]

I've not really had the chance to use the pot in anger yet, though I did purchase it. For the money the pot is good value. Having purchased it and popped it on the hob I'm clear this is the largest I'd be able to use - A larger pot *would* be more useful, but not if I cannot fit it on the hob! Also this fits in the sink for cooling, too. Sure, it's a compromise but for the price I'm happy with that. If I ever decide I *need* larger I'll either purchase a gas ring that I can use outside (very very unlikely!) or an electric boiler!

[MTW]

I've measured it accurately several times (by weight of water) and I get 12.75L up to the line in the metal. I have two of these and boil comfortably at that level, plus a bit more sometimes.

[basswulf]

I've been doing my BIAB brewing in a 13L stockpot. I've hit on the idea of scaling recipes around 1kg of crushed pale malt (as the predominant ingredient I can buy that fresh each time - it isn't too tricky to crush the crystal and black malts I've been using on demand so I can buy the whole versions with a longer shelf life). Typically I get about 6l with a bit left over and accounting for the various reductions over the course of the process, or a neat box of 12 bottles.

Of course, this isn't the most time efficient way of brewing but it does mean I get plenty of practise at the techniques involved! Therefore, the pot in question should do you fine as long as you aren't pushing for batches beyond what you can safely boil in one go.

Wulf

[Shaun21]

Nice one wulf. You should post a few of your small batch recipes for us novices (me).

I ended up buying a 15l pot from ebay for an extra £2, it came with free 48hr shipping so made it cheaper than the wilkos one.

Can't wait to get stuck in and start making some decent brews.