Using aluminum pots to cook mash

[bellybuster]

http://spikebrewing.com

[jmashspirits14]

Good point rad. There are spirits on the commercial market that are just as good as home made sprits if a person wants to pay $70 and higher a bottle and thats the lower end if the good liquors. Most however suck such as beam, williams, bacardi, and even daniels has a refined commercail taste to me. I dont get that with my own brandys, burbons, and clear spirits. So smooth and so good, well since ive brought my abvs down to 10% and lower. Sugar washes do seem to have a little more burn than AG spirits.

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

I like this discussion, can someone tell me where I can get a suitable 10gal aluminum pot or a reasonably priced stainless one? I cant spend $150 on a pot, well its not that I cant but I wont. I could get plenty of good crack for that money! Just kidding, lol. I still refuse to spend that on a pot that ill use once in a while. My still pot is stainless but its only 5 gal and that's just not big enough to produce 5gal of AG mash. Not enough room for 8-10 pounds of grain and 6.5gal of water.

Get yourself a 10 gal igloo cooler ( I think that's what they are called ) stick your grains in there. Heat up 5 gal of water in your pot and dump on top of the grains.
Will keep the temps nice to mash. Chuck a valve in the bottom and you can either sparge and ferment off the grain or drain and scoop to ferment on the grain.

[jmashspirits14]

But what about keeping the temp at a constant 190f for 1.5 hours then 150f for 1 hour to mash using enzymes. Wash I make in 5-6gal fermenting buckets. The 10gal pot im wanting is for cooking AG mashes. I like to cook out as much starch as I can making AGs since the abvs are so much lower. Just like to squeeze out as much as possible.

[bellybuster]

are you talking corn or other grains like barley?

[jmashspirits14]

Mostly corn but sometimes ill add 10% wheat, or rye, or barely and sometimes all of them just to make something different each time. I always use at least 51% corn so if I want to age I can make good burbon and I use crushed grains for all my ags and washes. The mix I use most is 85% corn and 15% wheat.

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

It will hold the temps well as it is insulated well. Using the no cook method is easy with no risk of scorching anything. You'll find that nowadays an igloo cooler is almost standard equipment in a starting beer Brewers kit.