Stainless Steel: These are the most expensive style of brew pot you will find. The expense comes with some upside though. Stainless steel requires little in the form of care other than typical washing. Stainless will not corrode like softer metals and it will not chip. All in all, stainless is an investment in a lifetime of homebrewing. The thermal properties are good as well, heating is fairly even although some thin metals will have issues with uneven heating. If you are thinking about stainless steel, spend a little extra and get a heavy gage steel. It will prove worth the cost.

Aluminum: These are in the mid range for price which is very dependent on the gage that you choose. Aluminum has very good thermal properties with very even heat. The exception to the even heat rule is always thinner metals will not preform as well. Aluminum pots do require more care than stainless, although they are very easy to maintain. Aluminum is softer than stainless and will pit if high acid foods are prepared in them overtime. Red sauces are very acidic an will cause pitting. Your homebrew should never reach this level of acidity so you should not have to worry about that if you buy and use an aluminum pot for homebrewing and not everyday cooking.

NOTE: There has been much debate on the use of aluminum in homebrewing because of the properties in aluminum. It has been thought that if you use aluminum that you will leach trace amounts of the pot into your homebrew which is not all that good for you. Also, off flavors were thought to have come from the aluminum. We have been using the same aluminum brew pot for all of our homebrewing for the better part of a decade with no ill effects at all. In fact, We have won medals for our homebrew using this aluminum pot. Bottom line is this, use aluminum for brewing but not for your pasta dinners. High acid content foods can (over time) leach out or pit the aluminum so be safe and just use it for brew days.

Enamelware: These are inexpensive starter brew pots that can be found at most discount stores like Target and Wal Mart. My very first brew pot was a 12 quart enamelware stock pot that I bought for $10 back in 1995. When using the enamelware pots, you will need to pay attention to the wort as it boils. These pots tend to have uneven heat due to the fact that they are made of thin metal coated with the enamel and lend themselves to scorching. Overtime, you will need to pay attention to the condition of the enamel coating as it may chip or even crack from use. Please understand that we have made great homebrew in enamelware pots and we think they deserve mention on this site. We just need you to know that the enamelware pots are a cheap way to get started but are in no means a long term homebrewing investment. In our opinion, you are much better off saving for a better pot or even buying a less expensive aluminum or stainless pot to start.

We should talk about capacity for a minute or two as well. We recommend using a brew pot with a 20 quart/5 gallon capacity for partial boil extract brewing. Some homebrewing instructions will say to use a brew pot with a volume of 2.5 to 3 gallons and that will work, it just wont allow you to have a full rolling boil. If you are using 2.5 gallons of liquid and adding a dense malt extract to it, you will run out of room very quickly and you will tend to have more boil overs.

For extract homebrewing, it is best to figure that you will need about twice the volume in the pot that you have in liquid. Extract is very volatile when boiled and before you achieve hot break which leads us to the boil overs. If you have a brew pot with the capacity, you should always try to boil at full strength.

Thats all we have for now on brew pots, We do tend to lean toward the heavy gage aluminum pots because of the even heating and cost benefits. Most important is to choose a brew pot that will allow you to get started in homebrewing as soon as possible.