Cheese vat: stock pot vs. sauce pot

[curtishinckley]

I'm in the market for a new (bigger) cheese vat and I'm weighing stock pots (taller, narrower) and sauce pots (shorter, wider).  I've observed that commercial cheese vats are generally of sauce pot proportions.  Do these offer certain advantages?  In terms of possible differences, I'm thinking primarily of heat distribution and heat retention.  Also, is there an ideal amount of "head room" for the pot (i.e. half full, three-quarters full, almost full, etc.)?

[Sailor Con Queso]

What size are you looking at? Shorter and wider is better because it's easier to cut the curds.

[curtishinckley]

Possibly three different sizes.  One for two-gallon batches (what I currently do and would probably continue to do for fresh mozzarella), four to six-gallon batches (my next step up), and ten-gallon batches (what I imagine myself doing in the future; though I would probably continue to do intermediate-size batches from time to time).

Yeah, I recognized the curd-cutting differences.  My primary concern are the heat issues.

[wharris]

is there an ideal amount of "head room" for the pot (i.e. half full, three-quarters full, almost full, etc.)?

I have a 25 gallon vat, and my batches are 24 gallons. That typically leaves about 1 inch of headroom and that only just barely works.

I would prefer to have 2 or 3 inches.