I was looking for a larger vat than my current stockpots (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,847.0.html) for my two new larger 1.5-2.0 kg Kadova Gouda shaped molds (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1959.0.html).
After much mulling on member DeejayDebi's large chaffing dish (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1802.0.html) I decided to go with a large stockpot as I wanted larger size to be able to more fully fill my two new Kadova molds.
Fellow member Wayne Harris had recently bought (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,847.0.html) a Royal Industries Inc. (http://www.royalindustriesinc.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4_21_24) brand 100 US quart/95 liter NSF (http://www.nsf.org/) Stainless Steel stockpot and lid for making his huge Cheddars and was happy with it so I ordered the same brand but in a much smaller 40 US quart/38 liter size. Mine was USD110 + free shipping coupon. Not cheap but way better quality than my first set.
Shipped in double box, no damage, heavy duty, sides do not flex, handles are robust, I lifted with 6 US gallons/23 liters of milk when using for first time and it did not flex nor did I feel handles were going to fail. That said I doubt I would lift and move it when full with ~9 US gallons/34 liters, but we'll see. Base has a 4 mm aluminum core for more even heat distribution and it is covered with a layer of stainless steel. Lid is more than heavy duty enough.
In summary, great heavy duty large stockpot, the only negatives are 1) there are few small bits of welding slag that I can hear roll around the inside of the encapsulated base when I move it, doesn't hurt it's function, and 2) the steel isn't shiny but rather fine lathed with very fine horizontal lines. I'm a little worried about any microscopic molds clinging on there but I suspect I'm worrying too much.
I scrubbed it out twice and rinsed it out 4 times before using for first time, it is a bit of a pain to clean as it definitely does not fit in a household kitchin sink ;D.
Last pictures . . .
Wow, nice pot!! Thanks for the review.
Christy
(...grunting....)
Mine bigger!!
(Beating my chest here at my desk)
;D
(congrats, I think you will like it.)
Thanks for that John. I have been looking at pot too, but I hadn't checked the handles. So I must do that. Don't forget to show us the pot in use.
Wayne I still get a giggle when I remember the photo's that you posted. They were gems.
Kids are great.
I'm buying the 200 qt. stockpot from Sam's Club....
Ok, maybe not, but it you guys want the big stuff, it's there for $227.
I was secretly contemplating the 100 qt., but I should get my act together with the blues first.
Tea, pictures of it in service here (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2130.0.html).
Great pot John. I didn't even notice the different pot in the havarti shots - sorry. They all kind of look the same from the inside. ;D
I have gotten all 7 gallons of curd in one mold - just does not in my mini cave well.
Quote from: Wayne Harris link=topic=2177.msg16536#msg16536
date=1253807871
(...grunting....)
Mine bigger!!
(Beating my chest here at my desk)
;D
(congrats, I think you will like it.)
No problem Debi, I agree, when the stockpot and skimmer are both bigger, from pictures it's really hard to get perspective, the only way is by looking at the amount of cut curds, it did take a while to cut.
I really wanted to go for your max 8" tall 7 US gallon chaffing dish but with this pot I can do probably 9.5 US gallons. For two of the Kadova molds that works out to 4.75 each, about 4.75 pounds of pressed curds/cheese, 2.16 kg in each which is lots.
What is the diameter and depth of your pot?
Wayne, good question, Royal Industries website (http://www.royalindustriesinc.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4_21_24) doesn't list and US Instawares.com (http://www.instawares.com/nsf-stainless-steel-stock.rii-royssrspt40.0.7.htm) where I ordered mine from only lists I assume the outside dimensions.
I just measured, inside diameter is 40 cm/15-3/4 in, inside height is 30.1 cm/11-13/16 in.
Does your curd knife go all the way to the botton of the pan?
Wayne, sorry for delay, my wife moved it and I couldn't find it, not this stockpot, but my new long Conditor's Spatula (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2077.0.html) curd knife I bought to go with it ;D.
As you can see in picture below, it's long enough for a full batch, I haven't fully filled the stockpot yet to see if I could get 9 or 9.5 US gallons in it.
Nice! The spatula looks really strudy too.
Oh, that's really nice John....
Just as I was starting to feel comfortable with my 24 Quart pot you have to go and upsize on me.
Oh well, I'm sure my wife will understand......it is after all, all about size with us guys. :)
Dave
I've been thinking of upgrading to a 300L vat....
(http://wineryparts.com/media/catalog/product/cache/5/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/2/7/2749-2_1.jpg)
lol
Just kidding, this would not be for cheese, but to age my wine...
Quote from: Likesspace on October 18, 2009, 11:51:52 PM
Oh, that's really nice John....
Just as I was starting to feel comfortable with my 24 Quart pot you have to go and upsize on me.
Oh well, I'm sure my wife will understand......it is after all, all about size with us guys. :)
Dave
It's alot harder to lie about a cheese wheel though! :D
Well personally I regularly make 36" diameter wheels that are 14" thick. I don't know about everyone else, but I figure that this is about average. ::)
And no, you are NOT allowed to ask for a pic!
Dave
:D Yeah right!
I figured out how to make my cheese wheels 14 in thick,
I cut them in half.
Sheesh, Wayne...
That just proves that the first liar doesn't stand a chance.
It did crack me up though. LOL
Dave
:D Now there's two of them! :D
:)
I love this forum.
Me too Wayne! Me toooo!
My first 36" wheel cracked the floor in my basement and my wife made me cut back to 30". That one broke the table that it was drying on, rolled across the floor and squashed my dog. Oh, well, she was stealing chunks of cheese, so it was time for her to go anywhey. So Nancy made me cut back to 24". That HUGE Castle Blue created massive amounts of blue mold. Nancy's allergic to Penicillin and was petrified that she was going to go into anaphylactic shock, so yes she made me cut back to a more reasonable 18".
So I tried a nice 18" cheddar using Farmer's mega 750 pound pressing technique. During the night, the lever broke on my homemade French press and... Well, now at least we don't have to feed the cat anymore... and I'm down to a 12". I was just finishing up a beautiful Gouda. As I was moving the stock pot, I lost my footing and 25 gallons of curds and whey went EVERYWHERE. Burned up the shop vac cleaning up the mess. Had to call in professionals. Nancy was really upset this time, so now I am down to my 7-1/2".
So I was reading this forum on my laptop and feeling really sad. Nancy must have noticed because she sat down beside me, put her arm around me and said "Honey, size isn't everything". I pointed at the screen showing a photo of Wayne's big pot hanging from medieval looking chains and said... "RIGHT". ::)
Sailor great post, good thing you stopped at 7 1/2" ;D.
Great thead everyone, thanks for the laughs.
Ok -- you guys have me curious..
Making all these "big cheeses" in your home -- what do you DO with it all?! Certainly a family can't eat THAT much cheese?!
or can they?
-Michael
Cheese makes a great gift or something just to hand someone as you accept their hospitality in their home. Some people bring pies I bring sausage, beer and cheese.
LOL!
Okay Sailor, I know when I've been whipped. That was a great post. From now on I'm going to wait until everyone else is finished and then try to come up with something similar.
That was funny.
Dave
I guess Cheesemakers, like our cheeses, experience shrinkage as we age. :o
:D You realy are a sailor aren't you? ;D
Next Summer we are sailing off the coast of Scotland going from scotch distillery to scotch distillery... Probably will be a few cheese sidetrips involved. :P
I am the Cruise Director for our sailing association. I am organizing a sailing, wine and cheese tour trip off the coast of Italy for Summer of 2011.
That sounds awsome!
Italy, Summer of 2011. You're invited.
Do you need a boat?
Nope. We rent boats, captain & crew ourselves, and share the costs. I'm working on ideas and will post more as this coagulates.
Don't you mean "as this flocculates"
;)
;D Could be either ...
Nah... flocculation involves spinning bowls and Mama Mia says we can't sail in spinning water. If the weather turns bad we'll just wait for a "clean break" and then go for it. :-*
You guys crack me up! ;D
John now that you've had this stockpot for awhile would you recommend it. I see I can buy one for about $110 with free shipping
Piney, that's what I paid. Yes still very happy with it, it is heavy and stiff, I've only lifted it with 8 US gallons milk in it and no problem, didn't flex and handles still felt very safe.
Thick bottom so with slow warming on gas stove I feel OK not having a double boiler set up.
I chose the 40 US quart/38 liter size to match my two 1.5-2 kg gouda shapped Kadova brand molds.
It is large and a pain to wash in the kitchen sink!
Picture below is of this stockpot with 9 US gallons of milk, in theory 90% full, but no room for the tenth gallon as I need room for adding diluted annatto and rennet and for stirring.
I lifting it (74 pounds of millk plus ~16 stockpot, hope stove takes weight!) and handles felt strong, not worried about breaking, but worried about sloshing milk over edge if I wanted to move it all the way from stove to sink.
That's understandable John. I park mine vat near the sink and I still slosh when adding water and stuff. I like at least an inch of room to play with for adding and stirring.
I have not dared to try and lift my vat when its full.
1> I can't.
2> Not sure the handles would hold it.
On the other hand, with my rig, I don't have to, and i've not noticed any bending whatsoever. The lid still fits perfectly...
I am very happy with my 100qt rig.
Quote from: John (CH) on February 12, 2010, 04:21:01 PM
... if I wanted to move it all the way from stove to sink.
So are you heating this monster directly on the stove, rather than nested in another pot of water? Do you get any scorching on the bottom? What effect does this have?
I heat my 60 quart pot right on the stove. It's electric with glasstop, so the heating might be more even. No scorching.
However, I fill the milk in at 10pm, go to bed, rise at 5 or 6am, and set the burner at 1/3 full heat. Takes an hour or two and the milk is 90ºF.
If you wham up the heat, I bet you'll get scorching.
It's amazing how cold the milk stays overnight for 8-10 hours. It's about 35ºF when put into the pot, and it's about 55ºF when I get up. Still cold! And the air temp in my house is almost always above 70ºF round the clock.
Majoofi, sorry, didn't see your post, I agree with Baby Chee. While I don't leave my milk out overnight to warm (good idea), I just heat with gas flame slowly, this brand has a very thick bottom so dissipates the heat well. I stir occasionally so minimal hot spots, at least that I know of :).
I'm contemplating this pot also, and while the slow heating eases my fears slightly, I am also nervous that the pot and milk will crush my stove burner! I don't think the landlord would be happy about that...
What would the stockpot weigh full of milk? Should I be afraid that it would flatten my electric stove eye?
I think the full wieght of that pot would be about 159lbs..
60qt/4=15gallons. 15 Gallons X 8.6lbs per gallon ~ 129lbs
Stainless Steel 60qt pot is about 30lbs.
Oooh thats good to know! I can test it out by standing on my stove eye! That way I won't have to buy anything to see if it can withstand the weight!
Might be hard to explain the the landlord though .. well I was standing on the stove and all of a sudden ... ;)