Dirigo-
1) My $0.02 is this....A 10 gallon pot is an ok size, it will let you make
most any beer in a 5 gallon batch. But, if I were going to spend money to buy a new pot, I would buy the last pot I ever hoped to buy. In which case, I would buy a 15 gallon pot. A 15 gallon pot will give you the freedom to make
any beer you could ever want to make in either 5 or 10 gallon batch sizes.
I (like a LOT of folks) use a 15.5 gallon keggle. I've used an 8 gallon pot for the last 10 years. Frequently, I would have to hold back some of my wort until it had boiled down in order to fit it all in. I switched to the keggle last fall. It is awesome to be able to put the whole wort into the kettle, and put the burner on high without
ANY worry at all that it might boil over the edge.
2) Benefits:
- Better hops utilization, by about 2x.
- Less melanoidin formation (browning reactions) and darker flavors. Ie, better tasing beer.
- No need to come up with a source of sterile water to add following the boil (or risk contamination by NOT using sterile water).
Drawbacks:
- You have to store a pretty big pot somwhere.
- You really HAVE to have a larger burner (turkey frier or so).
- Cost.
3) Just no. Learn to control the burner temperature to avoid burning the wort. You need this skill for many other things to come in your brewing life (for AG brewing).
As far as switching to AG goes....I know what Mike is saying, but its a personal decision. I wouldn't rush to switch. Stick with extract until you are ready. Many competition winning beers have been made with extract.
You've got the right idea, I think. Switch to a full boil. That will have the many benefits listed above. Then focus on learning how to absolutely and precisely control fermentation temperature. When you have the ability to choose a desired fermentation temperature precisely to
within a single degF or 1/2 degC...then the next step would be switching to AG. If you can't control fermentation temperature then you will
NEVER make better beer. Once you can say to yourself "The last time I fermented this at 68F, but it was a little estery. I think this time I'll try 66F." and actually pull that off, you are ready to move on to AG.
Without fermentation control AG brewing will only make the same "okay beer" more complicated to make. In reality, the first few AG batches are likely to backslide a little bit, as you learn the process (and make the normal rookie mistakes).
Anyway that would be the conservative approach. OTOH, some folks just "go for it". Nothing wrong with that either. There will be lots of trial and lots of
ERRORS. But, its all learnin' and its all fun. You'll still end up with beer to drink, in the end.