Large aluminum pot with spigot (previously used for dispensing coffee)

[Hunt4sap]

Has anyone had experience using aluminum pots any problems with doing this?
I will be using it for bottling so I will have it sitting on my turkey fryer most likely or kitchen stove top and just bringing it up to between 180 and 185 for bottling hot.

I was thinking I would just use some distilled white vinegar to rinse all the components out and then use baking soda to neutralize the vinegar and then rinse everything really really good?

Please let me know if anyone has experience with using one of these for that thanks Matt

[berkshires]

If you're not boiling in it, I guess aluminum might be okay. But no way would I use vinegar on aluminum.

[NhShaun]

From what I've read I decided to just avoid aluminum all together. You'd probably be fine only bringing it up to 180, but I'd be concerned about off flavor.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I wonder how many Turkey fryers are SS? Most of the ones I see are Aluminum. Now if you filter and put the syrup on a propane burner for bottling you must go slow with the reheat. People will pour the coals to the kettle and end up with cloudy syrup because they didn't think they were boiling the syrup. If you hear squeaking and see small bubbles swirling around the bottom you are making sugar sand. Simmer it very slowly.

[mike103]

I mistakenly used aluminum turkey fryer last year, wont do that again....:(

[Hunt4sap]

The more that I look at this Marion Kay coffee dispenser I'm not sure whether it is aluminum or stainless steel that is just really Worn.

Is there a definitive way of telling aluminum from stainless steel or if anybody knows if this older brand maker ever made just aluminum or just stainless steel?

[Sinzibuckwud]

The more that I look at this Marion Kay coffee dispenser I'm not sure whether it is aluminum or stainless steel that is just really Worn.

Is there a definitive way of telling aluminum from stainless steel or if anybody knows if this older brand maker ever made just aluminum or just stainless steel?
Generally consumer goods made from a lower grade stainless the metal does have slight magnetism( be wary of hidden screws). Weight is another way to tell quickly between the two and if your really in a pinch, if possible, a file will dig deep into aluminum and barley scratch the surface of stainless.

[maple flats]

Back in 2003 a friend made syrup, first using an old english tin 3x6 flue pan (which he said was SS) on a concrete block arch as his evaporator, then he drew it off before syrup and finished it on a turkey fryer with an aluminum pot. My wife and I both tasted his syrup, which he was really proud of and we said only that we liked mine better. But when we got back in the car we both commented that we could taste an aluminum after taste.
That friend never made syrup again after that, to my knowledge. About 3 years later he sold me all of his syrup making "stuff" as he got divorced and to get it I had to take everything. I now have that English tin flue pan (with about 2" deep flues) and I have it on display near my sugarhouse.

[buckeye gold]

aluminum is considerably softer. You may try scratching it and see how deep it scratches. I have been watching this thread and thinking. If you look in restaurant, schools and commercial kitchens you will find that a very large proportion of their cooking pots are aluminum. I have used an aluminum pot to reheat and I never noticed any effect on my syrup. There are different grades of aluminum and if you buy the high grade harder pots I think you should be fine. Here's an article on it.

https://parade.com/323423/marilynvossavant/are-aluminum-pots-and-pans-harmful/

[VT_K9]

I would not use aluminum to boil sap in. If you need some hot water for cleaning that would be another issue. SS is the best way to go. Check out some of the brewing websites. There have a been a few deals on SS units with spigots and thermometers (or tapped for). Sometimes you can get a blemish unit where the issue does not effect performance.

Mike