need a bigger cheese pot - seeking canadian sources

I've decided I like cheese making. I've been doing 1-gallon batches, but now want to move on up to some of the hard cheeses like gouda and cheddar. The book I'm working from, suggests 5 gallons of milk is the smallest batch worth doing for these hard cheese. My current pot is 5 ltr, I'm gonna need a bigger one.

Do you think a 5.5-gallon pot would do the trick?

What shape pot should I get? I was thinking brewers pot, but that's so tall, I don't see how I could cut the curd.

I would like a pot with a heavy bottom so that it can hold the heat better and is slower to heat up (and burn my milk). Do you think the added expense (because I imagine it's going to coast more) is worth it?

Where does one buy a pot this large? I haven't a clue where to start looking.

I would think that commercial kitchen suppliers would have something big enough; not likely to be cheap, but in my experience not likely to be junk either. The only one that comes to mind locally is Russel Food Equipment.

Beyond that, 'commercial' stuck into your search string might help get pots of the appropriate scale.

I have a feeling there are liquidators for used restaurant equipment, but not specific knowledge thereof...


I think you're on the right track re: height and thick bottom. Might even experiment with a spacer below like a cast-iron grill or some such... especially if you can't find a very thick bottomed pot, or decide the added expense is prohibitive.

As far as the expense being worth it... I have regretted buying the cheap tool a lot more often than I have regretted buying the expensive one, regardless of what sort of tool it is! Really the only times I've regretted the expensive tool were when it wasn't the right tool, or a tool that I actually needed; it sounds like you're exercising due caution on that front.

We have a commercial kitchen supplier in town? That's great!

Do they sell to the public as well, or do I need to make friends with a restaurant owner and get him/her to buy it for me?

I think you're on the right track re: height and thick bottom. Might even experiment with a spacer below like a cast-iron grill or some such... especially if you can't find a very thick bottomed pot, or decide the added expense is prohibitive.

That's a really good idea!

My knowledge of Russel is minimal; when I worked for a bait company, we bought our butchering knives there. Yes, we were a business, but we're talking one knife at a time, maybe 3 in the course of several years; I don't have the impression we had to jump hoops, but it was quite a few years ago, and I wasn't the one doing the buying.

So, YMMV, but their catalogue is readily available on the website, which is IME usually a sign the place will deal with the unwashed masses. (http://www.russellfood.ca/catalogue/)

That's a really good idea!

Thanks! Hopefully it's useful in practice, I haven't tried it myself...

Canadian Tire carries a few really big pots in aluminum and probably has 20L SS pots as well. It's worth a look to check prices.

I'll check out Canadian Tire next time I'm in town. That's a great idea. I think they have really tall, really light weight stainless steel pots, but I don't know if I would be able to get my cheese knife (aka, knife) all the way to the bottom of the curd.

I enjoyed (virtually) flipping through Russel's catalogue. One thing that worried me is that they didn't have prices in it, which makes me think there must be different prices depending on what level of customer you are (a restaurant, vs the public).

Talking to my friend who has a shop/restaurant, and he says there are three restaurant supply places in town that might have what I'm looking for. He's going to try and get me catalogues and price lists. I might have to buy the item through my friend's shop, but I think he will be cool with that.

In the meantime, he has lent me his big pot to try making milk in. I'm not sure I'll use it because it's aluminium with a (scratched) Teflon coating.

Aluminium interacts with a lot of things while cooking, do you think it would have a negative impact on cheesemaking?