8, 12, or 16 quart pot for beef bone broth?

[Kittymom]

How big are beef bones? I've heard knuckle bones are huge. I want to order my pot today, but I don't want to get one too small. I figure I want to make stock every 2 weeks or so, and only my son and I will be drinking it.

Thanks!

- Kittymom

[Kittymom]

I hope it isn't bad etiquette to bump my own thread, but i really need some input on this. I don't want to invest in a nice stock pot only to find it won't fit all the beef bones we are supposed to use, nor that it is just ridiculously big for my purposes. So, experienced beef bone stock makers, pretty please tell me what size to get? :

Thanks!

- Kittymom

[saratc]

I think if you're planning on doing beef broth, a bigger pot is better. You're looking at 4+ quarts of liquid plus about 8+ lbs of bone plus veggies. That will easily fill up a 12 to 16 quart pot. Besides, since beef broth takes so long to cook, you might as well make more if the pot's slightly big. It's really yummy and I don't think you'll have trouble finishing it, but you can always freeze some. I don't think the pot will be way big even if you get the 16 quart. I'm using a 4.5 quart crockpot right now for broth and even though chicken bones are small, I can only fit in about 4-6 cups of liquid. With beef bones, it would probably be less water to bone volume.

[Peri Patetic]

Definitely get the biggest pot you can. Beef bones are big, like cows!

[tamagotchi]

The beef bones we get are sliced at the butcher's so that they aren't too big. They do fit in my 4 qt crockpot. But that said, I wish I had a HUGE stockpot, the biggest possible! Right now we are not eating bone broths enough, because it's hard for us to get around to making it frequently. It would be great to be able to make a huge batch of bone broth and then just freeze the extra.

(A huge stockpot would also be great for boiling diaper liners which I like to do from time to time to kill any bacteria that builds up in there!)

[yllek]

Get the biggest that your stove (and wallet) will allow. I can't remember how many quarts my pot holds, but I just measured it, and it's 9 inches high and almost 12 inches in diameter. (Anyone know how to convert that into quarts? Math is not my strong suit).

Even at that size, with all the bones and veggies and by the time the stock cooks down enough to jell, I never seem to get that much stock. And I can never make enough. We make lots of soup, add it to virtually every grain dish, most meat dishes, and have it straight up in a mug just because. I keep making up reasons to eat chicken, just so I can get more bones to make stock. It just makes everything taste better.

And if you run out of room in your freezer to keep the stock, you can always buy or borrow a pressure canner to can your stocks and soups. I'm trying that this weekend.