A stock pan is ONLY 4 qts. Have measured with them off. The filter and passages take another quart to total 5 quarts. If you run a big filter you may be able to squeeze in 5 1/2 qts w/o over filling it. I was running 5 1/2 quarts w a 4 qt pan. So that was not the issue wise guy. Please leave comments to those that know what they are talking about.