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vio0633 · 01-20-2011, 02:24 AM

Just wondering if anyone out there has this kettle and what their thoughts are on it. It seems kinda pricey, but the quality looks good. Also, has anyone taken this kettle and moved the thermometer to another location to accommodate a 5 gallon boil? I'm looking at doing 5 gallon batches for the most part, but may occasionally do 10 gallon batches.

keithster · 01-20-2011, 04:41 AM

Think of how many brews you could do with the money you save by using a keg as a kettle. I know the bling is nice but a polished keggle is a thing of beauty as well.

DizzyPants · 01-20-2011, 04:52 AM

I just got and brewed with the 15 gallon homebrewstuff.com kettle with ball valve and therm. It is a solid pot. I thought it would be something a little thinner and I was wrong. It is huge but a nice 10 gallon Canadian Ale was brewed, and it just getting done with fermentation. It looks like it will last forever and will open up the funds between the blichmann to get a plate chiller. All the best for your brews.

~Diz

**Beer_Maker** · 01-20-2011, 08:27 AM

Unless you just really need that bling factor...go with the Brewhemoth Penrose Kettle.

vio0633 · 01-20-2011, 11:57 AM

Money is not a huge issue for me (Not rich or anything). I'm looking for quality and functionality. The Blichmann kettles seem to be the way to go. Just wondering if anyone has one and what there thoughts are on it.

Has anyone modified a 15 gallon kettle thermometer to brew 5 gallons of beer?

maida7 · 01-20-2011, 01:15 PM

the 15 is a tweener size. It's kinda tight for 10 gallon batches and a bit over sized for 5 gallons. Bichmann has a great chart on his site for what you can do with his kettles.

Seven · 01-20-2011, 01:27 PM

I notice a lot of people mention the bling factor when it comes to these kettles...

I received a 10-gal Blichmann for Christmas and I love it. It's a seriously high-quality piece of equipment and I'm always eager to brew with it. They are very easy to disassemble and clean too.

Sorry, I don't know about moving the thermometer. You may want to email Blichmann directly about this and ask them. I've seen their email address published somewhere here in the forums before.

**Julohan** · 01-20-2011, 02:05 PM

I have 3 15 gallon Blichmanns. You will not be able to do 10 gallons of barley wine in the mash tun. You could do an 8 gallon recipe, I think the OG was around 1.120. Everything else will be fine for 10 gallon batches. I just brewed a 1.093 with no problem for a 10 gallon batch. For boil volume, depends how much pre boil you need. I fill my BK up to 12.5-13 gallons, as long as I watch it, I don't worry about a boil over.

As far as the thermometer placement for 5 gallon batches, it is a little bit of an annoyance. The HLT is too low for 5 gallon batches, the MLT is fine once the grain is in it. The BK, not a huge deal since you are just boiling. Just have an extra thermometer for 5 gallons.

The sight glass is the best feature, I think. The thermometers and ball valves are very nice as well. After purchasing the blichmann kettles, I decided that i am not a fan of weldless fittings. I do not have any problems with leaking or anything, I just would prefer welded fittings.

the pots are pretty thin, but I doubt there will be any problems with the pots breaking. The handles on the lid and the pots seem to be cheaply attached. I often carry the pots around with water and grain. There is warning that states not to do that, but so far I have not had any problems, but I worry every time. I did have a lid resting on the handle of the pot once, and I bumped the lid off. I picked the lid up by the handle and it came off. I contacted Blichmann and they sent me a new lid right away.

Customer service for Blichmann seems to be top notch. Every time I have had a question to e-mail, I get a response shortly after.

You could probably drill your own hole for the new placement of the thermometer yourself, for 5 gallon batches, and have a weldless plug for the hole you are not using. Having an external thermometer would be easier, but I understand why you would want the option of moving the thermometer for 5 gallon batches.

**rcrabb22** · 01-20-2011, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vio0633

Just wondering if anyone out there has this kettle and what their thoughts are on it. It seems kinda pricey, but the quality looks good. Also, has anyone taken this kettle and moved the thermometer to another location to accommodate a 5 gallon boil? I'm looking at doing 5 gallon batches for the most part, but may occasionally do 10 gallon batches.

May I suggest the 20 gal version. The upsides are a 10 gal batch (14 gal pre boil volume to the kettle) take the boil over chances to near zero and it's only $30 more. The down side is as stated, the temp probe location makes it useless for smaller batches but the kettle itself is fine for any sized batch.

maida7 · 01-20-2011, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rcrabb22

May I suggest the 20 gal version. The upsides are a 10 gal batch (14 gal pre boil volume to the kettle) take the boil over chances to near zero and it's only $30 more. The down side is as stated, the temp probe location makes it useless for smaller batches but the kettle itself is fine for any sized batch.

I fully agree. I brew 10 gallon batches in a 15 gallon pot (morebeer brewpot) and the pre-boil volume has the pot totally maxed out. Fermcap is a must have. A 20 gallon pot would be a much better fit.