Kraigslist Kettle - Any Good?

I'm here in Portland (aka Beervania) and have recently taken up homebrewing. (About time!)

I've done a couple batches in an aluminum turkey fryer I bought cheap from Craigslist, and now I'm hooked and want to upgrade. Being the land of Beer, Portland Craigslist sports tons of used homebrew equip. I've been waiting for a deal on a used kettle and may have found one. I'm hoping for any input from ye all vets.

It's a stainless, 9 gallon that he "put together." It has a weldless ball valve, as well as a weldless thermometer. My main concern in a weldless situation is that it could potentially leak if it wasn't done right. Is this a valid concern? It's "barely used" and he has upgraded to a bigger kettle. I can get it for 100 bucks.

Is this a good deal? Any good questions I should ask?

Thanks a million!

Corbin

Oh, and here's the link. http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/hsh/3035840332.html

Sounds like a deal. If the welds look clean and it doesn't leak now.. it probably won't for the rest of the tomorrows. Ball valve looks brassy in the picture. I'd probably change it over at some time to avoid potential problems that I understand are caused by brass... or am I simply passing on a old wives tale?

This might be interesting.. but, somehow, today, I can't seem to imbed the URL. Heck, I couldn't even past the URL.. I googled brass in brewing equipment and there was an article about this in BYO.

Lots of folks use weldless with no problems. I think the only way you could install one wrong would be to drill too large of a hole, or damage the edge of it, causing irregularities in the seal. Just tell him you want tho take them apart and look. If they are new, then you shouldn't need new gaskets.

The only other thing is, make sure your'e happy only being able to do 5 gal batches. That $100 would cut into the cost a 15 gallon keggle pretty good.

That's a good price for stainless. Here's a new one with two vertical tig welded couplers for $140, for comparison...and it doesn't include the ball valve and thermometer.

http://spikebrewing.com/collections...9-gallon-home-brew-kettle-2-vertical-couplers

A new 40qt. pot by itself is about $100. The weldless coupler kit from BargainFittings is about $25 with shipping and all options. The thermowell is another cost on top of that, plus your time/labor cutting through stainless and installing things.

I'd say leak-test the craigslist pot and go for it.

FYI, you can get a new bayou classic stainless 9 gallon pot on amazon for <$90 or a nice 10 gallon aluminum pot for about $50. Decide what size pot you need based on your max batch size, extract vs. all grain, etc.

or get a keg on craigslist and build your own and have a 15 gallon one for about the same price.

OHIOSTEVE said:

or get a keg on craigslist and build your own and have a 15 gallon one for about the same price.

Click to expand...

+1 Go ahead and find you a sanke keg or two. Easy to convert and probably all you will ever need.

You guys rock. I knew I could count on quick replies here.

I'm gonna check out the kettle tonight. Good to know about the gaskets.

I don't foresee making larger than 5 gallon batches anytime soon (famous last words?) so this should do me fine for awhile. Like I said, I've only done a couple batches, but I have a feeling the built in thermo and spigot will be quite helpful.

So am I wrong to assume I'd need a false bottom to filter out trub before pouring out of the spigot?

Not necessarily. You can whirlpool and/or run the wort through a colander on top of the fermenter. Trub and hops aren't a big deal anyways, honestly. If you want clear beer and are anal about that sort of thing, fine do something about it. I wish I had a better system but I'm starting to relax on the idea.