Spike Brewing Kettles

Hello,

I'm about to pull the trigger on a new brew-pot. I was originally planning on going with a 10 gallon setup but decided that it's worth the additional money for 15. That being said, Spike Brewing's kettles seem to be the best price. The only problem is I read on a post on HBT that the 15 gallon kettles were actually coming in at 13.5 gallons, Ben confirmed this.

I sent an email to Ben about this yesterday but haven't heard back yet. Can anyone chime in who has purchased the 15 gallon variety? Have you liked it? Any issues with the welds? I read someone had a leaky weld that was promptly swapped out by Ben.

a keggle has a 15.5 gallon capacity and is cheaper than most kettles sold out there. i paid $50 for one of my kegs, cut the top out and added valves myself.

I should have mentioned, it need to fit on a stovetop. The Spike 15 gallon kettle will fit just fine.

Most stovetops can't reasonably boil much more than 6-7 gallons, and even the ones that can can take over an hour.

You may need to switch to outdoor propane burners if you are planning on making 10 gallon batches in your 15 gallon kettle.

TopherM said:

Most stovetops can't reasonably boil much more than 6-7 gallons, and even the ones that can can take over an hour.

You may need to switch to outdoor propane burners if you are planning on making 10 gallon batches in your 15 gallon kettle.

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unless you have a viking or wolf stove. i can easily boil 10 gallons on my stove. if you have an electric stove it might be a problem.

I am curious myself to hear some user reviews of those kettles. They seem like a good price and they look cool ... Has anyone used any of his kettles that can chime in with a quick review??

bump

TopherM said:

Most stovetops can't reasonably boil much more than 6-7 gallons, and even the ones that can can take over an hour.

You may need to switch to outdoor propane burners if you are planning on making 10 gallon batches in your 15 gallon kettle.

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Well I plan on moving in about a year or so and will be using an outdoor propane burner then, so I might as well plan in advance. Also, my gas range is 5 burner and this will sit comfortably over 3 of them so I'm thinking it might actually work.

OK, Ben replied and the kettle supplier has changed so the kettles are a full 15 gallons now.

jwible204 said:

OK, Ben replied and the kettle supplier has changed so the kettles are a full 15 gallons now.

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They are actually larger than 15gal :rockin:

I wish some past customers would throw their reviews up! :hint hint:

SpikeBrewing said:

They are actually larger than 15gal :rockin:

I wish some past customers would throw their reviews up! :hint hint:

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The sooner you get me the kettle, the sooner I'll get brewing and the sooner I'll give a full report.

i also wish someone would let us know how these kettles are

frydogbrews said:

i also wish someone would let us know how these kettles are

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Ok, I received mine today. It is exactly as described, the walls seem a bit thinner than I imagined but they're sturdy enough. I opted for the 15 gallon with 1 coupler. I just heated about 4 gallons in it to 160 from room temp in about 20 minutes. No signs of leakage, a bit of an aroma came out of the water while I was pouring it via the valve, presumably from the welding. All looks good, I'm going to scrub it with soap/water tonight and brew Saturday morning. I'll make a new thread after. At this point I'm satisfied with the purchase. I don't think the fiancée is but she's being a good sport about it.

great, thank you for updating. i am on the fence about these things and i started thinking it was very odd that several folks said they bought one, but had no reviews. began wondering if all the folks were "plants" or something crazy.
i actually ordered one, but something weird happened and the order appears to have not gone through and has me re-thinking the whole thing

Here's a picture of this bad boy on my stove. I can get 3 burners going at once with it.

Damn, we should have upgraded to a gas range the last time....

DustBow said:

Damn, we should have upgraded to a gas range the last time....

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When I was looking for a new apartment last April it was an absolute requirement. I suppose I could have built an electric heat stick, but this is much easier.

That's a nice looking pot!

I just got one last week and I couldn't be happier. There was a bit of a mixup at first, but Ben was quick to send a replacement and a return shipping sheet right away. Brewing with this is a huge improvement over my older smaller kettle especially because the larger size lets me get a larger preboil volume with no boil over worries and higher efficiency overall. The different options for bulkhead placement are great too. Lovin my sightglass.

I am kind of a noob here. I am also in the market for a kettle and have been looking at the spike kettles. I know this is probably a dumb question, but exactly what is the sight glass for? Does it measure your volume of wort? If so, how do you calibrate it? Also I was thinking about getting it with the thermometer as well. Do you think that is a good idea or is it easier to just use a digital thermometer? Did you get the sight glass through Spike? Thanks in advance for your help. One more question. Do the handles feel like you could lift a 10 gallon batch if you had to?

Sight glasses show the amount of liquid in a vessel. Very helpful at all stages of brewing.



Bobby_M has a great video on how to calibrate.

phuff7129 said:

Also I was thinking about getting it with the thermometer as well. Do you think that is a good idea or is it easier to just use a digital thermometer?

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Personally, I prefer the digital thermo, but I'm just a digital kind of guy.

phuff7129 said:

Did you get the sight glass through Spike? Thanks in advance for your help.

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I actually got my recent one from Bobby_M (brewhardware) and I bought my other one a long time ago from bargainfittings.

phuff7129 said:

One more question. Do the handles feel like you could lift a 10 gallon batch if you had to?

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I haven't gotten mine yet, but I'll post a review when I get mine.

phuff7129 said:

I am kind of a noob here. I am also in the market for a kettle and have been looking at the spike kettles. I know this is probably a dumb question, but exactly what is the sight glass for? Does it measure your volume of wort? If so, how do you calibrate it? Also I was thinking about getting it with the thermometer as well. Do you think that is a good idea or is it easier to just use a digital thermometer? Did you get the sight glass through Spike? Thanks in advance for your help. One more question. Do the handles feel like you could lift a 10 gallon batch if you had to?

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Yeah, as said before, Bobby_M is a good resource for the sight glass. It comes unmarked and you simply attach the piece and fill the pot gallon by gallon, marking each level. There is also a link on his website with instructions. I cant believed I brewed without a sightglass before, not only can I accurately gauge how much wort I have collected from mashing and how much I end up with post-boil, I also can accurately gauge my boil off rate for future batches.

EDIT: also, as for lifting, 10 gal of wort + the weight of the pot is easily over 100 lb, I wouldn't ever want to try to lift that, especially if it is hot.

Thanks alot for the great info. Looks like I will be adding a sight glass to my kettle.

Love seeing the kettles in action guys!

Question to those of you interested in purchasing a Spike kettle.... How many people would be interested in the addition of a 3rd coupler for a sight glass?

it would depend on the cost increase. all this has already changed my mind about the thermometer and i probably won't get one now. well.....maybe, but i really want a sight glass

depends on cost

FYI Ben, I only asked for the 3rd coupler on mine because what you had available for testing had the 2 couplers mounted vertically.

frydogbrews said:

it would depend on the cost increase. all this has already changed my mind about the thermometer and i probably won't get one now. well.....maybe, but i really want a sight glass

depends on cost

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It would be an additional $15

A4J said:

FYI Ben, I only asked for the 3rd coupler on mine because what you had available for testing had the 2 couplers mounted vertically.

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So 2 horizontal would have been fine? Also did the kettle come in today?

It would be nice if you could offer a 1/4" coupler option since many of the site glassas use that size. And most RTD and thermocouple probes are 1/4" as well.
So I would love to have a 1/2" fitting for the ball valve and then a 1/4" fitting for a site glass tee with digital thermo connection.
Would the smaller fitting be harder to weld?

DustBow said:

It would be nice if you could offer a 1/4" coupler option since many of the site glassas use that size. And most RTD and thermocouple probes are 1/4" as well.
So I would love to have a 1/2" fitting for the ball valve and then a 1/4" fitting for a site glass tee with digital thermo connection.
Would the smaller fitting be harder to weld?

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That would be a good question to ask my welder. I can do custom orders but I rarely have anyone ask for 1/4" fittings so I don't see going into production with that anytime soon.

So I'm never sure about the sizes but I could definitely see a use in 3 ports for at least a hlt. Perfect way to gaug temp and amount of liquid transfer while still being able to hook a 1/2 in ball valve up. but with my current probe thermometer I'm happy lol

I think 2 ports horizontal would work. One for the ball valve and one for the sight glass or a sight glass/thermometer combo. The 1/2 inch npt is easy enough to convert to 1/4 inch if that is what your sight glass is using. Just need to talk the swmbo into the kettle. Tax return coming soon!

Mine came in recently. Had a few dings and about a three inch gouge in the wall. The welding is smooth on the outside but the inside not so much. Chunks of solder coming through from the outside weld. Havent had a chance to use it yet to check for leaks but I'll try to do so and post some pics this weekend. For a cheap kettle, it should work fine.

My sight glass setup is 1/2 inch but a 1/4 inch site glass is really easy to convert like phuff said.

Mine came in yesterday. I'll post a review when I'm done testing it later today.

Just pulled the trigger yesterday... Let the waiting begin!

reviews anyone?

Reuben1012 said:

reviews anyone?

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I liked mine, so have others, look up thru the thread. Very good customer service

Reuben1012 said:

reviews anyone?

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I wrote up a decent review a few weeks ago, check through my posts to find it. Also, I'm currently wrapping up my 3rd brew with my 15 gallon kettle. I purchased it the day before the tri-bottom was available so it's just the straight stainless. It's worked flawlessly for me. There is some discoloration on the bottom where the grates of my stove-top are, but I don't think it's an issue and it's certainly not scorching as far as I can tell.

My previous brew kettle was an 8 gallon canning pot that was about half the thickness of this and it never scorched, this new pot certainly isn't an issue.

jwible204, read your review, thanks... Looks like a nice kettle, I am trying to decide between one of those or a 15 gal Bayou Classic off Amazon. With the step bit and weldless kit they would be about the same price.

Reuben1012 said:

jwible204, read your review, thanks... Looks like a nice kettle, I am trying to decide between one of those or a 15 gal Bayou Classic off Amazon. With the step bit and weldless kit they would be about the same price.

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Any reason you would chose the weldless over a welded kettle if price isn't a factor?