homebrewed kettle

I have a line on some 14 gauge stainless steel. Enough for a 40 gallon kettle.
We often brew for the hand full of folks that come over.
Everyone takes home a carboy.
My question is how feasable is it to get someone to weld up such a kettle?
I believe I can get it done for free but am concerned about too much of an imposition (sp?) on the poor soul that is getting "volunteered."
I am sure some grinding will be required to clean up any pits, etc.
Tig welding will be necessary.
Any insight?
A shiney new 40 gallon kettle is about $900.
tnx
r

Why not use 2 converted kegs instead? Be a little more economical.

Save the stainless for some nice conical fermenters

I would imagine that would be a pain to bring to a boil, not to mention do you really all want the same kind of brew all the time?

I would lean toward conicals before brew pot also.

We are presently using 2 -15 gallon vessels and it is a pain.
Hard to maintain equal flow rates and things just get messy.
Having said that though we have made many brews that way.
Just looking for what we feel will be an improvement.
But the conical fermenter is another option. I don't think we have considered that.
tnx rick

GaryA said:

I would imagine that would be a pain to bring to a boil, not to mention do you really all want the same kind of brew all the time?

I would lean toward conicals before brew pot also.

Click to expand...

not even hard to bring to a boil:





my recomendation if you have the ss and want to build is to go with the kettle. reason: less sanitary welds and since the kette is in the hot side of brewing (boiling) less chance of ever getting a bug due to crevices

otherwise i would search industrial junk yads for a suitable "kette" type apparatus. this one pictured was a tank of some sor what we lopped off the top - 50 gallons bam!

Keep an eye out on craiglist. Twice now I've found people with 50-60 gallon stainless vessels that just wanted the scrap value. I've never jumped on them because 10 gallons is enough for me.