20.5 Gallon Stainless Steel Stock Pot for $117

I'm currently building a 3 vessel eHerms system and was originally going to use 3 keggles, but decided to shop for a 20 gallon stock pot for my HLT so I'll have enough heated water for my mash, recirculating wort, and sparge w/o having to add more cold water during the process. Anyways, I found this awesome deal and thought I'd share this find with anyone out there that is interested. I found some other pots on ebay, but I trust Bayou's quality more. Cheers!

http://www.wayfair.com/Bayou-Classi...-Purpose-Stockpot-with-Lid-10-xx-BAY1032.html

I have that pot and got it from Amazon. My brother-in-law and friend also have the same pot. It's great!

Sniperd, I am looking at this pot... can you measure it and give me the true inner diameter and height of the pot? I have been burned before by "claimed" dimensions; it would be greatly appreciated!

Yep, it's 18 7/8th inches across inner diameter, and 17 inch high measured from the inside to the top. Handle to handle it's 22.5 inches diameter.

This is the actual one I bought:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VXKJJ8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

82 quart. I can do 15 gallon batches no problem. I usually run off 18 gallons and get just under 3 gallons of boil off. We've done 30+ batches with it and have not had a problem.

I'm a very happy customer. Here are some pictures from a brew day this summer:

https://picasaweb.google.com/104328584208153833147/20121025?authkey=Gv1sRgCOSc0uT40dHTGA

Good luck!

These Concord pots are also a very good deal. I have their 60qt pots
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CONCORD-100.../140747789475?pt=Cookware&hash=item20c538d4a3

I was considering them too, but chose the Bayou for $7 more. I did notice those Concords were 1 mm thick while the Bayou was only 0.8 mm.

ballz50401 said:

I was considering them too, but chose the Bayou for $7 more. I did notice those Concords were 1 mm thick while the Bayou was only 0.8 mm.

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From my experience of using the Bayou it does seem very sturdy. We get a little nervous lifting the kettle by the handles with 15+ gallons of hot wort in it but it's never been an issue. After 30+ brews, it still stands strong and solid. If I had to do it over I'd just buy the same one again.

That's good to hear. Pretty excited for it to arrive in the mail to start drilling and welding couplers on it!

Looks like they just jacked the price up $27.

(Hmm.. I worded that funny; next sentence is edited for clarity.)

If the price between the Concord pot and the Bayou is close; I'd highly recommend going with the Bayou. The Concord pot certainly doesn't seem to live up to the 304L stainless standard and might not even be 300 series at all.

It has a number of materials-based blemishes and stainless welding to it was a TERRIBLE experience; the difference between the stainless alloy of the kettle and the 316 of my wire made the weld just not want to stick. (The vessel and fitting were properly cleaned with acetone right before welding so that was NOT a problem.)

If you plan on welding anything EVER don't go with the Concord or other ultra cheap Chinese options....


Your mileage may vary but this is my first-hand experience and recommendation.


Adam
P.S. Welding the same fitting with the same process to another vessel ("proper" 304L stainless) was very easy -only the Concord pot posed a problem.

I did not have any blemishes on either of my Concord pots. I did notice that the handles are not stainless but the rest is. I used weldless fittings, so I did not have the welding issues. The only reason I know the handles are not stainless is I tested everything with a magnet. I did wear out a good cobalt drill bit and a cheapo Harbor Freight step bit getting through the thing. So far no problems with mine.

limulus said:

I did not have any blemishes on either of my Concord pots. I did notice that the handles are not stainless but the rest is. I used weldless fittings, so I did not have the welding issues. The only reason I know the handles are not stainless is I tested everything with a magnet. I did wear out a good cobalt drill bit and a cheapo Harbor Freight step bit getting through the thing. So far no problems with mine.

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Understood and good feedback, but stainless status is not something that's a simple binary "on" or "off". There are MANY grades of stainless and even the cheapest Chinese stainless any more normally doesn't fail the magnet test. Brewing / food should really be using 300 series stainless (304 or greater).


Adam

limulus said:

These Concord pots are also a very good deal. I have their 60qt pots
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CONCORD-100.../140747789475?pt=Cookware&hash=item20c538d4a3

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That looks like a nice deal

Roadliner said:

That looks like a nice deal

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It's cheap, anyway. Value is dependent upon what you get for your money.

If you get a "stainless" pot that rusts, or that you can't weld (assuming you want to welding it), the value equation goes down very quickly.


Adam

biertourist said:

It's cheap, anyway. Value is dependent upon what you get for your money.

If you get a "stainless" pot that rusts, or that you can't weld (assuming you want to welding it), the value equation goes down very quickly.


Adam

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If it is as advertised 18/8 then it is of good food grade and should have a good corrosion resistance, should it not?

I used to have keggles back in the 90s but took a 15yr break from brewing. When I resumed brewing, I bought a very heavy aluminum pot that I used for a few years until I decided to get a bigger pot. I found the Concord pots and there were quite a few others here who use them. Of course it is not a Blichmann, but I also got both of mine on sale back during the summer for an even better price than they are now. One of mine has the bottom cut completely out of it for a little project I'm working on and that was done with a plasma cutter. It is a little burned on the edges and I suspect that is due to the guy who cut it for me. After a couple of uses, I did notice some discoloration near the cut edges, but Bar Keepers Friend took care of it immediately. My other pot has shown no issues. I only brew a few times per year and it is a secondary hobby for me. If this were my primary hobby, I would probably buy some more expensive pots. I'm obviously no metallurgist nor a welder but they do advertise them as 18/8 1mm stainless and that was good enough for me. For the guy who wants a big capacity stainless vessel for a fraction of the price of a Blichmann, then this is indeed a good deal. The thread was about a good deal the OP found for $117. I simply posted an alternative good deal. If you want top of the line, then buy top of the line.

Roadliner said:

If it is as advertised 18/8 then it is of good food grade and should have a good corrosion resistance, should it not?

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Advertising won't prevent a kettle from rusting. Only it's actual composition will.

Adam

biertourist said:

Advertising won't prevent a kettle from rusting. Only it's actual composition will.

Adam

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Obviously. I said if it is AS advertised.

Meaning it's actual composition would be 18/8 like they advertise it as.

Just an update:
I received the 82 qt Bayou Classic SS Stock Pot yesterday and I'm really impressed by it's craftsmanship. There are no rivets which is a plus for me. All the handles on the pot & lid are welded and look really clean. The welded seam looks really good too. The quality of the stainless steel looks really nice. Stilled amazed I found this for $117 w/ free shipping. Can't wait to add my ball valves, hex coil, sight glass, thermometer, RTD sensors, and heating element to this thing. Kinda wish I would've gotten three of these, but my two tier stand was built for keggles so it's not wide enough.

Well I would hope the advertising would match the composition. 18/8 - 18% chromium and 8% nickel. That's not as good as 18/10 for example. What I think it more critical to understand about this pot is it's 20-gauge. That's why it costs what it does. Most people aren't going to want to weld on this pot because it's so thin - so you'll have to use weldless fittings. Also it will lose a lot more heat than a thicker gauge. Just things to consider.

It seems Concord is now doing these kettles. "Stainless Steel Stockpot Tri-Ply Bottom Commercial Brew Kettle Heavy Duty"

They're 1.2mm thick and made from fully polished restaurant grade 18/10 T304 full stainless steel according to them. Those are all specs taken from the link below. I think I'm going to pick one up if birdman brewing doesn't run some crazy black....Thursday? sale tomorrow.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G5MFKNE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I have a 100 quart Concord (not the fancy tri-ply bottomed one in the link directly above this post) that I just did a lot of welding to (whirlpool inlet, two 1/2" couplers, 3" tri clamp ferrule, and a sight glass bracket). It's not impossible to weld to, but it's a little challenging due to the thickness. You will get some warpage, but that's just a cosmetic issue. The thickness varies where they ground the welds smooth, so if you are welding a fitting near the bottom, like I did, it may be even more difficult to weld. They are totally adequate, but I might have to think about a different pot if I ever have to buy another vessel that requires welding. I would rather pay double for something at least 50% thicker. For what it's worth, my Concord pot measures 0.037" thick (0.94mm).

kevink said:

I have a 100 quart Concord (not the fancy tri-ply bottomed one in the link directly above this post) that I just did a lot of welding to (whirlpool inlet, two 1/2" couplers, 3" tri clamp ferrule, and a sight glass bracket). It's not impossible to weld to, but it's a little challenging due to the thickness. You will get some warpage, but that's just a cosmetic issue. The thickness varies where they ground the welds smooth, so if you are welding a fitting near the bottom, like I did, it may be even more difficult to weld. They are totally adequate, but I might have to think about a different pot if I ever have to buy another vessel that requires welding. I would rather pay double for something at least 50% thicker. For what it's worth, my Concord pot measures 0.037" thick (0.94mm).

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That's why I like the one in the link I posted above. It's 1.2 mm thickness which is the thickest I've come across and is 18/10 T304 compliant. I was looking for something that I can get a good product but get it fairly cheap.

I've looked at spike brewing but his seem to be 1.0mm thick and I don't want to pay the extra price on his for the 1.2mm. A 1.0mm thick kettle with all the trimmings is already $340 without shipping. I'm sure it's awesome quality but I feel that I could buy the ball valve, thermometer and sight glass and do the work myself for around $300 or that's my thought right now.

Gotta have some perks to having a father with all the toys in the world to do welding. ;-) If anything I can just a weldless drill with a step bit.

I'd be curious to get people's thoughts on any 1.2mm thick kettles, how bad it was to do welding or weldless add on's and what add on's were necessary vs. nice to have vs. pointless but adds bling?

Edit: After doing some research I might in fact end up going with spikebrewing. I'll need to confer with him a bit on the price difference between the 1.2mm and 1.0 mm wall depth on the kettles.

I've called other places just to do my due diligence and am finding that people and business are wanting about $40 per weld with TIG. So $160 for the welds, $160 for a 1.2mm concord pot, $10 for a ball valve (adventures in homebrewing have them for $9 for black thursday) and right there I'm at around $300 for just a ball valve and thermometer. Spike is at $240 for a 1mm wall thickness so add in say $60 and it's the same price for having a professional do it vs me fudging through something vs finding the people and paying them to do it for me. Because of all that I think my next call/inquiry will be with spike.

Here are some updated photos of this stock pot that I used for my HLT on my eHERMS. It's currently selling at Wayfair.com for $135.59.