Downsides of a Penrose Kettle?

I've been looking to upgrade to a 15 gallon kettle for some time now and was about ready to pony up for a Blichmann or Megapot when I came across this Penrose kettle. Honestly, I think it looks the coolest of the three before price is even factored in. I've read that the guys who sell them will drill a couple holes for me for a thermometer and sight glass, so that's not an issue either (I'm the worst DIYer in the world). I'm just looking to use it for boils as I've got a nice tun already, so slow even heating isn't a priority either.

How easy is it to scorch wort heating it from mash-out temps to boiling with what looks like a thin, stainless steel bottom? Are there any other downsides I'm not aware of? I've just been using a 7.5 gallon pot that came with my Bayou Classic burner.

Subscribed, I'm yet to hear a first hand account of the product and was looking at it myself.

I have been thinking about getting one of these for myself, but I have several thousand in remodeling expenses to get through first...

There's a pic of one down towards the end of the brewhemoth thread. Guy just bought one a couple days ago.

I e-mailed 'Penrose' and requested if he could make a kettle without a spigot, he replied quickly, and said 'sure no problem' and gave me another quote. So far, I've liked communicating with him, so I'm encouraged to recommend his work...

I wonder if 16+ gallons is really large enough for double batches. I use a 7.5 gal lauter tun which is maxed out with 16lbs of grain for single batches.

16+ is definitely large enough for a 10 gallon batch. I do 13G boils in my 15G keg.

Hex said:

I wonder if 16+ gallons is really large enough for double batches. I use a 7.5 gal lauter tun which is maxed out with 16lbs of grain for single batches.

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By double batches do you mean 10 gallon batches? If so, then the answer is yes, it for sure is big enough, unless you're doing 10 gallon batches of 1.100 beer that requires a 4 hour boil!!!!

strat_thru_marshall said:

...unless you're doing 10 gallon batches of 1.100 beer that requires a 4 hour boil!!!!

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Dat's wat I do...

You have to have a large enough capacity to do RIMS, or lauter your largest grain bill.

I've got one and I love it so far. Not much of a bling factor, but very functional. It also came in at closer to 17.5 gallons.

Beer_Maker said:

I've got one and I love it so far. Not much of a bling factor, but very functional. It also came in at closer to 17.5 gallons.

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nice, pragmatism!

indigi said:

How easy is it to scorch wort heating it from mash-out temps to boiling with what looks like a thin, stainless steel bottom?

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If boiling wort in your Boil Kettle scortches the wort, how could we ever brew beer? Your question doesn't make sense. It may make sense if you were talking about a direct heated Mash Tun, but even then it has nothing to do with the vessel.

"Two add the two extra fittings would be about $31.00. Please advise whether you want full port coupler or just half port (no threads available to the inside). This would not add significant time to build.

Happy Brewing,

Dale Penrose"

This is exactly the e-mail message I received when inquiring about adding two extra fittings. That would be $170 shipped. Pretty good IMO.

Sounds good. Are there any downsides getting full port couplers if you aren't going to use them for a bit? And would I be able to plug them somehow if I don't buy the thermometer and sight glass right awway?

Sawdustguy said:

If boiling wort in your Boil Kettle scortches the wort, how could we ever brew beer? Your question doesn't make sense. It may make sense if you were talking about a direct heated Mash Tun, but even then it has nothing to do with the vessel.

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I've never looked into it before, I've always used aluminum or triple-clad bottom SS pots. I've read in multiple places that thin SS bottoms aren't nearly as good at conducting the heat evenly and could lead to scorching, but I suppose that only applied to extract brewing and direct-fired mash tuns. I thought that maybe super-heating one spot on the bottom of a kettle could scorch wort when heating it to a boil, but I guess not. Thanks for the info

I was considering getting a custom Sabco boil kettle to use as an electric boil kettle, but I'm very tempted by the price of these Penrose kettles. Even with adding a 1" half coupler and an extra port for a whirlpool return these kettles are still less than half the price of the sabco.
The only draw back I see is not having the false bottom which would be nice for filtering whole hops and some of the cold break. I suppose if I actually do the whirlpool that would help with that? I guess I could also use a filter of some sort instead.

philrose said:

Subscribed, I'm yet to hear a first hand account of the product and was looking at it myself.

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what he said!

Hex said:

Dat's wat I do...

You have to have a large enough capacity to do RIMS, or lauter your largest grain bill.

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From reading other threads about these kettles if you write them they can make the kettle 22 gallons.

philrose said:

nice, pragmatism!

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Beer drinkers are known to be very pragmatic.

Sawdustguy said:

If boiling wort in your Boil Kettle scortches the wort, how could we ever brew beer? Your question doesn't make sense. It may make sense if you were talking about a direct heated Mash Tun, but even then it has nothing to do with the vessel.

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It seems some like clad bottoms (aluminum sandwiched by stainless) to disperse the direct heat, but my 15g Boilermaker kettle has a very thin sheet of non-clad stainless for a bottom and I have not experienced any scorching; I'm using a Top Tier burner...not that it makes any difference.

Elshauno said:

From reading other threads about these kettles if you write them they can make the kettle 22 gallons.

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If you put your foot on the bottom and pull REALLY hard on the handles....

After I get a couple more batches brewed up I'm going to list my 10g pot locally. Then I'm going to order one of these Kettles. It has a smaller diameter and a better volume for me to work with. I do a lot of higher gravity brews and it'd sure be nice to have the space in the kettle to fit a full 10g or so for a 6g batch and a real long boil.

smokinghole said:

After I get a couple more batches brewed up I'm going to list my 10g pot locally. Then I'm going to order one of these Kettles. It has a smaller diameter and a better volume for me to work with. I do a lot of higher gravity brews and it'd sure be nice to have the space in the kettle to fit a full 10g or so for a 6g batch and a real long boil.

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I am local, and looking for a bigger kettle

Well I'll keep you in mind then.

I just ordered one of these myself a few days ago, so I can't comment on the actual kettle yet. I can say though, they were really good at answering all my email questions quickly. And the price is really good too

i just got the 22 gallon version of the kettle. at the time of purchase, it was the only one available and they were not certain if they were going to produce any more. here are a few pics






all in all i'm very happy with the kettle, especially for the price. these guys even took the first picture of me hugging and put it on their site haha! their customer service was top notch, and from my first email to them about availability to the kettle being on my doorstep was about 5 days.

i havent brewed with it yet as i'm turning it into an electric kettle and i'm currently sourcing out all the parts. i will attest that the bottom is pretty heavy duty so it would take a flame great, although i wont be worrying about that. you will need to find yourself a lid but thats pretty easy with the 15 inch diameter.

I am totally interested in hearing more about this kettle. I am in the market and like the price. I am currently a keggle user.

I too am interested. Apparently, so are a lot of other people, because when I went to the website to order, they are no longer taking orders for the Penrose Kettle due to being inundated with orders. They have so much catching up to do I can't even order one!

Damn. I emailed them on Friday to ask them a question about having an extra hole drilled so I could place an order and was wondering why they hadn't got back to me. This probably means they'll up the price or something

Damnit! I emailed to see if they would add a sight glass to it or at least include one if they had easy access. Oooh wells.

I must have ordered mine just in time, since mine showed up yesterday. I really like it, the whole thing seems very sturdy, the bottom and handles especially. Unfortunatly the bottom is not 100% flat (which I knew about before ordering), so it does not work well on my electric glass cooktop stove. Oh well just have to wait until I get a gas setup t use it. Unless of course any of you have any ideas for me to make it work

Homer said:

I must have ordered mine just in time, since mine showed up yesterday. I really like it, the whole thing seems very sturdy, the bottom and handles especially. Unfortunatly the bottom is not 100% flat (which I knew about before ordering), so it does not work well on my electric glass cooktop stove. Oh well just have to wait until I get a gas setup t use it. Unless of course any of you have any ideas for me to make it work

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Sell it to me so I can use it on my gas burner now and then when you get a gas burner they'll probably be back in stock and have a flatter bottom.

indigi said:

Damn. I emailed them on Friday to ask them a question about having an extra hole drilled so I could place an order and was wondering why they hadn't got back to me. This probably means they'll up the price or something

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i wouldnt assume that, they are pretty backed up and can take a couple days to respond. once they do they have great customer service.

Waunabeer said:

Sell it to me so I can use it on my gas burner now and then when you get a gas burner they'll probably be back in stock and have a flatter bottom.

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Tempting... but I think i'm gonna try and build a heat stick first, and see if I can boil with the heat stick + stove.

Okay, got tired of waiting. Email and voicemail requesting notice when Penrose kettle would be available, no reply to either. It's been a few weeks. Order placed with Austin Homebrew supply for the Polarware 42 quart kettle w/ball valve, 240 bucks including shipping. Bought a hose barb nipple for the ball valve from them too, that was extra. I got beer to brew damnit, summer's coming. So in response to the title of this thread, "downside to Penrose kettle", I guess the downside would be you can't buy one!

Sorry about that......we are very busy, and doing everything we can to catch up and ship. I have also tried very hard to answer everyones emails as best I can. Apperently I missed one. A couple weeks back we realized that we were way behind. Rather than collect peoples money and sit on it till we caught up, we shut down that part of the website. Do to building up some stock, we have Brewhemoths about, but the kettles disappeared way too fast.
Dale Penrose

Dale beat me to it...

Thanks for all your interest and we promise to be back up to date on the kettles soon!!

Cheers!

Josh

Will you be making the 22gal kettles when you get caught up?

On the other hand.... Congrats on your success guys. ::

Got your email today Dale. No problem man. Sorry I couldn't wait. And I appreciate all the winter weather problems you've been having at work, believe me!

I bought one... works great...

Bruin said:

Got your email today Dale. No problem man. Sorry I couldn't wait. And I appreciate all the winter weather problems you've been having at work, believe me!

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Being in Jersey, I bet you understand completely! We don't get it as bad in St. Louis, but Dale is in charge of Maintenance, so it snows and he is here at about 4:00 in the morning!!