Brew Kettle?

I'm looking into getting a brew kettle since I'm upgrading from a Mr Beer kit, should i get a brew kettle with built in ball valve and thermometer?.

Seems like it would make brewing easy and should 8 gallons be enough or should i go with a 10 gallon?

if money isnt an issue go with the ten, it will make life easier than the eight

Thermometer is not really necessary. Ball valve isn't either, but I'll say it's damn nice to have.

Get the 10G pot. Trust me.

Thanks. Money is not an issue, i would spend the extra money to make the hobby more easy.

Here is my opinion, I bought a ten gallon Polarware pot with no valves. Took it to a welder who screwed it up. Fixed the best I could, and used it for a few batches. Figured out that it takes the same amount of time to brew 10 gallons as it does 5. In order to brew a 5 gallon batch you will sometimes need 7.5 gallons in the kettle. This leaves you a real problem with boil over. There isn't much price difference between 10 and 15 gallon pots. I would get the 15 gallon pot with dual couplings installed, if possible. The reason being you may expand down the road and may want to use it as a mash tun or HLT for larger batches. My 10 gallon pot now is my hop back, decoc pot, pilot 5 gallon batch HLT. GO 15, you will thank me down the road. I would also look for a pot that is more tall than wide. This will help with having less boil off. If you find one w/o the couplings it isn't hard to find a welder to install a few 1/2" couplings. Sorry for the long winded answer, just my $.02.