Brew kettle upgrade

[mbach72]

I'm looking for suggestions for upgrading my brew kettle. For years, I brewed with extract. I would boil about 3 gallons and top up with water. Then I moved to doing BIAB with some smaller batches. I've been using a 4 gallon pot.

I just built a cooler mash tun and I'm looking to get a bigger kettle. I really enjoy making smaller batches and find anything between 2-4 gallons to be perfect for me. I may go as high as 5, but that is uncommon and almost certainly the max size for me. I also prefer brewing inside, as long as my stove can handle it.

I'm looking for a kettle in the 30-32 qt range. I would prefer a valve on it, but I am open to drilling it and installing one myself. I am probably going to do that to my 4 gal as well.

I've scoured the web and found millions of options. Unfortunately, its so hard to guage quality. There's one particular 32 qt with valve/thermometer that can be had for around $100, but the reviews are terrible. I see a lot of other 32 qt pots without the accessories that look suspiciously like the same pot but I cant be sure.

I guess what I'm looking for is something that can stand up to stove top boiling without warping. Also, because I'm mostly on the stove, a smaller diameter pot might be nice to minimize boil-off, which would allow me to do most batches indoors. I can boil up to 4 gallons on my stove.

Anyone have any suggestions that fit my bill? Oh yeah, I'm hopefully about to start building a house so money is a factor. That sort of takes me out of Blichmann or Polarware territory. I'd like to stay at or under $150 if possible.

 

[headwall]

What did the reviews say for the mystery budget kettle you looked at?

This doesn't have to be an expensive hobby if you don't want it to be. I brewed all my 5 gallon batches in a 32qt aluminum pot and that did not affect the quality one bit. I will say that for 5 gallon batches, 32qt is the smallest I would go. A lot of my batches came pretty close to the top of the pot pre-boil.

The Concord stock pots seem like a decent option for a budget kettle, although 40qt might be the smallest volume available. They are stainless steel but don't have clad bottoms and the walls are on the thinner side (~1mm) but they are still a fine choice I think. You can get one for about $60 before shipping on ebay and then get a weldless bulkhead and ball valve from one of the vendors on this forum. You'd be into it for less than $100 I imagine.

That's the route I would go if I were looking for a kettle in that size range.

Edit: I realize I just recommended a pot that was larger than you were looking for. I guess my main point is a pot is a pot. If you don't want to go over 32qt, just find something that is stainless steel and that is in your budget. I'd suggest drilling a hole for the valve yourself and using quality fittings from one of the vendors on this forum. That way you aren't wasting money on any cheap fittings that may leak or something and you aren't wasting money on stuff you (arguably) don't need, like a second port and a thermometer.

 

[Lost]

While larger than you need and not something that can be placed on a stove, a keg can be had for around $40. If there isn't one for sale already and you're in a rush just place a "wanted" add. I've gotten a couple from people who (separately) claimed their liquor store wouldn't take them back and give them their deposit without a receipt. So that's one avenue if you don't mind the ethical and legal debate surrounding keggles. You'd have to have a propane burner or electrical element to use the keggle too.. so maybe not the best choice but it's big, future proof, and very high quality. Cut the bottom open and use that as the top, the former top (now the bottom) becomes a center drain. Brewers hardware sells a triclover adapter that converts the top/bottom fitting to npt so that you can put a ball valve on it, no welding required. All you need is a sawzall to cut a hole in the bottom of the keg (which, again, will become the 'top' of the keggle).

Aside from that, if you want to stay cheap, get an aluminum pot and drill it and install a weldless fitting. It's always cheaper, a lot cheaper, to do the work yourself than to buy a pot with bungs welded and fittings installed already. And aluminum is going to be cheaper than the equivalent quality stainless. Aside from putting in the work to install fittings yourself I think you're going to get what you pay for, there are no free lunches.

I would recommend finding a restaurant supply company near you and dropping in. They may require proof that you are in the restaurant business (mine did) but if you chat with the manager a bit and tell them what you're looking for they'll probably let you in "just this once" (mine did). I got a 20 gal aluminum pot with lid for dirt cheap this way. The nice thing about buying from a brick and mortar store is that you can see the pots and evaluate the quality with your own eyes and hands and not rely on others reviews or published specs such as purported wall thickness.

 

[sniperd]

Go big or go home!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/great-deal-100qt-kettle-75-shipped-nh-417770/

kidding aside, we just used this kettle (25 gallon for $75 shipping) and it was great. Maybe they have other stuff that is pretty cheap kettle wise for what you want.

You may also want to look into a heat stick to augment your heating, we use one even though we brew outside on propane, it really helps get stuff going.

 

[mbach72]

I think we only have one restaurant supply around here, and afaik they dont sell cookware. I think I'll just hit the web and find what appears to be a decent aluminum pot. I know its not a definitive method, but I'll probably look at thickness and overall weight to indicate how solid a given pot is. Does that sound reasonable? I saw some recurring brands on ebay, Winco, Thunder Group, and Update International. Anyone have experience with any of those?

I figure if I pick up an aluminum pot for $40, I'll buy the necesary hardware from bargainfittings or brewhardware(both seem like solid choices) and still come in well within my budget. If the pot sucks, I'll just strip the hardware off it , buy a new pot, and call it a $40 lesson.

 

[brew2dan2]

If you don't mind aluminum, I got a decent kettle at waresdirect.com for less than $50 (30 quart). It says 32, but I recently recalibrated mine (with an installed sight glass) and it's only 30. They have stainless steel for less than $100 too, for that size. The aluminum is nice quality, sturdy handles, thick sidewalls (I measured: 4mm), absolutely no problems with it, other than that the lid is sold separately (~$8). It is a bit of a wide diameter, so my boiloff is around 13%. On the stove, it might be less. I tend to overboil to be sure it's sufficiently vigorous.

If you want to upgrade it to electric, the 4mm aluminum is too thick to mount a heating element into, but it'll work great on propane. Bargainfittings.com and brewhardware.com both offer kits for sight glasses and bulkheads if you want to upgrade later. Hope this helps.

http://www.waresdirect.com/products/Restaurant-Supply/Update-International-/Stock-Pot-32-Qt-167552
http://www.waresdirect.com/products/Restaurant-Supply/UpdateInternational-/Stainless-Pot168822

 

[chezhed]

I have a 15 gal Thunder that I added my own stuff too, valve, thermometer, sight glass, and have used for numerous batches. It's a good pot and I would recommend it.
I recently acquired a Concord 25 gal...just finished adding valve and sight glass. It is not the thickness of the Thunder pot but it was about half the price....seems a bit thin but I will find out next weekend how it performs.
I've never used aluminum so I can't say.....
And both pots came off ebay.

 

[JUST_BREW_IT]

If you are looking to upgrade and your budget is somewhat limiting then by all means go with aluminum! I purchased the 25 gallon version of this kettle. It is a tank! I believe the wall thickness was at 7mm which was more than adequate for me. The 32 quart is only 30 bucks. install your ball valve, thermometer, sight glass your self and save some money. Best of luck!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PZBEM2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[mbach72]

Thanks! That's one of them I was looking at (the 32qt version.) I was one of the thicker ones I saw, and you're right, it was right around $30. I think I'll pull the trigger today.

 

[Toga]

$69 plus shipping for stainless steel with a welded fitting for a ball valve. It is a thick heavy pot too!

http://www.homebrewing.org/One-Weld-9-Gallon-Stainless-Steel-Pot_p_1683.html

 

[Lost]

If you are looking to upgrade and your budget is somewhat limiting then by all means go with aluminum! I purchased the 25 gallon version of this kettle. It is a tank! I believe the wall thickness was at 7mm which was more than adequate for me. The 32 quart is only 30 bucks. install your ball valve, thermometer, sight glass your self and save some money. Best of luck!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PZBEM2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

That's just 6.5 gallons which is barely enough for a vigorous 4 gal boil... maybe. You're asking for boil overs with a 5 gal batch. I know you said you don't often do 5 gal batches but you need to think in terms of that because one day you will start kegging and corny kegs hold 5 gals.

You don't have to go overboard future proofing, but it seems silly to me to not even buy equipment cable of doing a standard 5 gal batch without worry of boil over.

edit: sorry, can't do math today evidently.. and I haven't even been drinking. 8 gal is a good size for a 5 gal batch. buy the pot and disregard my earlier comments.