Does a keggle take longer to boil?

[Happydad1689]

I'm needing to get a larger brew pot. I'm eying a converted keg. I'm wondering if it takes longer to come to boil than a regular stainless pot.

Anyone able to tell me your experience with them?

 

[jessej122]

Depends on what kind of burner you have,when I first got mine I only had a turkey deep fryer burner and that did not cut it. Bought a bayou burner works great with my keggle. So I would say yes it will take longer with proper BTU burner

 

[jessej122]

*without

 

[cgm]

My buddy has a keggle and a turkey fryer to heat it up... I am pretty sure we got 10 gallons of water to temp in 15-20 min during the fall. When we brewed in 25 degree F weather, it probably took 30 min. His turkey fryer is a beast. When I start to put together my own set of brewing equipment, I will likely go the keggle route. It is nice to have the thermometer to monitor... well... temperature and a ball valve to transfer fluids out of the brew kettle.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

It won't take any longer to boil the same volume of liquid. Yes, a keggle is more thermal mass than your old kettle, but that's not enough of a difference to change anything.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Straight SS pot, no. Tri-clad or other AL or CU sandwich, yes...but not by much. This is all assuming propane fired. Induction or electric water heater element changes the equation considerably.

 

[grathan]

There was a thread where I compared numbers with a guy with a thin bottom pot vs my keggle and the difference was huge. I would say %60 difference. I can't recall if the pot was aluminum or not though. Cooling also takes longer.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

I've used both quite a few times, and the heating difference isn't enough to worry... as long as your burner and other variables are sufficient. It does take a small amount longer to cool your wort in a keggle though. Great time to add hops! Lol!

A lot of times, you can find a nice 15g or 20g stainless used (sometimes new) kettle for the price of a keggle now days. Prices keep going up on those babies.

Bit of advice (maybe just a personal opinion): Make sure the thermometer is below the 5g mark. That way you can use the same equipment to play with smaller batches...

 

[WheresMyBier]

I've used both and sold my keggles because the difference was so great. Propane is expensive and I save over an hour going with a good pot over the keggle. My burners are all Blichmann Top Tier. Not the biggest out there but not bad.

 

[paperairplane]

My keggle takes a little longer than my old Al 9 gal pot, but not enough that I notice. I have a SQ14 burner.

As a side benefit, the extra mass of the keggle has helped my mash - since I BIAB, the big heavy keggle holds temp better.

A 20# propane fill here is about $14. A new Blichman 15 gal is around $350. Say a keggle is $50 and the new Blichman pot uses 1/2 the gas of the keggle, you will need about 40 batches to break even. If you brew once a month, that's almost 3.5 years to make up the difference.