Edelmetall Brü Kettle - any owners?

[Candyman84]

http://www.northernbrewer.com/edelmetall-bru-kettle

After getting seriously passionate about homebrewing last year, I have pretty quickly outgrown my cheap 6 gallon aluminum kettle, that I have bought initially just to get started. After long considerations, I finally got settled on which my first real high quality pot should become: the Edelmetall Bru Kettle. Seems to cross off my whole list of must haves when it comes to basic features (spigot, thermometer, etched markings) and the ones that make it real compelling vs others (no internal threads, weldless whirlpool and after all badass looks).

Now...that was in November, before I could turn around the thing was sold out. Ever since then I could not move off the idea of getting exactly this one and settling for something else always seemed like missing out on some features or just spending way too much.

So, while it is March now and I am getting really impatient as I am still brewing in my way too small, inconvenient and frankly pretty rocked down pot, I was wondering if anyone here has bought one during the short time they were available and wants to share his/her thoughts? Trying to find out if I just got so married to the idea, skewed by the cool looks and maybe it is not even worth the wait after all?
Happily take a raving review and wait some more, hopefully not too many months. But if someone has it and it is just not as great, then I may have an easier time settling for something else...

Thoughts?

 

[Candyman84]

No answers, but not even any views of this thread? Wow, I would have thought this kettle is more coveted?

No one interested in discussing this piece or sharing some frustration while waiting ?

 

[tagz]

Looks great. The whirlpool arm is cool and seems to work well from reviews. It's weird that they would spend so much time on the kettle and not make the lid fit properly though...

 

[SpikeBrewing]

If you're looking for a welded option we offer custom welding if you need a additional port AND all of our standard kettles can have a side pickup tube installed into the top port for a whirlpool port.

Below is a kettle with the (2) side pickup tubes installed and a recent test we did using 8oz of pellet hops and a 10min whirlpool.

 

[Candyman84]

Sorry for the delayed response. Been away for a bit.

Looks great. The whirlpool arm is cool and seems to work well from reviews. It's weird that they would spend so much time on the kettle and not make the lid fit properly though...

Did you find that in some reviews? Sounds odd and much like the kind of first Gen issue you most of the times get with newly developed stuff. Hopefully something they can easily fix.


The other pics look pretty impressive and reaffirm why I am so big on the whirlpool arm. Did some research as well and there really seem to be easy ways to add an arm to any kettle. I am just so convinced by the no-internal threads design which keeps the inside of the kettle clean and makes stirring with a spoon so much easier than having to maneuver around these arms. But then again the thermowell will be in the way anyways...I'll give this another month, end of April the latest and will then move on to something else....

 

[broncobob71]

I had a wonderfully written and long winded review typed up, but it disappeared. So here is a much shorter and not near as entertaining read.

The pot is great!
Wife bought me the 15 gallon for Christmas and I used it for the first time on Saturday.

Whirlpool port is well made, easy to install, doesn't leak, very sturdy and is low enough for a 5 gallon batch also.

Outlet bulkhead is their ezclean flush mount. Dip tube is hard to get in, but it will go in. It sits 1/2" from the edge and it sucks this thing down to 40 oz.

Both ports come with stainless ball valves.
I put a set of Bobby_M's cam lock fittings on them and they worked great also.

Handles have a nice thick rubberish coating on them.

Lid handle should be wider so that you can hang it on the kettle handles, I tried and the wind blew it onto the ground. The edge bent, but the lid is sturdy enough that bending it back did not warp the whole thing.

Bottom is nice and thick. No scorching at all.

Thermometer works and has it's own thermowell as part of it's bulkhead.

The burner had some issues that needed to be delt with.
the leg straps are too short and pull inward causing the kettle supports at the top to lean outward leaving the kettle supported on 3 points instead of flats. I picked up some longer bolts and washers to fix that. I didn't have enough washers, but dip tube O-rings just happened to fit perfectly and alternating them looked nicer than just a stack of washers.

Function wise the burner worked great, too well for the copper plating on the upper ring and for the decal plate on the other side. Copper burned off right away and the decal turned black.

 

[Candyman84]

Awesome review. First detailed post I read about this thing.
Sounds all perfect and worth waiting.

Is the Copper on the Kettle itself a pita to keep clean and nice looking or not as badly affected as the decals on the burner?

I am thinking about the 10gal pot, so whirlpooling a 5gal recipe shouldn't be an issue, but good to know it even works with the 15gal pot.

I am an apartment / stovetop brewer, which gives me a bit of a headache at the moment. I would love to convert this thing into an electric pot, but then I would want to go for 220V and then would put me out on the balcony next to the washing machine again. Not quite what I want either.

Going for such a huge setup with burner, etc. may be a bit too clunky for my limited space, unfortunately, so I cam lost on that end. Probably deep inside me I still hope to make it work on my stovetop and that the problem goes away, but I highly doubt I can get a nice rolling boil like that...

 

[broncobob71]

The copper is covered in a clear coat. I could smell it burn off the burner. The legs and pot should stay shiney for a long time. For the money it would be a coin toss with the others in its price range, it is pretty though.

For stove top I have an 8 gallon bayou classic brew kettle. Came with thermometer, thick botom, stainless valve and 1/4 gallon indented markings, false bottom and bazooka screen.

False bottom too high for a mash tun but great height to keep brew in a bag off the bottom. Only upgrade needed is dip tube like the edemetall. Doubles as a nice hot liquer due to 1/4 gallon marks. Walls are not as thick, but not too thin. I have a sous vide pod I use with it to maintain water temps. Like a hot stick but with built in temp control and recirculation.