Now it's my turn - what brew kettle and what size?

[moreb33rplz]

I know there are a lot of threads about this already but...whatever.

I've been brewing for 15 years and am looking to retire my much loved cheapo 10 gallon amazon pot. I've always done 5 gallon batches, brew outside on propane, BIAB w/ pulley, immersion chiller, then an auto-siphon to rack cool wort into fermentor (I don't have a valve on my kettle). I'd like a new kettle with a valve, big enough to sometimes do low gravity 9 gallon batches, very sturdy handles, and I intend to use it for 10 years. My questions are:

- 15 or 20 gallons?
- One port or two? I BIAB so I assume a thermometer would get in the way and am leaning towards only one port
- Ball valve or Butterfly? I'm willing to pay $50 more if it means I don't have to disassemble a valve every brew day but not sure that's how it works
- Welded or weldless?

I've been looking at the usual suspects: SS Brewtech, Brewbuilt, Spike+. Currently leaning towards a 15 gallon Brewbuilt with TC and Butterfly valve for $380.

 

[Nagorg]

- 20 Gallon
- I'd venture to say 3 port. (1 for thermometer, 1 for drain and 1 for whirlpool)
- Ball valve on the hot side NP. I'd consider Tri-Clover over NPT!
- Spike Welded 100%

Thats my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

[moreb33rplz]

For the ports, the whirlpool is one you'd put up high so if I had a pump I could recirculate mash or for chilling if i ever got a plate chiller?

For valve, for BIAB it will only get used to transfer cool wort to fermenter, so butterfly (is that the same as tri-clover)?

 

[Nagorg]

On the whirlpool port, yes it gets set up higher. Spike will do custom port configs for you. So if you tell them about your 9 gallon batch size target, they can set it low enough in the kettle for a whirlpool to work.

It doesnt matter about BIAB. Butterfly is a type of valve just as is "ball". Even though the wort is cool when you transfer, you can still use ball valve for the transfer. Thats exactly what I do. You also will have better flow control with a ball valve.

You can get Tri-Clover (a.k.a. TC or "Sanitary") fittings for ball valve too whereas butterfly's are standard with Tri-Clover.

Butterfly valves on the fermenter though for sure. But ball-valve on the kettle. Dont get me wrong, you can use them on the kettle too if you want. I just think I'd go ball-valve because they tend to be cheaper and you certianly have better flow control which is good for both whirlpool and wort transfer.

So maybe not exactly that much cheaper but still... Regardless, if you get TC fittings welded on your kettle, you can do pretty much whatever pretty easily.
https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/tc15_2pbv_ez_diptube.htm

 

[NewJersey]

Take a look at the brewhardware spike kettle based ebiab setup.

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/biabpackagepremium.htm

 

[Hammy71]

I'd go with the 20 gallon from Spike. They do custom ports and ship quickly. Very, very, good quality.

 

[Franktalk]

+1 on Spike+ custom. You'll be glad that you have a port for your whirlpool!

 

[beerfactory]

I've got a 16 gallon beast kettle that I like quite a bit. Just a regular old propane 3 vessel, batch sparge guy.

I like the edge pickup tube because it clears plenty of room for my immersion chiller and I can whirlpool to avoid a bunch of hops debris.

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/beastkettle16.htmhttps://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/nptplug.htmhttps://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/diptube_edge.htmhttps://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/3pbv_mf.htmhttps://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/hosebarb12mx12.htmhttps://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/siliconetubing12id.htm

 

[Oleson M.D.]

You might consider Delta:

https://www.deltabrewingsystems.com/collections/kettles/products/the-brew-kettle-20-gallon-elite

 

[moreb33rplz]

My lord the choices!

 

[Oleson M.D.]

My lord the choices!

If you sign up with Delta, they offer a 15% discount. We have three of their 8 gallon Conical Fermenters.

 

[Mac MacFarlane]

I’m was in the same boat and am currently putting my system together went with a 20gallon came with two welded 1/2ports and I added another to whirlpool and added two 1650w elements. I’m still waiting for my steam condenser and element enclosures.

 

[Tom Foolery]

Too much headspace in a 20 gallon pot for 5 galllon batches.

 

[bwible]

I question the need for a port for a thermometer on a brew kettle. For brew in a bag, the bag gets caught and sometimes torn on the probe. Depending on how long the probe is. I also found the probe on mine interfered with my wort chiller.

I have the Anvil 5.5 gallon which is a great pot. With that size pot the thermometer probe gets in the way of both brew in a bag and an immersion chiller. There was no option to not get the thermometer and port but I was able to remove the thermometer and buy a plug from Blichmann to fill in the port. I like my brewpot much better now.

I have a clip on thermometer I use for the readings I need to take, then I take it off. I don’t need a thermometer for a whole 60 min boil.

 

[Oleson M.D.]

While not required, the thermometer is handy as you are ramping up to a boil and watching the temp closely.
The other time we like it is during the chilling phase as it alerts us to target temps.
We have a Hydra Immersion Chiller, and there is no problem.

 

[Joe P]

I’m was in the same boat and am currently putting my system together went with a 20gallon came with two welded 1/2ports and I added another to whirlpool and added two 1650w elements. I’m still waiting for my steam condenser and element enclosures.

Now thats Sweet!

 

[Joe P]

Nice! I just use plastics.

 

[moreb33rplz]

Too much headspace in a 20 gallon pot for 5 galllon batches.

Do you think even for full volume BIAB? I haven't tried but I don't think I'd have a problem doing a 2.5 gallon batch in my 10 gallon pot.

 

[Joe P]

I did the opposite last week. 5 gallon brew in a 5 gallon Fermentor. Had to transfer to my 6 gallon and it fermented fine. Your deal leaves a whole lot of headspace. 5 gal in a 20 gal. I guess it would ferment but id try shooting sone nitrogen on top of the brew. At least you'd reduce the oxygen amount. Sometimes i've used small Nitro canisters. Cheap and a bit bigger then C02 cartridges for air guns. Live & learn i guess. Good luck.

 

[moreb33rplz]

I did the opposite last week. 5 gallon brew in a 5 gallon Fermentor. Had to transfer to my 6 gallon and it fermented fine. Your deal leaves a whole lot of headspace. 5 gal in a 20 gal. I guess it would ferment but id try shooting sone nitrogen on top of the brew. At least you'd reduce the oxygen amount. Sometimes i've used small Nitro canisters. Cheap and a bit bigger then C02 cartridges for air guns. Live & learn i guess. Good luck.

This is my brew kettle though not my fermenter, I ferment in 5 gallon corny kegs

 

[mnbrewr]

Do you want to stay on propane or would you consider electric? Electric is sweet but could potentially be a big project if you don't have 220V available.
Do you want to be able to recirculate during mash to maintain temps or prefer to just insulate your mashtun/kettle as best you can?
Do you do a lot of whirlpool hop additions and/or care about chilling times? The whirlpool helps cool faster (with an immersion chiller) and if you're using a pump makes it pretty effortless.

I spent some time the other day scraping gunk out of the NPT threads on my kettle with a toothbrush. Made me wish I had all TC ports.
I have the eBIAB system mentioned above. Love it. But I think you could also use this with propane if you didn't want to go electric.

 

[Nick Poggetti]

Do you think even for full volume BIAB? I haven't tried but I don't think I'd have a problem doing a 2.5 gallon batch in my 10 gallon pot.

I do 5 gallon full volume mash batches (actually 6.5-7) in my 20 gallon kettle all the time. I know it's technically more than 5 gallons, but I always like to have enough going into the fermenter no matter what I'm brewing. An extra cost and some wasted wort leftover, but it works for me.

 

[moreb33rplz]

Do you want to stay on propane or would you consider electric? Electric is sweet but could potentially be a big project if you don't have 220V available.
Do you want to be able to recirculate during mash to maintain temps or prefer to just insulate your mashtun/kettle as best you can?
Do you do a lot of whirlpool hop additions and/or care about chilling times? The whirlpool helps cool faster (with an immersion chiller) and if you're using a pump makes it pretty effortless.

I spent some time the other day scraping gunk out of the NPT threads on my kettle with a toothbrush. Made me wish I had all TC ports.
I have the eBIAB system mentioned above. Love it. But I think you could also use this with propane if you didn't want to go electric.

Im gonna stick with propane, but undecided if I want to go with the whirlpool and pump. I've been doing it the old.fashioned way for so long and I'm skeptical about getting all fancy but also would love to make my chilling process easier

 

[Nagorg]

I love my whirlpool and pump action. Even if I'm not doing a whirlpool hop addition, I always use it for cooling. Circulating the wort around my immersion chiller works wonders.

 

[moreb33rplz]

What pump, fittings, hoses, accessories etc do you need to get a recirc going? I'd just use the immersion chiller as always but the wort would also flow in and out of the kettle right?

 

[mnbrewr]

Im gonna stick with propane, but undecided if I want to go with the whirlpool and pump. I've been doing it the old.fashioned way for so long and I'm skeptical about getting all fancy but also would love to make my chilling process easier

A whirlpool with a pump and immersion chiller makes the chilling process very easy (and fast). After you've transferred your cooled wort to your fermenter you can then recirculate a PBW solution to clean out your pump/lines/valves. I've found this does a pretty good job of cleaning everything but little bits of crud do build up around orings and in NPT threads so I do end up taking everything apart to clean every several brew days.

There's a lot to say for keeping it simple. A kettle with a single TC port with an easy to clean/disassemble valve would make for quick and easy cleanup.

What pump, fittings, hoses, accessories etc do you need to get a recirc going? I'd just use the immersion chiller as always but the wort would also flow in and out of the kettle right?

Yes, something like what is shown on the various "all-in-one" systems out there like this:
Spike Solo Systems | Spike Brewing

Out one port, through a pump, back into another port that has a sideways facing outlet in the kettle gets you a whirlpool. (I think you're using "recirc" and "whirlpool" interchangeably...these systems usually have an additional port through the lid or high up on the kettle to accommodate recirculating during mash and a lower port for whirlpooling. you don't need the upper port if you just want to whirlpool)

If you wanted to stick with a single port but still be able to whirlpool with a pump there's this clamp-on whirlpool return:
Spincycle Overboard, No-Drill Kettle Whirlpool Return
You would still need the pump/hose/fittings but would save on the cost of an additional kettle port and valve.

Once you add a pump/recirc there's a number of fittings/hoses that you'll need. Here's a good video that talks about the various options:
Fittings / Camlocks / Triclover