Help me pick a boil kettle

Hi!

So I've decided to go from 5.5 gallon batches to 15.5 gallon batches. I bought 2 Bayou Classic 20 gallon pots and installed pot conversion kits from Bobby M. Each kit included a 3 piece valve, thermometer, and sight glass. I haven't made the inaugural run yet but I'm thinking that my 20 gal. boil kettle might be a hair to small. I figure we do 5.5 gal. batches because that extra .5 gallon is for trub and what not, so if I'm doing a batch 3 times the size of that, I should do 16.5 gallons right? And then there is the need to collect more wort than what you end with due to evaporation and the need for some head space.

So I was thinking about buying a 25 gallon pot for my boil kettle. I was thinking about morebeer.com's 26 gallon kettle with welded valve and thermometer holes or Spike Brewing's 25 gallon kettle with welded holes and a sight glass. I really like the idea of a sight glass and am tired of drilling into kettles.

Does anyone have any better suggestions? What pot would you go for?

 

Going to the 25 gallon is definitely a good idea if you want to brew a full 15.5 gallons to fill a keg. It will give you more space and help with boilovers.

I think if you want the sight glass and don't want to drill into a kettle, I think you answered the question for yourself. It's more a matter of personal preference than anything, that being said, I'm sure some other people will have opinions one way or another based on personal experience with one of the pots, however I don't.

Cheers