Ss brew kettle | brewmaster edition

Probably going to go with the blichmann hellfire.

Because of the shape of the bottom of the kettle, its not flat its rounded and the kettle is wider than the top of the Darkstar so it will not sit on top of it, it slides off. It only misses by about 1/4" but its enough to make it not stable.

 

You could have some tabs welded onto the existing burner. Probably any welding shop could do it for a few bucks while you wait.

 

question for the owners of the BME: what are your impressions of the rotatable racking arm? can it be rotated on the fly (i.e. can you lower it manually during racking, if you decide that you want to pick up more) - or is it something you set before boil, and once the kettle is full it's essentially locked in place? how useful is the racking arm?

i'm seriously considering asking for a 20 gal BME as a belated dad day present... certainly looks like a sweet piece of bling.

 

I like it, I just wish it picked up more to the side of the kettle, but with the domed bottom I don't think it's really possible. You can move it during or after the boil. I'd suggest tightening up the clamp and then loosening it a little at a time until you can rotate it before filling it with any liquid or boiling wort. Also, a little keg lube or even some sprays of starsan on the gasket can make it a little easier to move it around. I pick up a bit of trub during the end of transfer, but it is mostly hot break. The hop cone, from the whirlpool, stays pretty well intact though.

 

I don't have a pump yet so have not tried to rotate it, but I did ask SS Brewtech and they said you need to loosen the Tri clamp until you can manually rotate the whole valve which will turn the racking arm.

 

I only have one brew on my 10 gallon BME kettle, but yes it can be rotated on the fly but like the other guy posted it probably would be a good idea to put some keg lube on the gasket because without it its a little harder to turn... I was afraid of the triclamp being too loose and causing a leak but there were no leaks. I will be doing a heavily hopped brew tomorrow and will be using the whirlpool port for the first time. I am curious to see how well it works.

 

SO I wanted to weigh in here as I have used my new 20 gallon BME during my last 2 brew days. At the moment I am not sure where I stand on this thing.

First off, my first batch which I made about 2 weeks ago, had to be dumped. I have brewed about 10 times and never dumped a batch with my old kettle. The beer was disgusting. I am thinking its possibly from not doing a full soak and clean (I just rinsed it down thinking it was new so it was clean). I am hearing that sometimes these kettles have left over oils from the production process, so I am really hoping that was the case. Since then I soaked it in PBW and and scrubbed it down with barkeepers friend. I soaked all valves, thermometer etc.

If it was not from that, then it was from the real big issue. Either this is NOT holding temps during mash (I do full volume BIAB) or the thermometer is not accurate. Both brew days if going by the installed thermometer my mash temp has dropped significantly over the hour. My strike temp was 160, I added my 26 lb of grains and after the first 10 mins it was still showing 160-162. That does not make sense. So then when I checked about 10 mins later it was down to 150. Well thats where I wanted to be. I checked 5 mins later and it said 140! First batch I ended up adding flame to it to bring it back up and then it was showing 160 again even though i flamed out at 150.

My second brew day instead I got another thermometer that I used with 10 gallon kettle, its just one of those ones you stick in the wort. It was showing 154 degrees when the kettle was reading 140. So I left it alone, checked a little later, in kettle was still showing 154, installed thermometer 140. So i left it alone, it held at that temp throughout the mash and i went about my business.

The thing is the rest of the time when I compared the 2 thermometers once I restarted the flame and got up to boil they would be in sync. Even on the cool down they were in sync. But they were VERY off for the mash process.
So I dont know what to think. 2 potential issues: 1 it may or may not hold mash temp. 2. it may or may not give an accurate temp reading.
I will see how this batch ends up.

Other than that, I mean build quality looks really good, I like that it is oversized at 24 gallons. I like the etched markings and all the ports. I dont like that its very hard to read the thermometer due to its low mounting point. You also have to be VERY careful wrapping this when holding mash is the bottom with the vents its extremely hot. The first week when I wrapped it, the wrap actually melted and caught on fire due to the heat.

So overall not in love with this thing. I had to dump a very expensive 10 gallon batch of beer my first go round (possible user error) and this batch I dont know what to expect due to temperature variances.

 

I used the whirlpool port last night but the thing is I use an immersion chiller. SO when chilling to get the quickest cool down I need move the chiller around to speed up cooling so it disturbs all the trub and negates any work done by the whirpooling.

 

All the kit I have ever bought from SSB has an instruction sheet which tells you to clean it using detergent and then passivate with acid before you use it the first time. That's not unique to SSB either, it goes for pretty much anything stainless

 

It really is kid of unique. Most stainless these days should not need passivated. In fact Spike's kettles tell you not to waste your acid because it's already done and unnecessary.

 

If your really whirlpooling you dont need to move the chiller since your moving the wort over it....

 

So do you think there is 4 more gallons in the 10 gallon version? I'm going to Brew in a bag and really want just a 15 gallon vessel for 5 gallon batches. I'm just wondering if I should go for the 10 gallon.

 

According to the specs on their page, its 12 gal capacity for the 10 gallon. It would be easier if they called them 12 and 24, lol.

 

So do you think 12 is enough to do big beers via brew in a bag 5 gallon brews? I just don’t want to spend $100 more for way bigger than I need.

 

I would think you should be able to do just about any 5 gallon batch in the 10 gallon kettle. I have done 8.0% with not even close to an issue and I do BIAB. I would expect it to be fine.

 

yes, a 12 gallon pot should be more than enough for any BIAB beer.

 

Thanks gents! I shall be purchasing mine soon

 

Does anyone know what the gallon marking indicators are at for the thermometer and the whirlpool inlet for the 10 gallon BMe kettle?

I'm going to be recurcilating the wort through my plate chiller and want to make sure it's high enough to cycle through all the wort.

 

Both are at 4 gallon marks...

 

That should be high enough.

 

I did my first BIAB and found the same thing... it was accurate on ramp up and boil, but it showed a 10 degree drop over about 15 minutes. I think that on a mash since there is no fluid movement, the area around the TC port cools and gives false reading since a good 1-1.5" of temp probe is in the TC port. Initially I freaked, but grabbed a extra stainless thermowell and tossed my inkbird probe in there. It showed 149° and held for the hour (I blanket wrapped the kettle)

 

i've got the 20 gal BME sitting under the tree... <does a happy dance>

 

Mine will be here after Christmas! Cheers!!

 

You’re gonna need to have 5 gallons in it to completely submerge the top of the top port.
4 gallons will leak without a cap.

 

I'm getting a second valve for the whirl port inlet.

 

I didn't mean to imply you'd use it open. just trying to paint a picture of where it is located on the kettle.

 

Did anyone else receive a new sight glass and gasket set from SSbrewtech? I just randomly got one in the mail yesterday. Seems like a better designed gasket and the sight glass edges are smooth and not diamond ground like before. Not sure if they are just sending them out as a courtesy to a new design or what

 

not I. I did feel like the glass ends were a bit rough and care must be taken to reassemble. still, no leaks so far.

 

I have one brew in this kettle and tried to treat is just like my old kettle:
- Full volume BIAB.
- Over heat the strike water by a few degrees, cut the flame and bag it.
- Wrap in reflectix insulation. This kettle gets two layers top and bottom (12" wide roll). Old kettle used to get 5 or 6 layers in a spiral.
- Dough in when the temp is right.
- Measure temp with an instant read handheld from an open lid (about 6" probe).
- Put the lid on with reflectix.
- Cover the whole thing with a moving blanket.
- Open up at 15 min to grab a sample for ph meter and cover back up.

I used to get a drop of 2-3 degrees F with the old kettle. No worries.
This brew, this kettle, I got a drop of 8 degrees F!

My thoughts are:
- less layers of reflectix
- major increase in headspace (8 gallon kettle to 12). basically no headspace to 4 gallons headspace.
- pump and 10' of silicone hose attached during mash is not insulated. it's enlightening to watch the hoses turn color after only 10 minutes into the mash.

I'm thinking it may not be worth chasing the insulation headspace losses, and just put that money into a RIMS tube.
I have an auber PID that I can borrow from my smoker for the RIMS.

 

I saw a fb post about this in ss brewtech user group. It seems like ss is sending out a new version of the gasket and sightglass due to complaints.

I just ordered mine from morebeer, hopefully it's been fixed.

 

I’m looking at getting this as an upgrade over my current keggle setup. I wish there was a 15 gallon option because I’m afraid 20 (actually 24) is overkill since I do 5 gallon batches right now. Would the thermometer port be submerged in a normal 5 gallon brew with the 20 gallon? I really don’t want to go with the 10 gallon in case I start brewing 10 gallon batches in the future. Please provide some guidance. I have found a 20 gallon for a good price, but don’t want to buy it if it’s unreasonable for 5 gallon batches.

 

My opinion is a 20 gallon kettle would be inconveniently large for 5 gallon batches.

 

I bought a 15G kettle incase I wanted to brew 10G batches. Guess what? In two years I have brewed exactly ONE 10G batch and my 15G kettle has been designated to the storage area and I now use a 10G kettle for my 5G brews. I prefer this much more than the larger kettle. I would think 20G for 5G batches would be way too much!

 

Thank you both for your input. I think I’ll go with the 10g and use my keggle if I ever want to do a larger batch.

 

Any other experiences with BIAB in a 5 Gallon version? I was thinking about getting one, but sounds like ether were some issues with the thermometer and holding temps.

 

I have the 20 gal version. There is actually no issue with thermometer or holding temps. I though there was but there is a good explanation. When doing BIAB the installed thermometer will not be accurate as the bag might brush against it and will cause the temp to be off. I just use a hand held to check mash temps. Its fine before and after mash.

It hold temps well but I though some insulation and a blanket around it during mash only drops 1-2 degrees over the hour. Overall I like the kettle.