Any experience with this brew kettle?

[corycorycory09]

I'm looking to get into all grain brewing. I've done a few extract brews using a smaller 5 gallon kettle, but I want to purchase a 10 gallon kettle and mash tun.

I've read many recommendations about making a DIY mash tun out of a cooler. Yesterday I went out to buy the supplies and everything together ended up around $90... not bad, but pretty pricey for a DIY setup.

Since I also want a 10 gallon kettle, I am thinking about returning the DIY supplies and just ordering one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008EMD6C0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Has anyone had experience with using this as a mash tun? I will be doing this on an electric stove top... since this isn't insulated like the cooler setups, will I have difficulty maintaining a consistent temperature?

 

[bobeer]

Yes, you will have trouble maintaining a constant mash temp using a kettle as a mash tun. Usually when folks us a kettle as a mash tun they have a way to circulate the wort through a hot liquor tank (HLT) to keep it a constant temp.
I'd bite the bullet and spend the $90 on a cooler mash tun. You're going to put time, effort and money into your brews so you might as well get a constant mash temp out of it.

I did biab for about a year using 1 pot on my stove and it was hard to keep a constant mash temp. I still made great beer though but I eventually made a mash tun because I got tired of wondering what my beer would taste like if I could maintain a constant mash temp. People wrap their pots in blankets and do other tricks to keep the mash temp where they want it but, personally, I think that's just a pain. If you can afford it then just go for the mash tun because you'll want it at some point eventually.

 

[soccerdad]

I'm on the other side of bobeer. I just BIAB and can't really see a cooler mash tun in my future. Not a hassle for me to drape a doubled up beach towel over the kettle in order to maintain mash temp. So you really can go either way and make good beer. You could always try the biab thing first and if it doesn't fit your style, spend the $90.

 

[McKnuckle]

I've got two setups. One is a traditional three vessel system with a cooler mash tun and two SS pots for hot water and kettle. The other is for BIAB where I either use one of the SS pots, or my cheap aluminum turkey fryer pot, as a single vessel.

Folks are right about the coolers holding temp very well. It's basically dough in, stir, confirm desired temp, seal the lid, and let sit for the entire mash period. It drops 2 degrees an hour at the most, and none at all on a warm day. On a cold day I'll take it inside until the mash is done.

The direct fire mash tun that I use for BIAB loses heat and needs to be goosed every 10 minutes, but the "blessing in disguise" is that I have to stir it a lot during the mash, which I'm convinced raises my efficiency. I got 85% pre-boil efficiency on my last BIAB brew. I'm usually lower with the cooler setup.

However, predictability is a real virtue in brewing, and the cooler has the BIAB set up beat in that department.

In short, I wouldn't use a kettle for a non-BIAB mash tun. For traditional brewing, I'd use a cooler. You don't actually mention BIAB in your post, but you should consider it, because it's a really convenient way to brew all grain beer. The bonus is that don't need a kettle with a false bottom, just a standard one with or without a spigot (with no spigot you can use an auto-siphon to transfer).

You can make good beer with any of these choices, though. It's all about honing YOUR chosen process so that you can modify recipes and predict the outcome.

 

[h22lude]

I'm a little confused as to what you want to do. It seems like you want to do full boil AG 5 gallon batches, right? If so, you may have a hard time doing that on your stove. For a 5 gallon batch you will be boiling 6 to 7 gallons of water (depending on your boil off rate). I know my electric stove can't handle that. It may but it will take forever.

The pot you linked is an 8 gallon pot. You can do full boil in that but I would recommend a 10 gallon pot. Gives you more room if needed. Plus you won't have to worry about boil over as much. You can get a 10 gallon aluminum pot for $50 on Amazon.

If you are going 2 vessel, get a 10 gallon cooler for your mash tun.