Hey HBT,
I'm a brand new home brewer. I brewed my first beer (I hope it's beer when it's done) a few weeks back and am about halfway through my second week of bottle fermenting. I bought a Pilsner kit from my LHBS and have since learned that it probably wasn't the best choice for my first. Ferm temp is apparently a big deal with Lagers I'm learning....I used a water bath and some ice bottles during primary fermentation and I'm hoping for the best.
Since then, I have assumed that I will love home brewing and bought/ commandeered quite a few items to help move ahead in the natural progression of home brewing (or so it seems). I started with a HB kit from someone online for the essentials. That kit included an Aluminum boil kettle, roughly 8 gallons in size. The LHBS expressed concern with the Alum and advised to boil it for about 30 mins before I started to try to make/boil wort in it. Sanitizing reasons apparently...
Since then I learned that Aluminum is nothing to be scared of if you handle/clean/sanitize it properly.
With that said, it looks like most advanced home brewers use stainless. So, I bought a used 30qt Polarware Economy SS Brew Kettle. Now I have read more and shopped kettles and find that first of all, larger capacity can be more user friendly (10 gal kettle for 5 gal batches). Secondly, it seems like the tri-clad (thinker SS bottom that seems to sandwich a layer of aluminum for uniform heating) triple layer bottom is more desirable.
So, I'm looking for a great deal on a good kettle and would like to know what more experienced folks would recommend for economic pricing and a quality SS tri-clad, 10 gallon kettle with ball valve and thermometer.
I think I'm having as much fun buying the equipment as I am brewing...but I'm am watching funds so looking for deals
Thanks for any help!
(P.S. - I think I found a good deal at Concordkettles.com with a discount)
I'm a brand new home brewer. I brewed my first beer (I hope it's beer when it's done) a few weeks back and am about halfway through my second week of bottle fermenting. I bought a Pilsner kit from my LHBS and have since learned that it probably wasn't the best choice for my first. Ferm temp is apparently a big deal with Lagers I'm learning....I used a water bath and some ice bottles during primary fermentation and I'm hoping for the best.
Since then, I have assumed that I will love home brewing and bought/ commandeered quite a few items to help move ahead in the natural progression of home brewing (or so it seems). I started with a HB kit from someone online for the essentials. That kit included an Aluminum boil kettle, roughly 8 gallons in size. The LHBS expressed concern with the Alum and advised to boil it for about 30 mins before I started to try to make/boil wort in it. Sanitizing reasons apparently...
Since then I learned that Aluminum is nothing to be scared of if you handle/clean/sanitize it properly.
With that said, it looks like most advanced home brewers use stainless. So, I bought a used 30qt Polarware Economy SS Brew Kettle. Now I have read more and shopped kettles and find that first of all, larger capacity can be more user friendly (10 gal kettle for 5 gal batches). Secondly, it seems like the tri-clad (thinker SS bottom that seems to sandwich a layer of aluminum for uniform heating) triple layer bottom is more desirable.
So, I'm looking for a great deal on a good kettle and would like to know what more experienced folks would recommend for economic pricing and a quality SS tri-clad, 10 gallon kettle with ball valve and thermometer.
I think I'm having as much fun buying the equipment as I am brewing...but I'm am watching funds so looking for deals
Thanks for any help!
(P.S. - I think I found a good deal at Concordkettles.com with a discount)
