Brew kettles

[radiodome21]

Hello all. I'm going to making the jump to AG soon and will be buying a kettle soon. I am leaning towards buying a 10 gallon kettle since I only brew 5 gallon and don't see ever going any higher than that. With all the different options out there is it worth to buy an expensive kettle or would a cheaper SS kettle suffice. I currently brew outdoors with my natural gas burner. I don't plan on using any kind of stand or buying anything like that down the road. Also, are picnic coolers better than the round ones? Thanks.


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[LJvermonster]

10 gallon stainless for $90-100 will do you perfectly. As for round or picnic it's all preference. I use a round 10 gal from Home Depot and I ways hit my starting numbers. Also, it seems round mash tuns are easier to create. Good luck!

 

[acidrain]

You're going to want a ball valve and sight glass. You can add these yourself with weldless kits, or buy it all done. The ball valve you could do without if you are OK with siphoning, but for an all grain BK you want to easily measure the volume.

 

[Hello]

You definitely want the valve and can skip the sight glass all day long if you get a kettle with volume markings (bayou classic 10'gallons) or make volume markings yourself. Checking the DIY part of this site will show you a large thread on it. It was also featured in the last issue (if I recall) of BYO magazine.

I'm on my phone or I'd link you.

 

[Dirtyoldguy366]

Make a stick with volume markings on it. A ball valve is definitely something you want though.

 

[charliehorse]

A lot of folks will try to dissuade you from buying a thin bottomed pot. the reality is, you're never going to have it on the heat while it's empty. I say go for it. You'll want to put a nominal 1/2" hole in it for a weldless valve kit (nominal because the inside dimention of the pipe is 1/2", so the hole will be about 7/8"). Some people use a stepbit, but if you know an electrician, borrow is knock out punch (heck swap him some homebrew when you've got some brewed. If you're budgetarily constrained, get a square cooler. The reality is, if you're batch sparging, cooler shape doesn't really make much difference.

You may be doing 5 gallon batches now, but in the future, you may want to go with 10 gallon batches. You can brew 5 gallons in a kettle that is big, but it's tough as Hell to brew 10 gallon batches in a kettle that is too small. As with anything in life, give yourself room to upgrade. since the kettle is going to be the most expensive part, go bigger than you think you need.

 

[Jester5]

If you are sure you will only ever brew 5 gallon batches or you have other good reasons why you don't want to buy a bigger kettle (price, space, small burner) then your standard 10 gallon SS kettle should be fine.

If you think you will keep brewing for years and that one day you may want to make a double (10 gal) batch perhaps you can justify a 15 gallon kettle?

There are lots of options but most stores combine the fittings pretty cheaply so you may as well get one with a ball valve included (welded or weldless). You can do without a sigh glass if you mark the pot or have a stainless steel ruler and you probably don't need one with a dial thermometer because when it's boiling it is 212F (although they do look cool).

If you look on Amazon you can get a 15 gal kettle with fittings for around $160. Most of these have relatively thin walls but a 5mm base which should distribute the heat well. I have three like these in a 3V setup and am happy with them.