Brew pot advice

[mattyp1214]

Been doing all grain for awhile now... Built a 10 gallon MLT today and now need to upgrade my brew pot to do some all grain. Ive seen ads on craigslist for keggles ($180 for a keggle with a spout and thermometer), do you guys recommend keggles or just a large nice brew pot? Which brew pot if one in particular? Thanks for the input

 

[D-Ring]

Personally, I followed the start small and slowly let the obsession take over. I was the typical "AG seems like too much work", now I'll never go back to extract. I said "I'll never do 10 gallon batches", now I'm coming up with a Brutus plan. That being said, I have a nice Polarware 10 g SS pot that I got at Midwest that I love.

 

[Yooper]

I've got a keggle, but the first one I had didn't even have a ballvalve, just the keg. The one I have now works great- I can do a 5 gallon batch, or a 10 gallon batch. It's easy to heat, and it works well for me.

Keep in mind that when you have a keggle, you may have some issues with a chiller. My original immersion chiller didn't fit in the keg- I needed a longer chiller to reach to the bottom. I changed to a counter-flow chiller, and that works best for me now.

 

[DrawTap88]

If you think you'll upgrade eventually, get the keggle. If you plan on only doing 5 gallon batches from here out, a nice 10 gallon pot will do you well.

 

[scottland]

I use a 8 gallon Aluminum pot from Wally world ($19), and it works fantastic for 5.5gal All grain batches. But it obviously won't work for 10gal batches. If you know you are going to be doing 10gal batches, go with a keggle. $180 sounds really steep though, even with a ball valve and thermometer.

 

[HH60gunner]

I went with buying kegs off of craigslist. I picked up a 15 gallon and 7.5 gallon keg for a total of $35 bucks. I just cut the tops off and plan to eventually install ball valves. However I think I'd like to get another 15 gallon keg to use for my boil kettle. I had used the 15 gallon for heating my water and the 7.5 gallon as my boil kettle and I got quite a bit of boilovers, especially on hop, and orange peel additions. The way I look at it, is it was cheap up front and I can tailor it to my needs and upgrade when I get the extra funds.

 

[bovineblitz]

If you get some fermcap you can probably get by without upgrading your keggle, I haven't had any boilover issues since I started using it.

 

[Spludge]

I bought this pot and really like it. 15 Gal SS Pot

It was just over $100 w/ shipping.

It works great, I use it for 10 gal batches. Thick gauge and comes w/ a lid. I installed a weldless valve so it came to around 130

 

[bmud0314]

This is what I have. I may not be able to see my reflection it it, but it works well for my 5 gallon BIAB. You can probably put in your own valve for what, 15 bucks I assume. I have not.

http://www.instawares.com/stock-pot-aluminum-40.alsksp007.0.7.htm

 

[OLDBREW]

I went with buying kegs off of craigslist. I picked up a 15 gallon and 7.5 gallon keg for a total of $35 bucks. I just cut the tops off and plan to eventually install ball valves. However I think I'd like to get another 15 gallon keg to use for my boil kettle. I had used the 15 gallon for heating my water and the 7.5 gallon as my boil kettle and I got quite a bit of boilovers, especially on hop, and orange peel additions. The way I look at it, is it was cheap up front and I can tailor it to my needs and upgrade when I get the extra funds.

a spray bottle of filtered water will knock down the foam, as will stirring. You can always back off the heat some until the foam subsides too.

Why not just flip the kegs usages 7.5 gal. for the hlt and 15 gal for boiler.

heat your dough in water directly in the boiler, then use the 7.5 for hlt sparge

 

[gwt]

I love my 15 gal converted keg, in my opinion its the only way to go. But in order to save your back you should install a weld-less ball valve. Total cost: 70 bucks!

 

[mattyp1214]

$220 too much for a keggle with false bottom, thermometer, lid, sight glass?