Cheap kettle advice?

[llamuh]

I'm sure this topic has been brought up numerous times before but in my searching on the forum I haven't seen anything recent. This may belong in the beginners section but I figured this was best since it deals with equipment.

Does anyone have any advice on a "cheap" kettle? I know cheap is relative so getting close to ~$100 would be great. I plan on just starting with extract for now but figure I will eventually move up. I will be using a propane burner. I've read the aluminum debate and decided I would rather go with stainless steel if at all possible. From what I gather, 15 gallon would give me room to grow. I've noticed that when people mention anything over 8 gallons, they also talk about the inclusion of a ball valve which seems to jack up the cost.
I'm basically trying to figure out what I can get by with without jacking up the cost on features that I may not realistically need.

So, for $99 and free Prime shipping I can get a Bayou Classic 1060 62q from Amazon. I've seen a few reviews on here that were mixed. A couple people said it was fine but many others said it was too thin, noted the absence of triclad, and said the heat distribution was very poor. Also it was noted that it did not have a bung for a ball valve. So in a search for something cheap with a bung, I found a 2 weld 15g SS from Adventures In Homebrewing for $119 which I would have to purchase the ball valve and a cap/thermometer for. For $139 Brewers Edge has a 15g that looks exactly the same, but includes the ball valve and a cap on the thermometer bung. Both of these also have mixed reviews.

Is there another option that I am missing? Do I really need to step up to something better quality with triclad bottom? I imagine if I were brewing more than 5g extract I would really want the ball valve but do I really need it for what I'm wanting to do?

I just received my Nothern Brewer deluxe kit today and am anxious to start brewing!

 

[helibrewer]

For my HLT I bought a 54 qt "tomale cooker" from a local Mexican Food market for $36. I put a weldless bulkhead in it to have a valve...works like a charm. Aluminum is thin and transmits heat fast so for a boil kettle just be sure to NEVER have a heat source on when adding extract/sugar to it, otherwise they work wonderfully.

EDIT: I will add that my kettle is a 20 gal Stout with all the bells an whistles. I got it because, well, I could afford it.

 

[Mojzis]

I've had an aluminum 15g kettle for a year or two and I love it.

That being said I have heard good things about these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/14111512684...49&var=440271880497&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

 

[borealis]

I've been happy with the bayou classic for the last couple of years. I added a ball valve and that's it do pretty cheap overall.

 

[sultan]

I didn't want to pay a lot for a kettle either, but having used some cheaper 7 gallon aluminum turkey fryer pots, I decided I wanted to go with stainless. After some research, I decided on a Winco 40 quart stainless pot, model SST-40.

The best place I found to get this was a cooking web site called Tiger Chef. The pot is on sale for $90 at the time of this posting:
http://www.tigerchef.com/winco-sst-40-stainless-steel-40-qt.html

If you look, you can often find codes for the web site which will give you free shipping, saving some extra money.

I ordered two 40 quart pots, drilled them out, put a weldless spigot on them, and they worked really well. When I upped my brewing capacity, I got three more 60 quart Winco stainless pots (SST-60), and all of these have served me well.

 

[Hello]

I got my kettle off ebay and it's a concord kettle. I prefer stainless and this kettle is nice.

 

[llamuh]

Thanks for all the responses. I checked out the Concord kettles and saw a few people say they're slightly better than Bayou, so at $10 cheaper I think I'll go with one of those. I intend on adding a weldless ball valve to it as well. I figure it will be a while before I get more serious about home brewing so I have time to save up for something nicer.

Are you guys using a false bottom or anything to prevent scorching? I see a lot of comments on scorching being an issue with cheaper kettles.

 

[Malticulous]

With all grain scorching is not an issue. With extract you may need to cut the flame when you add extract, even with a expensive pot. I use a cheap SS 60qt pot probably much like the ones Mojzis linked to. It works great and after five years of heavy use it still looks like new.