Help With Kettles(Instaware)...

[Craig311]

Looking for some help in determining which of these is better for a boil kettle. Looking at the first 2... one costs twice as much as the other, with the 3rd falling in between. I'm guessing it has to do with thickness but am having a hard time comparing directly. One says "heavy duty", aonther says "4mm think", etc.

http://www.instawares.com/aluminum-stock-pot-40.jro-65540.0.7.htm

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

http://www.instawares.com/heavy-weight-aluminum-stock-apt-40hd.upi-apt40hd.0.7.htm

Also, anyone have any experience with an instawares pot? Can you recommend a particular one based on experience? They appear to be great deals.

 

[bellyboy2]

I don't have any experience with the aluminum stock pots but I did order a 40qt stainless pot from Instawares. Heavy duty (and I do mean 'heavy') but expensive. I wish I had gone with a large pot for future expansion. Recently I bought a 62qt stainless pot which is much lighter and actually prefer it to the heavy duty pot and now use it exclusively. If you don't mind spending a little extra I would recommend the larger stainless pot especially if you think you may want to grow batch sizes in future.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VXD94A/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[willatkinson]

The argument of aluminum for brew pots is never ending... there is no argument about SS. As far as the Bayou pots, I love mine. BayouBrewKettle.com will beat that any price you find, just email them.

 

[JerD]

After less than a year, I just ponied up another chunk of change so I can brew bigger batches.
My 2 cents, by 60 qt kettle. Even if you never do a ten gallon batch, you'll have less boilover to worry about.
4mm aluminum is just fine, perhaps even ideal

 

[patrck17]

My opinion is the same as these guys. Since I started brewing I have upgraded my brew kettle 4 times. This one I hope to be the last and is a 80qt SS kettle, from instawares actually. I would recommend going to at least 60qts and save yourself the trouble of boilover or grief upgrading later. Now if your heart is set on 40qts I would not go with the first one, the 8 gauge one for 80+ dollars. It is more expensive than the others and has a thinner wall. In my opinion thicker wall means less likely to scorch. Based on the weight it seems like the update international pot has the most aluminum in it (13lbs vs ~9lbs), this would imply it is a more robust pot, but perhaps not. I guess there is no way to be sure without being able to go up to them and touch them. I think without being able to know how thick the update pot is I would go with the cheapest one with the 4mm walls.

 

[Craig311]

Thanks to all for the thoughtful replies. I'm one of those people that just can't envision ever wanting to move up to 10g. That said, I'm seriously considering the 60qt based on your input. It will give me more peace of mind when brewing my 5g batches, and the ability to brew 10g of a lower gravity beer if I wanted to (I have fermcap!).

The Bayou is a bit more expensive, but might be an option as well (trying to sneak this one past SWMBO).

 

[JerD]

Nobody envisions 10 gallon batches. If you're doing all grain, 10 gallon batches get you alot more bang for your time. I like 10 gallon batches late fall through early winter because odds are I'm not brewing through the worst of winter (don'y like messing with my spigots outside when too cold). This way I have enough beer to get me back into brewing season.
However, if you're bottling instead of kegging, the thought of bottling 10 gallon batches would make me want to buy beer again