Kettle recommendation- tall and skinny NOT short and wide. 5-6 gallon, for induction

[SanPancho]

so that about sums it up. id like to go to an induction plate for doing my half batch brews, so need at least some stainless. but you need a tall and skinny kettle to get good convection and heat dispersion from the induction plate.

so... any recommendations on a decent kettle, tall and skinny, induction-compatible, in the 5-6 gallon size?

 

[ancientmariner52]

Search under brew kettle, stock pot, tamale pot, and lobster pot. Oddly, each returns slightly different results. All the specs should be there. If not, pass on by.

 

[SanPancho]

not helpful. have looked online quite a bit. either the dimensions arent given or they are somewhat arbitrary. and nothing tells you whether they are good quality and hefty, or dinky pieces of junk. photos arent enough.

 

[ancientmariner52]

Gotcha. Try looking in the DIY forum under kettles. Every build starts with a pot, so there are plenty of opinions there.

As to specs. Every kettle I've bought was somewhat smaller than rated, maybe a little maybe a lot. You have to calculate the volume from the dimensions to know what you are getting. Maybe.

Material. If it just says stainless, skip it. If they use a standard alloy such as 304, 316, they'll be proud of it and say so.

Gauge numbers. Larger number means thinner gauge. Comparing pots, a heavier weight means thicker metal.

Handles. Poor handles can really get you hurt. Personally I like to see rivets. You can tighten a leakey rivet, but a broken spot weld, that's trouble.

Induction ready. If it says so you're probably good. If if it doesn't you might be good.

Lastly, make sure you can return it without a fight. The established home brew and restaurant suppliers are your friends here. You'll pay more, but you'll get actual customer service.

You probably want a recommendation of a specific pot. Won't do it. For the same reason I won't reccomend a used car to friend. I can't afford to lose friends over a car.

 

[Drumminguy81]

Ssbrewtech makes a 5.5 gallon induction ready kettle. I have one. It's nice but pricey for such a small kettle. Comes with a lid, ball valve, turn dam pickup tube, and plug for the thermometer hole. Personally I would go with a spike 10 gallon kettle. Would work fine for half batches as well as larger batches.. but again $$

 

[wilserbrewer]

Bayou classic perhaps?

 

[singybrue]

I use one of these(26qt size)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CONCORD-St...hash=item20db2c3dc5:m:mfczYPk-ySzrHubiWwofYgg

 

[wader98]

I've been looking at these. Doesn't say if they are induction ready. Does a magnet stick to the bottom?

 

[bucketnative]

What's your definition of "skinny"? That could limit the size of the pot you are able to purchase.
I have purchase pots from webstaurant - they give all dimensions and state the materials, plus induction compatible:

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/20...MIg6i846Hm1wIVR1mGCh0ZSg7rEAkYASABEgIA3fD_BwE

 

[cubalz]

Go to the Spike Brewing website. All of their v2 kettles are induction ready and are very nice (I own 3) they list the dimensions for each.

 

[singybrue]

I've been looking at these. Doesn't say if they are induction ready. Does a magnet stick to the bottom?

Nope, but it still works. I'm using it on an Advantco 3500w 240v induction plate. My bottom got warped a little when I put in on without any water, but it still works fine.
The non-clad bottom can be prone to scorching, especially with lots of wheat or rye, but that can be mitigated.
A clad-bottom pot is more scorch resistant(I have a Spike 10g pot for larger batches) but I really like the shape of this one for a simple small BIAB setup.
p.s. I don't use the basket insert

 

[augiedoggy]

Gotcha. Try looking in the DIY forum under kettles. Every build starts with a pot, so there are plenty of opinions there.

As to specs. Every kettle I've bought was somewhat smaller than rated, maybe a little maybe a lot. You have to calculate the volume from the dimensions to know what you are getting. Maybe.

Material. If it just says stainless, skip it. If they use a standard alloy such as 304, 316, they'll be proud of it and say so.

Gauge numbers. Larger number means thinner gauge. Comparing pots, a heavier weight means thicker metal.

Handles. Poor handles can really get you hurt. Personally I like to see rivets. You can tighten a leakey rivet, but a broken spot weld, that's trouble.

Induction ready. If it says so you're probably good. If if it doesn't you might be good.

Lastly, make sure you can return it without a fight. The established home brew and restaurant suppliers are your friends here. You'll pay more, but you'll get actual customer service.

You probably want a recommendation of a specific pot. Won't do it. For the same reason I won't reccomend a used car to friend. I can't afford to lose friends over a car.

Just another point of view after having many kettles and reading many many threads here on them. its really all just preference without much real justification.

Unless your somehow obtaining and cleaning with industrial caustic acids like a real brewery it really makes zero real world difference whether is 304,316 or 201 like most stainless kitchenware. 304 is used mainly as a marketing gimmick in the homebrewing world
Real 304 wont work with induction at all unless it has an induction plate added.. bayou classic and other "cheap kettles" use other mixtures like jindal stainless which works fine both with and without induction and has zero negative attributes in a homebrewing environment. (some are actually stronger than 304 and less likely to ding)
As far as thickness, its also matters little in an electric brewing enviroment unless your careless and usually just comes down to preference. I did away with my keggle because the added weight was pointless and cumbersome to clean with electric. I did away with my ballington kettles because the riveted handles leaked and will can leak worse once you actually use them with a loaded kettle and stretch the rivets.

Ive also seen many threads with people complaining of leaking rivets at the handles and experienced it myself but Ive yet to see any real evidence of welded handles falling off... (although I would love to know how a rivet can be tightened here)
Also the obvious question of whether someones going to be carrying a full kettle around needs to be asked here as Ive never lifted my kettles when full of liquid nor seen a reason to myself)
Keep in mind the grainfather and other systems use very light gauge vessels and I have yet to hear it was an actual issue for someone..

 

[augiedoggy]

Nope, but it still works. I'm using it on an Advantco 3500w 240v induction plate. My bottom got warped a little when I put in on without any water, but it still works fine.
The non-clad bottom can be prone to scorching, especially with lots of wheat or rye, but that can be mitigated.
A clad-bottom pot is more scorch resistant(I have a Spike 10g pot for larger batches) but I really like the shape of this one for a simple small BIAB setup.
p.s. I don't use the basket insert

those are made of jindal stainless from india.. Its close to 201 if I remember correctly. chapman also uses 201.

 

[augiedoggy]

Bayou classic perhaps?

This is what I have been using for years.. I dont use induction but since they are not 304 they work well for it even without the triclad bottom.
These are not made of very heavy gauge material and if your looking to impress, the finish is not polished which I like because I use mine to brew beer and clean it in the sink plus they are heavy enough.. Ive added plenty of scuffs to them this way. If I paid a lot for designer kettles I would be pissed because I would have to take extra care not to scratch them up. I also would regret it every time I drill a new hole in them as my system changes.

 

[ancientmariner52]

All valid points, thank you.

I didn't intend to promote a particular alloy. There is a lot of 'faux' so called stainless steel out there these days. G_d knows what it is made of, I sure don't. I've seen stuff that looks good but rusts overnight. Seeing an alloy number justs means the pot maker might know what they are doing.

I've read conflicting anecdotes about what alloys work for induction heating. I don't know. But the manufacture should, and if he says it works, it probably does. Probably.

If no one lifts filled pots, how did your handle rivets get stretched? I have a good name brand 60qt pot. The rivets leak. I don't normally fill it that full, I only discovered it when calibrating it for etched gallon marks.

To tighten a rivet, get two hammers. You need a big one, 3lb head at least. You need a smaller one, say 8 to 12oz. You could use any heavy chunk of metal in place of the big hammer. This is the bucking bar. Hold your bucking bar against the rivet head, on the outside of the pot. Use the smaller hammer to peen the rivet shank on the inside. Take it slow, don't overdo it. You're not driving a nail, just trying to flow the metal a bit. The bucking bar and hammer need to have smooth faces, to avoid uglification. I haven't looked, but I'd bet half a peach you can find plenty of videos for this. Maybe under aluminum boat repair?

The rivet issue really has more to do with build quality than safety. Anybody can run a spot welder, and the only way to inspect a spot weld is to pull it apart. Riveting requires a craftsman. I was looking at some of the pots reccomended on this thread, and noticed a line with rivets and welds, at a good price. That's where I will buy my new HLT vessel.

I'm probably obsessive about handles. It's like guns, I guess. You don't intend to use one, but if you have to, you really, really need it to work right. And welded handles do come off, there's pictures out there.

 

[augiedoggy]

Well take this into account... bayou classic advertises or at least did, that it was 304 stainless steel however it is clearly not because it has magnetic properties and works with induction. The reality is most brand name kettles are made by another "not named chinese manufacturer" and its up to the distributor who brands and sells them to make sure the quality control standards are met... this is why so many variants of the same kettles are out there by so many different brand names... northern brewer sells its own "clone" version of the megapot 1.2 made by the same maker minus the silicone on the handles and im fairly certain ss brewing uses the same manufacturer or at least the same supplier for its handles. They are all good pots but the price range is pretty drastic... So sometimes it pays to just do homework with an open mind and not make assumptions.. by that same token Ive made assumptions in the past and been proven wrong. The majority of the time though I feel I come out ahead... Anbd I wont feel so bad when I upgrade to something bigger or different later because I made such a large investment the first time around with something Ive outgrown.

For example my three 3bbl electric kettles which where ordered with 4 TC element ports just shipped from the manufacturer (who is a forum sponser on probrewer) on nov 23rd are identical in every way to the popular brandname the manufacturer also makes for except the nameplate welded to them and my electric version comes with the heatshield that the other two distributors dont include) but I paid $5,000 for all of it instead of the $8,500 it would have cost for different etching on the nameplate. Or the 20k or so that it would have cost bundled with an electric panel and accessories as a complete brewery through another popular vendor.
These companies dont operate for free and in some cases theres true engineering and development costs involved along with QC personnel and testing. but at the same time theres instances where you have to ask yourself if you really feel you need to pay for the marketing and support costs on a big soup kettle for those anal OCD folks that send them back twice on the distributors (and ultimately the consumers) dime demanding a kettle thats scratch free and cosmetically perfect so he can add the same scuffs himself the first time he actually uses it.

 

[augiedoggy]

If no one lifts filled pots, how did your handle rivets get stretched? I have a good name brand 60qt pot. The rivets leak. I don't normally fill it that full, I only discovered it when calibrating it for etched gallon marks.

mine leaked from the get go... But common sense would dictate they will be more likely to leak when the rivet heads are torqued and pulled away from the kettle wall with the weight of the liquid and hammering them back will just weaken them... Whereas tack welds are actually very strong.
There was a thread on this very subject about 3 years ago and the consensus I got from it was the riveted handles very often leaked and although there was all sorts of speculation about welded handles breaking off there wasnt one testimonial to it actually happening... I believe evidence from manufacturers of both stated the handles were not actually intended to support the weight of full kettles anyway..

Again this is all pointless if one uses a spigot or pumps to avoid lifting heavy kettles..

 

[ancientmariner52]

All valid points, as usual. So much depends on the maker and seller being reliable, honest, and able to communicate. I think some people decide, ok, 304 sells pots, I'll call mine 304. Never mind that it came from (insert name of most hated Asian country) and '304' is just squiggles on paper to them.

I have designed and built machines for testing spot welds for a major manufacturer of electric motors. The manufacturing engineers I worked with said the only way to test a spot weld is to pull it apart, I have no reason to doubt them. At least with a rivet you can see if it's there or not.

I did assume you had stretched the rivets. You didn't say that. Most of my excercise these days comes from jumping to conclusions, and I apologize. I don't lug my filled kettles around by the handles either. Should have known better. Just the same, handles do break and rivets are easily tightened. Ain't backin' down on that.

In the end it's just preferences and budget. I hope our conversation has given folks something sensible to base preferences on. And the budget is none of my business. Thank you.

Additional: Have y'all noticed all the spray painted plastic crap labeled 'titanium'? It sells crap, that's why.

 

[augiedoggy]

I completely agree... all things for different folks to chew on in forming their own opinions

 

[SanPancho]

well to round this out, finally got my induction burner and the 6gal bayou that i have actually works on it, even though magnet wont stick. so likely just 304.

i had wanted one that was tall/skinny as opposed to this one that is wide/short but once i tested it out on the plate i noticed that you seemed to have decent convection as the heat is in the center and rises straight up, pulling in the cooler liquid from the bottom. so- we'll see how it works for a few attempts.

the other nice thing about a tall/skinny is that its easier to get all your wort and leave the trub behind. especially if you can let it sit for a bit and compact itself. so- for now im gonna stick with this one. ive been doing alot of no boil so not worried about scorching.

if it turns out i need a tall/skinny i would likely bite bullet and drop $62 on the concord tall/skinny 26qt. good pots, solid, heavy duty. im familiar with them so feel comfortable knowing what im paying for that way.

 

[augiedoggy]

well to round this out, finally got my induction burner and the 6gal bayou that i have actually works on it, even though magnet wont stick. so likely just 304.

i had wanted one that was tall/skinny as opposed to this one that is wide/short but once i tested it out on the plate i noticed that you seemed to have decent convection as the heat is in the center and rises straight up, pulling in the cooler liquid from the bottom. so- we'll see how it works for a few attempts.

the other nice thing about a tall/skinny is that its easier to get all your wort and leave the trub behind. especially if you can let it sit for a bit and compact itself. so- for now im gonna stick with this one. ive been doing alot of no boil so not worried about scorching.

if it turns out i need a tall/skinny i would likely bite bullet and drop $62 on the concord tall/skinny 26qt. good pots, solid, heavy duty. im familiar with them so feel comfortable knowing what im paying for that way.

glad to see your in good shape with the kettle you have
The bayou classic kettles do work with induction because they are NOT true 304 stainless... Theres a few threads discussing this here.

 

[SanPancho]

i wasnt really worried about that, i just threw it up there to see if it'd work with induction. lo and behold, i had a pot of hot water in front of me. i figure i'll play around a few times and see if its worth it before i drop some cash on new kettle. cant hurt.

 

[enormous13]

@SanPancho I was sort of in your same dilemma when I started putting my system together. I wanted a kettle big enough for 2.5-5 gallon batches, and I wanted it taller than wide, so that the liquid levels would be higher than if in a regular stock pot, to cover the element and such on smaller batches.

The best option I could find was the 8 gallon MegaPot 1.2, measuring in at 12" inside diameter, and like 16" tall. The rubber handles, graduated markings, and induction ready bottom were a nice addition as well.

I keep an eye out even now though for these tall/skinny kettles. If I could find a reliable/reputable brand selling a 8-ish gallon kettle with a 10" inside diameter, I'd seriously think about rebuilding my kettle. Granted, to get to 8 gallons with a 10" I.D., the kettle would have to be like 24" tall.

 

[SanPancho]

I was pointed to the megapot as well, but as i dont get over 3gals at a time it just wasn’t necessary, especially for the price. The concord pot noted above seems like best bet for me in future.

Ive tried messaging @singybrue to see if i could get actual dimensions of his kettle to compare vs the ebay listing but no reply as of yet. The concords have a thick rolled edge on the top and i wonder if this is included in the diameter width quoted from seller.

Anybody else have the 26qt concord kettle?

 

[enormous13]

I was pointed to the megapot as well, but as i dont get over 3gals at a time it just wasn’t necessary, especially for the price. The concord pot noted above seems like best bet for me in future.

Ive tried messaging @singybrue to see if i could get actual dimensions of his kettle to compare vs the ebay listing but no reply as of yet. The concords have a thick rolled edge on the top and i wonder if this is included in the diameter width quoted from seller.

Anybody else have the 26qt concord kettle?

Here's the skinniest concord I could find, at 11.5" wide (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A3J0WA6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20). The rest of their lineup seems to be more towards 14" wide in the approx. 26-30 quart arena.

 

[SanPancho]

yeah..... so like i said above, the concords have a pretty thick rolled lip on the top edge. im trying to find out if that lip is included in the 11.5" or not. the basket says 10.5" wide, so either 11.5 or 11 is possible for the width of the kettle body.

thats why im hoping someone who has one can take a quick measure.

 

[singybrue]

yeah..... so like i said above, the concords have a pretty thick rolled lip on the top edge. im trying to find out if that lip is included in the 11.5" or not. the basket says 10.5" wide, so either 11.5 or 11 is possible for the width of the kettle body.

thats why im hoping someone who has one can take a quick measure.

11" is the ID w/o the lip
16" tall measured from the inside.
sorry for the delay answering

 

[SanPancho]

Awesome


Thank you sir.

 

[SanPancho]

ok, so it looks like im going to go ahead and pull the trigger on the 26qt concord. it comes with a strainer basket, which seems like it could be useful as a grain holder.

ive always used the anova sous vide for biab, which is perfect for being a precise heat temp source. set it and forget it. but i think it tends to maybe stir up the mash a bit too much, and the whirlpool hops. got an induction unit, but now i'm not sure how im going to measure temperature. i dont want to put a thermowell in the kettle.


so im thinking maybe a bbq thermometer type unit might work? the kind with a big long corded probe, made of stainless? usually has temp alarm settings.

i set the alarm for strike temp (or a few degrees less), turn on the burner and walk away until it beeps. ditto for mashout. and when i do no boils, which is often, i can set alarm for 170 so i stay under SMS thresholds and get my preferred whirlpool temp.

anybody else use something like that? have something they can recommend? i know bbq probes would be high temp, but i'd think probably not waterproof.

another option was a cheap inkbird or something with alarm settings, and buy a waterproof/high temp probe to go with it.

anybody else skip the thermowell and use an exterior thermometer/probe type setup?

 

[applescrap]

I use my cdn kitchen thermometer. They are cheap and nice. I dont use the pid probe and have no regrets. Many feel very opposite and we have argued this. Those pots from webstaurant are nice. I have an aluminum winco.