My New Concord 25 Gallon Brew Kettle with pic $125 shipped

[estricklin]

It's a Concord 25 gallon pot.

I'm posting this because I'm seeing a lot of others curious about these pots, I mean they do seem almost too good to be true. I've played with some of the popular brands in LHBS and this pot is pretty good for the money. Feels way thicker than I thought it would be too. I purchased it on Ebay and the shipping took about 4 or 5 days. I plan to order 2 more now that I know what I'm getting.

The SWMBO was not included.


As if getting a 25 gallon brew pot in wasn't good enough, I decided to pop the question to the SWMBO a couple hours after that photo was took. I surprised her at a local bar and grill by having my cousins sneak my guitar in so I could play a song and ask her in front of everyone. (There's even a youtube video floating around.) She's really "into" the homebrewing thing, no pun intended.

Anyway I'll post some pics of the brewery with these pots and detailing the build as I go in another thread.

 

[bulletmoore]

Congratulations on both the pot and your bride to be. I just bought a spike brewing 80 qt pot. They are essentially the concords but at Spike, they TIG weld couplers into them. Very sturdy pots and like your bride to be, its good for life!

 

[augiedoggy]

I have the 13 gallon "Ballington" branded pot which is identical to this (likely made on the same assy line in china and sold to various distributors who rebrand them like spike, concord and Ballinton) I have issues with the handle rivets leaking...I just saw another thread in the electric forum where another with the concord marketed pots had the same issue... you might want to test yours.

 

[63belair]

Double congrats!

I love my 15 gal Concord (from Spike, but its the same kettle), I know you'll love yours!

 

[estricklin]

I have the 13 gallon "Ballington" branded pot which is identical to this (likely made on the same assy line in china and sold to various distributors who rebrand them like spike, concord and Ballinton) I have issues with the handle rivets leaking...I just saw another thread in the electric forum where another with the concord marketed pots had the same issue... you might want to test yours.

I will check on that soon, otherwise it would be sitting for months without me knowing. If the handles do leak, I will have them TIGed or I will solder them myself if I can't send it back.

 

[chapusin]

Here are mine! However, I found that they're really not 25 gallon pots, it's more like 23.2 gallon.

What are you using as a FB on your mash tun? I looked for days and days on what to use, jaybird false bottom is the best but it's too expensive, the pico false bottom from AIH looks good but all that slack space plus the channeling issues I would probably get when recirculating led me to just buy a 12" domed false bottom for like 40 bucks on amazon or ebay.

 

[Hello]

Congrats on the proposal!

I have the 20 gallon Concord from eBay. With some money invested in a thermometer and valve + diptube, it is a wonderful pot to work with. The only thing I would do different next time is order without the holes pre-drilled. The bottom hole is 4" from the bottom and the top whole is 8". I can't use the thermometer if I do 5 gallon batches and the 4" hole is fine with the "c" shaped diptube, but I could have saved a little if I didn't get the pot with pre-drilled holes.

It was a gift so it arrived in 2 days but if I had ordered, it would have taken 4-5 I'm sure. The guy is in CA. Also ordering from concordcookware on eBay is easy and he is VERY responsive.

 

[estricklin]

Here are mine! However, I found that they're really not 25 gallon pots, it's more like 23.2 gallon.

What are you using as a FB on your mash tun? I looked for days and days on what to use, jaybird false bottom is the best but it's too expensive, the pico false bottom from AIH looks good but all that slack space plus the channeling issues I would probably get when recirculating led me to just buy a 12" domed false bottom for like 40 bucks on amazon or ebay.

Nice brewstand! I have a dust covered welder outside and I wish I was good enough to do something like that, but mine will be made from wood.

I think I'm going to make one from a 16 inch aluminum deep dish pizza pan, but I'm still not 100% sure on that one. Otherwise the biggest SS would be the 12 inch as you have.

If it only holds about 23 gallons, what are the chances of doing 1/2 bbl batches? Also does anyone know if a 5500 watt element is powerful enough to bring 20+ gallons to a boil easy enough?

 

[chapusin]

Nice brewstand! I have a dust covered welder outside and I wish I was good enough to do something like that, but mine will be made from wood.

I think I'm going to make one from a 16 inch aluminum deep dish pizza pan, but I'm still not 100% sure on that one. Otherwise the biggest SS would be the 12 inch as you have.

If it only holds about 23 gallons, what are the chances of doing 1/2 bbl batches? Also does anyone know if a 5500 watt element is powerful enough to bring 20+ gallons to a boil easy enough?

Thanks, this stand is for my keggles, I need something new and bigger for these ones, with these pots, it has to be around 70" wide.

I'm estimating that since these pots are not taller than wider, boiloff is going to be bigger than with my kettles, so for a 16 gallon batch, I'll probably loose 4 gallon in evaporation, I need 20 gallons of wort. That leaves me with 3 gallons of headspace, since I always use fermcap on the boil, I should be all set.

A 5500 element takes 1.83 seconds to do 1°F change on 1 gallon of water, so it will bring 20 gallons from 70 to 160 in about 55 minutes. Not too bad.

 

[estricklin]

Congrats on the proposal!

I have the 20 gallon Concord from eBay. With some money invested in a thermometer and valve + diptube, it is a wonderful pot to work with. The only thing I would do different next time is order without the holes pre-drilled. The bottom hole is 4" from the bottom and the top whole is 8". I can't use the thermometer if I do 5 gallon batches and the 4" hole is fine with the "c" shaped diptube, but I could have saved a little if I didn't get the pot with pre-drilled holes.

It was a gift so it arrived in 2 days but if I had ordered, it would have taken 4-5 I'm sure. The guy is in CA. Also ordering from concordcookware on eBay is easy and he is VERY responsive.

Kind of dumb question but what is the dip tube for? Whirlpooling? I'm guessing you can't use the thermometer with small batches because there isn't enough liquid to cover the valve where the thermometer is? I'm asking because I have already ordered my step bit and can't decide how far up to drill the holes for the heating element and valve. I also can't figure out if the heating element should be above or below the hop strainer, IF I DO decide to make one.

 

[Hello]

Kind of dumb question but what is the dip tube for? Whirlpooling? I'm guessing you can't use the thermometer with small batches because there isn't enough liquid to cover the valve where the thermometer is? I'm asking because I have already ordered my step bit and can't decide how far up to drill the holes for the heating element and valve. I also can't figure out if the heating element should be above or below the hop strainer, IF I DO decide to make one.

So you're using a heat stick? I do not have that. The dip tube is so the wort will drain from the pot into my carboy. It's a compression fitting and swivels just a bit to sit just above most trub if I do it up right. With the hole 4" from the bottom, I needed the tube. I bought the pre-drilled one and didn't realize how far 4" would be. It is my first kettle with valves and such.