Ss brew kettle | brewmaster edition

[Desert_Sky]

thinking about asking for one, for fathers day, any other reviews out there?

I just received the first 15G kettle from them. Fully intend on placing an order for the other two exactly like it in the next month or so.

**** is top notch and very well built


*edit
when the **** did they start censoring?

 

[brewmeister13]

I just received the first 15G kettle from them. Fully intend on placing an order for the other two exactly like it in the next month or so.

**** is top notch and very well built


*edit
when the **** did they start censoring?

I don't think they sell the Brewmasters Edition in 15 gallons. Are you talking about their standard kettles?

 

[Desert_Sky]

I don't think they sell the Brewmasters Edition in 15 gallons. Are you talking about their standard kettles?

Oh, youre right. Didnt read the title correctly

 

[marjen]

My 20 gallon BME arrived on Friday. The thing is a tank. One thing I love is it can actually hold 24 gallons. So I should be able to do 1/2 bbl batches if needed. One minus is it won't work with my dark star burner, so going to need to invest in a new burner. I also need some quick connects and a pump. So it's going to be a couple weeks before I get to brew with it.

 

[mooseis2402]

I've been researching various kettles to upgrade my boil kettle. The 'Cadillac' kettles are a new world for me. Can anyone offer any insight as to why the recirculation port was removed on the brewmaster edition kettles? I've noted the tangential port was added. Does that accomplish the same thing?

 

[mooseis2402]

My 20 gallon BME arrived on Friday. The thing is a tank. One thing I love is it can actually hold 24 gallons. So I should be able to do 1/2 bbl batches if needed. One minus is it won't work with my dark star burner, so going to need to invest in a new burner. I also need some quick connects and a pump. So it's going to be a couple weeks before I get to brew with it.

Have you narrowed down a burner? I'm looking at the same kettle but will likely need a new burner as well.

 

[brewmeister13]

Can anyone offer any insight as to why the recirculation port was removed on the brewmaster edition kettles? I've noted the tangential port was added. Does that accomplish the same thing?

Yes it does, but you need to put a valve on the port to keep wort from pouring out while you boil. There is another way as well, but I'm not familiar with it. On the SS website they have great links to videos detailing how it all works.

Have you narrowed down a burner? I'm looking at the same kettle but will likely need a new burner as well.

My blichmann works great with it, but it's built into a stand so I'm not sure how it would work freestanding.

 

[Dcpcooks]

This kettle makes no sense for an electric setup. That domed base is for increasing efficiency with a gas burner. An electric element will not benefit from that design.

The other features like the sight glass, etc will most likely be available as stand alone options and can be added to any kettle.

They are coming out with an electric set up in the fall. No details or pricing yet. I shot them an email as I'm moving soon and figure I'll need to/ want to move inside at the new place. The only descriptor was that it would be aweSsome!

 

[rubthisbbq]

My 20 gallon BME arrived on Friday. The thing is a tank. One thing I love is it can actually hold 24 gallons. So I should be able to do 1/2 bbl batches if needed. One minus is it won't work with my dark star burner, so going to need to invest in a new burner. I also need some quick connects and a pump. So it's going to be a couple weeks before I get to brew with it.

Stupid question but why won't the dark star work

 

[oylerck]

Stupid question but why won't the dark star work

I don't think it's stupid. I'm curious too.

 

[marjen]

Have you narrowed down a burner? I'm looking at the same kettle but will likely need a new burner as well.

Probably going to go with the blichmann hellfire.

Stupid question but why won't the dark star work

Because of the shape of the bottom of the kettle, its not flat its rounded and the kettle is wider than the top of the Darkstar so it will not sit on top of it, it slides off. It only misses by about 1/4" but its enough to make it not stable.

 

[Jim311]

You could have some tabs welded onto the existing burner. Probably any welding shop could do it for a few bucks while you wait.

 

[sweetcell]

question for the owners of the BME: what are your impressions of the rotatable racking arm? can it be rotated on the fly (i.e. can you lower it manually during racking, if you decide that you want to pick up more) - or is it something you set before boil, and once the kettle is full it's essentially locked in place? how useful is the racking arm?

i'm seriously considering asking for a 20 gal BME as a belated dad day present... certainly looks like a sweet piece of bling.

 

[brewmeister13]

I like it, I just wish it picked up more to the side of the kettle, but with the domed bottom I don't think it's really possible. You can move it during or after the boil. I'd suggest tightening up the clamp and then loosening it a little at a time until you can rotate it before filling it with any liquid or boiling wort. Also, a little keg lube or even some sprays of starsan on the gasket can make it a little easier to move it around. I pick up a bit of trub during the end of transfer, but it is mostly hot break. The hop cone, from the whirlpool, stays pretty well intact though.

 

[marjen]

question for the owners of the BME: what are your impressions of the rotatable racking arm? can it be rotated on the fly (i.e. can you lower it manually during racking, if you decide that you want to pick up more) - or is it something you set before boil, and once the kettle is full it's essentially locked in place? how useful is the racking arm?

I don't have a pump yet so have not tried to rotate it, but I did ask SS Brewtech and they said you need to loosen the Tri clamp until you can manually rotate the whole valve which will turn the racking arm.

 

[bigdawg86]

question for the owners of the BME: what are your impressions of the rotatable racking arm? can it be rotated on the fly (i.e. can you lower it manually during racking, if you decide that you want to pick up more) - or is it something you set before boil, and once the kettle is full it's essentially locked in place? how useful is the racking arm?

I only have one brew on my 10 gallon BME kettle, but yes it can be rotated on the fly but like the other guy posted it probably would be a good idea to put some keg lube on the gasket because without it its a little harder to turn... I was afraid of the triclamp being too loose and causing a leak but there were no leaks. I will be doing a heavily hopped brew tomorrow and will be using the whirlpool port for the first time. I am curious to see how well it works.

 

[marjen]

SO I wanted to weigh in here as I have used my new 20 gallon BME during my last 2 brew days. At the moment I am not sure where I stand on this thing.

First off, my first batch which I made about 2 weeks ago, had to be dumped. I have brewed about 10 times and never dumped a batch with my old kettle. The beer was disgusting. I am thinking its possibly from not doing a full soak and clean (I just rinsed it down thinking it was new so it was clean). I am hearing that sometimes these kettles have left over oils from the production process, so I am really hoping that was the case. Since then I soaked it in PBW and and scrubbed it down with barkeepers friend. I soaked all valves, thermometer etc.

If it was not from that, then it was from the real big issue. Either this is NOT holding temps during mash (I do full volume BIAB) or the thermometer is not accurate. Both brew days if going by the installed thermometer my mash temp has dropped significantly over the hour. My strike temp was 160, I added my 26 lb of grains and after the first 10 mins it was still showing 160-162. That does not make sense. So then when I checked about 10 mins later it was down to 150. Well thats where I wanted to be. I checked 5 mins later and it said 140! First batch I ended up adding flame to it to bring it back up and then it was showing 160 again even though i flamed out at 150.

My second brew day instead I got another thermometer that I used with 10 gallon kettle, its just one of those ones you stick in the wort. It was showing 154 degrees when the kettle was reading 140. So I left it alone, checked a little later, in kettle was still showing 154, installed thermometer 140. So i left it alone, it held at that temp throughout the mash and i went about my business.

The thing is the rest of the time when I compared the 2 thermometers once I restarted the flame and got up to boil they would be in sync. Even on the cool down they were in sync. But they were VERY off for the mash process.
So I dont know what to think. 2 potential issues: 1 it may or may not hold mash temp. 2. it may or may not give an accurate temp reading.
I will see how this batch ends up.

Other than that, I mean build quality looks really good, I like that it is oversized at 24 gallons. I like the etched markings and all the ports. I dont like that its very hard to read the thermometer due to its low mounting point. You also have to be VERY careful wrapping this when holding mash is the bottom with the vents its extremely hot. The first week when I wrapped it, the wrap actually melted and caught on fire due to the heat.

So overall not in love with this thing. I had to dump a very expensive 10 gallon batch of beer my first go round (possible user error) and this batch I dont know what to expect due to temperature variances.

 

[marjen]

I will be doing a heavily hopped brew tomorrow and will be using the whirlpool port for the first time. I am curious to see how well it works.

I used the whirlpool port last night but the thing is I use an immersion chiller. SO when chilling to get the quickest cool down I need move the chiller around to speed up cooling so it disturbs all the trub and negates any work done by the whirpooling.

 

[PeteNMA]

All the kit I have ever bought from SSB has an instruction sheet which tells you to clean it using detergent and then passivate with acid before you use it the first time. That's not unique to SSB either, it goes for pretty much anything stainless

 

[arnobg]

All the kit I have ever bought from SSB has an instruction sheet which tells you to clean it using detergent and then passivate with acid before you use it the first time. That's not unique to SSB either, it goes for pretty much anything stainless

It really is kid of unique. Most stainless these days should not need passivated. In fact Spike's kettles tell you not to waste your acid because it's already done and unnecessary.

 

[augiedoggy]

I used the whirlpool port last night but the thing is I use an immersion chiller. SO when chilling to get the quickest cool down I need move the chiller around to speed up cooling so it disturbs all the trub and negates any work done by the whirpooling.

If your really whirlpooling you dont need to move the chiller since your moving the wort over it....

 

[texwake]

Other than that, I mean build quality looks really good, I like that it is oversized at 24 gallons. .

So do you think there is 4 more gallons in the 10 gallon version? I'm going to Brew in a bag and really want just a 15 gallon vessel for 5 gallon batches. I'm just wondering if I should go for the 10 gallon.

 

[marjen]

So do you think there is 4 more gallons in the 10 gallon version? I'm going to Brew in a bag and really want just a 15 gallon vessel for 5 gallon batches. I'm just wondering if I should go for the 10 gallon.

According to the specs on their page, its 12 gal capacity for the 10 gallon. It would be easier if they called them 12 and 24, lol.

 

[texwake]

According to the specs on their page, its 12 gal capacity for the 10 gallon. It would be easier if they called them 12 and 24, lol.

So do you think 12 is enough to do big beers via brew in a bag 5 gallon brews? I just don’t want to spend $100 more for way bigger than I need.

 

[marjen]

I would think you should be able to do just about any 5 gallon batch in the 10 gallon kettle. I have done 8.0% with not even close to an issue and I do BIAB. I would expect it to be fine.

 

[sweetcell]

So do you think 12 is enough to do big beers via brew in a bag 5 gallon brews?

yes, a 12 gallon pot should be more than enough for any BIAB beer.

 

[texwake]

Thanks gents! I shall be purchasing mine soon

 

[Toadies]

Does anyone know what the gallon marking indicators are at for the thermometer and the whirlpool inlet for the 10 gallon BMe kettle?

I'm going to be recurcilating the wort through my plate chiller and want to make sure it's high enough to cycle through all the wort.

 

[bigdawg86]

Does anyone know what the gallon marking indicators are at for the thermometer and the whirlpool inlet for the 10 gallon BMe kettle?

I'm going to be recurcilating the wort through my plate chiller and want to make sure it's high enough to cycle through all the wort.

Both are at 4 gallon marks...

 

[Toadies]

Both are at 4 gallon marks...

That should be high enough.