Stainless Kettle too good to be true.

[OneHoppyGuy]

Spike, as a vendor there's a fine line between defending your product and appeasing customers. Be willing to take one on the cheek and roll with it. Bomber is obviously very knowledgeable in this arena and would be an excellent ally.
This hobby seems to have no end to the education period which makes it both interesting and sometimes contentious.
Lot of words to say take it all in, sift out the wisdom and move forward.

 

[bottlebomber]

It's cool Hoppy we resolved our differences... they are after all a great deal on kettles of that size. I just think our tempers got the best of us. He sells kettles, and I machine a lot of stainless alloys. There is probably a lot we could learn from each other.

 

[djfriesen]

Well, that's refreshing. The anonymity of the interwebz rarely leads to such an end. Kudos to both of you.

 

[bottlebomber]

Well, that's refreshing. The anonymity of the interwebz rarely leads to such an end. Kudos to both of you.

You'd be amazed how easily these online interactions can bleed over into real life. The world is a small, small place.

 

[mikeysab]

I think I found a better pot. What do you guys think about this one?

Update International 60 Qt. Stainless Steel Pot with Sandwich Bottom (cover included) - UPI-SPS-60 - SPS-60 at Wares Direct

It's thicker and has a sandwich bottom. It doesn't have any ports, but weldless are easy enough to throw in there. Any good on this one?

 

[onthekeg]

Many people use these pots from Update International. I think they may be the same pot that Spike is selling, he is just installing the ports as a service and reselling them.

 

[mikeysab]

His pots are 1mm all around, these are 1.2 mm with a sandwich bottom.

 

[bottlebomber]

Man that's a damn good deal on a pot...

 

[mikeysab]

Hows that type of stainless, BB?

 

[bottlebomber]

Hows that type of stainless, BB?

Its your pretty standard 18/8 meaning generic, stainless steel. When they are making machining grade stainless they have to add all the alloying elements in very narrow and controlled amounts, because many customers require material certs. With a generic 18/8 grade ss the amounts of material they add aren't as textbook;they don't necessarily fall in the exact criteria to make them 304/316 etc. Perfectly fine for stamping a pot with though. This really is a great deal, I don't know how they can offer this at this price with the aluminum core bottom.

 

[mikeysab]

Nice, thanks for the info. Waresdirect does have some great prices on pots. My current BK is a 20 gallon aluminum, 6mm that I bought with lid and shipping for about 100 bucks.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

I think I found a better pot. What do you guys think about this one?

Update International 60 Qt. Stainless Steel Pot with Sandwich Bottom (cover included) - UPI-SPS-60 - SPS-60 at Wares Direct

It's thicker and has a sandwich bottom. It doesn't have any ports, but weldless are easy enough to throw in there. Any good on this one?

That's a great price. If you have the means to drill the holes and are fine with weldless you'll have a nice kettle!

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

MoreBeer, MegaPot and BrewSteel use Update International pots.
BrewSteel price does not use weldless. We use a combination of tig welded and swaged/soldered.

 

[mikeysab]

Wow, is that the same pot?

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

Same pot

 

[mikeysab]

Man, waresdirect is a super deal then. Looks like my system is getting a slight overhaul. Now all I need is a pump. I'm sick of lifting all that water on brewday.

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

We have March pumps also

 

[jaynik]

So, how important is it to have a ball valve when doing 5 gallon batches? Too many choices!
There's a 42qt stainless polarware economy kettle for $87.95 with free shipping. If I need the valve, I'm better off going with spike's deal as I could get a 10 gal with a ball valve to my house for $115.

 

[mikeysab]

For me, a ball valve was never necessary for 5 gallons. It all depends if you're confortable (or able) lifting all that liquid and dumping it into your fermenter. It depends on your setup and how you have things plumbed. If you're just going with a straight BK, no FB, then dumping, or siphoning should be all you need to do.

I do anywhere from 10 to 17 gallon batches, so a ball valve is nice to have. I could of course siphon, but that's a PITA.

You also have to take into consideration what you're getting for your money. For me, the waresdirect pot seems like a well built kettle for our purposes. That's not to say that spikes is not, but a thicker, sandwich bottom kettle for around the same price just seems to make more sense FOR ME. The welded ports on Spikes are definitely a nice touch though, and It's something I'm giving up by having weldless fittings, but for me, weldless is fine, so the WD kettle makes more sense for me.

 

[rico567]

I have a cheapie Proctor-Silex 30 qt. SS pot that can't be more than 1 mm thick, and it's quite serviceable. And it's no thicker on the bottom (which has acquired some dings in 4 years), and doesn't scorch anything with boils over my Bayou Classic SP-10.

 

[dallasdb]

So, how important is it to have a ball valve when doing 5 gallon batches? Too many choices!
There's a 42qt stainless polarware economy kettle for $87.95 with free shipping. If I need the valve, I'm better off going with spike's deal as I could get a 10 gal with a ball valve to my house for $115.

For that little of a price difference go with Spike and the ball valve you won't regret it.

So much easier to work with transferring and with a ball valve you could always use it as a bottling bucket!

 

[bottlebomber]

I second having a ball valve. I've been trying to reduce trub going in to my fermenter, and if you just let it sit for a half hour after chilling and don't drain it to the bottom that 3 inches of mud in your fermenter is more like 1. I don't know how many times I've thought "wow, I pulled 6.5 gallons out of that recipe, what great efficiency! Oh wait, its only 4.5. Meh."

 

[evandena]

I think I found a better pot. What do you guys think about this one?

Update International 60 Qt. Stainless Steel Pot with Sandwich Bottom (cover included) - UPI-SPS-60 - SPS-60 at Wares Direct

It's thicker and has a sandwich bottom. It doesn't have any ports, but weldless are easy enough to throw in there. Any good on this one?

Wow, the reviews on waresdirect.com are abysmal. Not sure if I want to risk it.

 

[CanadianQuaffer]

Wow, the reviews on waresdirect.com are abysmal. Not sure if I want to risk it.

These are essentially mega-pots, so I don't see how how they can get bad reviews...

 

[evandena]

These are essentially mega-pots, so I don't see how how they can get bad reviews...

The company, not the product.
Wares Direct Reviews - waresdirect.com/ Ratings at ResellerRatings

 

[mikeysab]

I bought my current BK from them, an update international 80 qt aluminum pot and had no problem. Arrived promptly in perfect shape. The website you linked has them listed as a computer hardware and software site. A little odd there.

 

[evandena]

I bought my current BK from them, an update international 80 qt aluminum pot and had no problem. Arrived promptly in perfect shape. The website you linked has them listed as a computer hardware and software site. A little odd there.

Based on your testimonial alone, I think I'll take the chance.
Did you add any fittings to yours?

 

[kincade]

Based on your testimonial alone, I think I'll take the chance.
Did you add any fittings to yours?

Same kettle is avail from brewsteel with welded/soldered fittings customized however you want. That is where i will buy next time.

 

[mcaple1]

sub'd

 

[CanadianQuaffer]

The company, not the product.
Wares Direct Reviews - waresdirect.com/ Ratings at ResellerRatings

Sorry, missed that part.