My point here is that if you want to take extra time and disassemble different fittings...go for it. Or, just be half assed and leave it there for the next batch to 'kill stuff.'
Or, better yet, drill your own holes in a blank kettle and save a bunch of coin. I see no reason to purchase SS brewtech over any other brand that just punches holes in their kettles.
OP if you want premium get welded fittings. If you don't want premium, get anything else.
Personally I use a no valve on a concord kettle I bought on ebay for $80. I also use a regular voile bag and a ladder to attach a pulley. This is what I do for small 5 gallon batches.
For 10 gallon batches I use a 20 gallon spike kettle that has several welded TC fittings for an electric element and circulation. I also use a stainless basket and electric hoist.
My point is that I have a premium set up and a very basic set up. Get what you want. Premium does not really mean anything if you're just trying to brew beer. But seriously, for keeping things clean, you would need to take all of those fittings off of the kettle after each brew.
Agreed. Get no more than you need, or in some cases want, but no less either.
I do have some personal experience with weldless fittings to share. After about a year of using my eBIAB system, I read somewhere about the horrors of off flavors introduced from not cleaning their two-piece valves. That motivated me to take mine apart and see what I had, and I was sure I would find some bad stuff.
Took them apart, and they looked brand new. So with that, I put them back together and haven't thought about it again, until now, a year later.
Just this past week I took apart some other threaded fittings that use plumbers tape. It was a similar story, save the fact that the plumbers tape looked a little ragged. I'll soak and scrub them for good measure while I've got them taken apart, but had I not, they would have continued to function.
What I have found since reading that initial article is that using external heat sources, like propane and natural gas, is the cause of things like gunky valves and weldless fittings because the heat they are putting off also heats up the fittings. With electric, the heat is being applied directly to the wort, not your kettle drain valve that needs a heat shield to keep it from melting, nor the bulkhead.
So to the OP, don't be discouraged from buying welded or threaded. Just don't be fooled into thinking that threaded tri-clamp fittings are the solution to all your woes
