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Hey gang. Going to be picking up a new kettle during the Black Friday madness. Currently an extract Brewer (5 gal) with no plans to go all grain. My current kettle is a 3.5-4 gallon turkey pot that limits me to partial boils.

Here is the question. For the same amount of $$, give or take I can get either an 8 gallon "tall" kettle (stainless) or a 15 gallon aluminum pot.

Looking to the brewnosers for advice/recommendations.

Cheers

Did you see the OBK 16 gallon pot for 79.99? I almost got one and I don't need a pot, lol
Could do a huge extract batch in there

Sure did. Here are the pots I am debating over.

http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/8_Gallon ... kettle.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/16_Gallo ... ed-pot.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/16_Gallo ... welded.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Check with Dave he should be able to do same or better

Timelord_ wrote:Hey gang. Going to be picking up a new kettle during the Black Friday madness. Currently an extract Brewer (5 gal) with no plans to go all grain. My current kettle is a 3.5-4 gallon turkey pot that limits me to partial boils.

Here is the question. For the same amount of $$, give or take I can get either an 8 gallon "tall" kettle (stainless) or a 15 gallon aluminum pot.

Looking to the brewnosers for advice/recommendations.

Cheers

Where did you see the aluminum pot on sale?

Go stainless. Check Everwood tomorrow am.

I didn't read the links but find a tri-clad Stainless as big as you can afford. 16 gal is good for boiling a double batch and I guess 8 or 10 for a single batch (standard 5 gal batch) DON'T economize on size because you will pass it on and get a bigger pot and waste money. If you are doing BIAB, nothing less than 10 gal for single batch and 20 gal for double (unless you enjoy frustration). Again, get a tri-clad bottom on the pot.

Get a 20 if you will brew 10 gallons. You can squeeze by on a 15 but I had boil overs 100% of the time

GuingesRock wrote:I didn't read the links but find a tri-clad Stainless as big as you can afford. 16 gal is good for boiling a double batch and I guess 8 or 10 for a single batch (standard 5 gal batch) DON'T economize on size because you will pass it on and get a bigger pot and waste money. If you are doing BIAB, nothing less than 10 gal for single batch and 20 gal for double (unless you enjoy frustration). Again, get a tri-clad bottom on the pot.

Thanks for the tips. All I've done so far is 5 gallon extract brews but I want to do 10 gallon brews and probably want to move to 10 gallon BIAB. Are the 19 gallon kettles at Everwood big enough for a 10 gallon BIAB?

ivorm wrote:

GuingesRock wrote:I didn't read the links but find a tri-clad Stainless as big as you can afford. 16 gal is good for boiling a double batch and I guess 8 or 10 for a single batch (standard 5 gal batch) DON'T economize on size because you will pass it on and get a bigger pot and waste money. If you are doing BIAB, nothing less than 10 gal for single batch and 20 gal for double (unless you enjoy frustration). Again, get a tri-clad bottom on the pot.

Thanks for the tips. All I've done so far is 5 gallon extract brews but I want to do 10 gallon brews and probably want to move to 10 gallon BIAB. Are the 19 gallon kettles at Everwood big enough for a 10 gallon BIAB?

19 is close enough to 20, but if you want to make good quality beer must have tri-clad base. Do they have that? I know Dave has some like that. I read something on gas flames with plain SS bases making hot spots (because poor conductivity of stainless) that produce reductones (plain English scorching wort) and it's screwing home brewers.

GuingesRock wrote:
19 is close enough to 20, but if you want to make good quality beer must have tri-clad base. Do they have that? I know Dave has some like that. I read something on gas flames with plain SS bases making hot spots (because poor conductivity of stainless) that produce reductones (plain English scorching wort) and it's screwing home brewers.

I'm not sure if Dave's are tri-clad or not, I'll have to ask. The description for his advanced brew kettle doesn't say.

https://www.everwoodavebrewshop.com/pro ... 19-gallon/

My kettles are from Dave and they are not tri-clad. It's s big price jump, and generally comes with a much higher quality pot. The economy kettles are never tri clad


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I'd check. There's nothing worse than brewing with one hand tied behind your back. I was screwed for 6 months by online brewing suppliers sending me bad (fresh) hops. I'll never forget that and now I only buy hop union nitrogen sealed. I won't go on about that, much as I'd like to ...much as I'd like to (did I say that) and also maybe I'd like to strangle said suppliers. But I won't go on ....did I say that. The key to good brewing is care (including quality equipment), and quality ingredients.

Whatever you decide to do, DO NOT go aluminum, take the extra few bucks and go stainless. Go cheap stainless for now, upgrade later, there's lots of stainless options out there. No need for fancy thermometers on kettles, it boils when it boils. One piece valves open the same way as a three piece. Once you have "outgrown" the gear, someone will be glad to take it off your hands.

Yeah Steffen, with respect to a guy who knows his stuff, it's so much less expensive to get it right from the start n'est–ce pas? It's like the guy that buys a cheap washing machine, saves $100 and buys a new one next year when the piece of sh..t packs in. The other guy pays $100 more and it's still running 20 years later.

Get it right the first time please.

GuingesRock wrote:Yeah Steffen, with respect to a guy who knows his stuff, it's so much less expensive to get it right from the start n'est–ce pas? It's like the guy that buys a cheap washing machine, saves $100 and buys a new one next year when the piece of sh..t packs in. The other guy pays $100 more and it's still running 20 years later.

Get it right the first time please.

I hear you Mark. It's just that there's a huge difference between any given 20 gallon pot, anywhere from 80 bucks to 450 bucks. My point is that unless you really know what you want, why fork out the 450. Much like buying a LandRover at age 16 when all you really need is a Lada.

In the end, it is up to the individual as to the purpose of the purchase, i.e. is this something that I will use frequently, often, weekly, daily, etc.


I have four 15 gallon kettles, my wife decided that I needed a 30 gallon SS pot, beautiful piece of equipment (God love her). Door to door $580. Dave has 25 gallon kettles for under $200 (not picking on Dave). It's a pot, it will boil wort, it's stainless (hopefully), there's a huge difference in $200 and $580 for almost the same thing. By all means, if you can affort the LandRover, go for it, but it is not the endall.


I think brewing is growth. As you go forth, you learn, as you learn you want to brew more, as you brew more, you want bigger equipment. If many of us had started out doing 30 gallon batches, I do believe there would be fewer of us because of the initial frustation.

I might also add, if you are creating a foreign beer: get the malt from that country (easy to do and costs a few cents more). I have never found a use for domestic malt, it's high nitrogen and will give you cloudy inferior beer. Shame on me I know, but there's a history behind bohemian floor malted pils and Marris otter. Otherwise go to Wal-Mart for your malt and pick up a few pounds of bologna when you are there to make a decent supper. I might be on board with the new Canadian organic local malts.

GuingesRock wrote:19 is close enough to 20, but if you want to make good quality beer must have tri-clad base. Do they have that? I know Dave has some like that. I read something on gas flames with plain SS bases making hot spots (because poor conductivity of stainless) that produce reductones (plain English scorching wort) and it's screwing home brewers.

I would debate this. First, reductones are a broad class of chemicals that have a number of properties, one of which is the ability to absorb oxygen. Reductones occur naturally in beer as they are produced during the kilning process of the malt. Roasting malts is, after all, carmelization of some of the sugars in the grain (the same type of carmelization that occurs with scorched wort). The issue is when fermented beer is exposed to oxygen, the oxygen can be absorbed by the reductones (and other chemical compounds) which in time can produce off flavours. (J. S. Hough, D. E. Briggs, R. Stevens, T. W., Malting and Brewing Science: Volume II Hopped Wort and Beer, Ch 23.3, page 872). So if you don't add excess oxygen to your beer reductones will not, by themselves, cause off flavours.

Second, it is just as easy to scorch wort in a kettle with a tri-clad base as it is a kettle with a single layer base. I have been using a 15 gallon kettle for a few years and after I figured out my burner, have not scorched a single batch. Your assertion that a tri-clad bottom will prevent scorching is misleading at best. What you should focus on is properly managing the heat source so scorching is prevented.

I sell kettles with single layer and tri-clad bottoms and I would rather send someone home with a kettle that works for them. Batch size, process and budget are always the main considerations. Yes, sometimes I think it would be nice to have dropped the $4000 I've spent over the years on a complete system. But I actually still use all of my gear depending on my batch size, time and mood. It wouldn't have mattered what equipment I started out with, it took time to understand proper brewing technique and I'm very happy I started small and worked my way into larger systems.

ivorm wrote:

GuingesRock wrote:
19 is close enough to 20, but if you want to make good quality beer must have tri-clad base. Do they have that? I know Dave has some like that. I read something on gas flames with plain SS bases making hot spots (because poor conductivity of stainless) that produce reductones (plain English scorching wort) and it's screwing home brewers.

I'm not sure if Dave's are tri-clad or not, I'll have to ask. The description for his advanced brew kettle doesn't say.

https://www.everwoodavebrewshop.com/pro ... 19-gallon/

I have one 19 gallon heavy duty kettle that has a tri-clad bottom. I don't have it on the website because I only have the one left. It's regular $299.99 but with the BN discount it's $269.99 plus tax. The accessory kit for it is here for $39.99 (you have to be logged in to see it)

RossBee wrote:

GuingesRock wrote:Yeah Steffen, with respect to a guy who knows his stuff, it's so much less expensive to get it right from the start n'est–ce pas? It's like the guy that buys a cheap washing machine, saves $100 and buys a new one next year when the piece of sh..t packs in. The other guy pays $100 more and it's still running 20 years later.

Get it right the first time please.

I hear you Mark. It's just that there's a huge difference between any given 20 gallon pot, anywhere from 80 bucks to 450 bucks. My point is that unless you really know what you want, why fork out the 450. Much like buying a LandRover at age 16 when all you really need is a Lada.

In the end, it is up to the individual as to the purpose of the purchase, i.e. is this something that I will use frequently, often, weekly, daily, etc.


I have four 15 gallon kettles, my wife decided that I needed a 30 gallon SS pot, beautiful piece of equipment (God love her). Door to door $580. Dave has 25 gallon kettles for under $200 (not picking on Dave). It's a pot, it will boil wort, it's stainless (hopefully), there's a huge difference in $200 and $580 for almost the same thing. By all means, if you can affort the LandRover, go for it, but it is not the endall.


I think brewing is growth. As you go forth, you learn, as you learn you want to brew more, as you brew more, you want bigger equipment. If many of us had started out doing 30 gallon batches, I do believe there would be fewer of us because of the initial frustation.

Oh fuck Steffen! and I'm going to swear! I had a Russian tractor in Manitoba because it was cheaper. It was a Belarus. I loved that bloody thing but it was useless. We had 1/4 section. I mowed horse riding trails and would have to walk the trails after to pick up the parts that had fallen off the bloody thing. Once in a while it would actually let me do half a field of hay …if I was lucky.

Absolutely no one needs a ladas!

I did have a workshop that I built myself, pole frame, 20’ x 30’ with up and over doors. It was well equipped with a woodwork and metalwork section (quite practical you know) and it had a corner with a drinks cabinet for when the boys came around. I’d drive the Belarus in there and fix it up for the next run.

The local vicar drove in our yard in the midst of a tornado like storm with a flat tyre. What bad luck, right at the stupid impractical doctor’s place (everyone knows doctors are stupid, and I agree). I whisked him into my workshop, jacked up his car, changed the tire in a flash with my pneumatic impact wrench, could have welded him to the floor with my mig welder, but didn’t, gave him a shot of whiskey instead. He needed the whiskey because he didn’t know what hit him.

jtmwhyte wrote:Did you see the OBK 16 gallon pot for 79.99? I almost got one and I don't need a pot, lol
Could do a huge extract batch in there

This is the same kettle that I have on sale, just slightly taller. They are manufactured but the same company and are made from the same material and construction. And while they are the same price OBK wants $23 to ship it. Mine will ship for $9.99 anywhere is Canada.

EverwoodAveBrewShop wrote:

jtmwhyte wrote:Did you see the OBK 16 gallon pot for 79.99? I almost got one and I don't need a pot, lol
Could do a huge extract batch in there

This is the same kettle that I have on sale, just slightly taller. They are manufactured but the same company and are made from the same material and construction. And while they are the same price OBK wants $23 to ship it. Mine will ship for $9.99 anywhere is Canada.

The long and short Tom, this is the one you want!!

GuingesRock wrote:

RossBee wrote:

GuingesRock wrote:Yeah Steffen, with respect to a guy who knows his stuff, it's so much less expensive to get it right from the start n'est–ce pas? It's like the guy that buys a cheap washing machine, saves $100 and buys a new one next year when the piece of sh..t packs in. The other guy pays $100 more and it's still running 20 years later.

Get it right the first time please.

I hear you Mark. It's just that there's a huge difference between any given 20 gallon pot, anywhere from 80 bucks to 450 bucks. My point is that unless you really know what you want, why fork out the 450. Much like buying a LandRover at age 16 when all you really need is a Lada.

In the end, it is up to the individual as to the purpose of the purchase, i.e. is this something that I will use frequently, often, weekly, daily, etc.


I have four 15 gallon kettles, my wife decided that I needed a 30 gallon SS pot, beautiful piece of equipment (God love her). Door to door $580. Dave has 25 gallon kettles for under $200 (not picking on Dave). It's a pot, it will boil wort, it's stainless (hopefully), there's a huge difference in $200 and $580 for almost the same thing. By all means, if you can affort the LandRover, go for it, but it is not the endall.


I think brewing is growth. As you go forth, you learn, as you learn you want to brew more, as you brew more, you want bigger equipment. If many of us had started out doing 30 gallon batches, I do believe there would be fewer of us because of the initial frustation.

Oh fuck Steffen! and I'm going to swear! I had a Russian tractor in Manitoba because it was cheaper. It was a Belarus. I loved that bloody thing but it was useless. We had 1/4 section. I mowed horse riding trails and would have to walk the trails after to pick up the parts that had fallen off the bloody thing. Once in a while it would actually let me do half a field of hay …if I was lucky.

Absolutely no one needs a ladas!

I did have a workshop that I built myself, pole frame, 20’ x 30’ with up and over doors. It was well equipped with a woodwork and metalwork section (quite practical you know) and it had a corner with a drinks cabinet for when the boys came around. I’d drive the Belarus in there and fix it up for the next run.

The local vicar drove in our yard in the midst of a tornado like storm with a flat tyre. What bad luck, right at the stupid impractical doctor’s place (everyone knows doctors are stupid, and I agree). I whisked him into my workshop, jacked up his car, changed the tire in a flash with my pneumatic impact wrench, could have welded him to the floor with my mig welder, but didn’t, gave him a shot of whiskey instead. He needed the whiskey because he didn’t know what hit him. He was on the hospital board. A hospital in the middle of nowhere. I was chief of staff. It was my hospital, it was me. I was it for everything, car accidents, drownings, hearts. I got a high respect for fixing more than tractors.

The hardest thing was to fix was Russian machines. No Ladas!

Down boy, no need to get upset about the Belarus tractor or the local vicar, it's just a stainless steel pot.

EverwoodAveBrewShop wrote:

GuingesRock wrote:19 is close enough to 20, but if you want to make good quality beer must have tri-clad base. Do they have that? I know Dave has some like that. I read something on gas flames with plain SS bases making hot spots (because poor conductivity of stainless) that produce reductones (plain English scorching wort) and it's screwing home brewers.

I would debate this. First, reductones are a broad class of chemicals that have a number of properties, one of which is the ability to absorb oxygen. Reductones occur naturally in beer as they are produced during the kilning process of the malt. Roasting malts is, after all, carmelization of some of the sugars in the grain (the same type of carmelization that occurs with scorched wort). The issue is when fermented beer is exposed to oxygen, the oxygen can be absorbed by the reductones (and other chemical compounds) which in time can produce off flavours. (J. S. Hough, D. E. Briggs, R. Stevens, T. W., Malting and Brewing Science: Volume II Hopped Wort and Beer, Ch 23.3, page 872). So if you don't add excess oxygen to your beer reductones will not, by themselves, cause off flavours.

Second, it is just as easy to scorch wort in a kettle with a tri-clad base as it is a kettle with a single layer base. I have been using a 15 gallon kettle for a few years and after I figured out my burner, have not scorched a single batch. Your assertion that a tri-clad bottom will prevent scorching is misleading at best. What you should focus on is properly managing the heat source so scorching is prevented.

I sell kettles with single layer and tri-clad bottoms and I would rather send someone home with a kettle that works for them. Batch size, process and budget are always the main considerations. Yes, sometimes I think it would be nice to have dropped the $4000 I've spent over the years on a complete system. But I actually still use all of my gear depending on my batch size, time and mood. It wouldn't have mattered what equipment I started out with, it took time to understand proper brewing technique and I'm very happy I started small and worked my way into larger systems.

Send your beer in to competitions and get back to me Dave. It's not a perfect system but it's the best we have. It's not good enough to say "I make good beer and I'm happy with it" without endorsement from BJCP judges. As a supplier thank you for listening. Your objective is to sell, but start the struggles of competing and you'll learn how difficult it is and what's required. AND! it's very difficult. Don't eyewash people. Please learn. Please listen to what people need. It's tricky though. You need to find a market niche. What I need is stuff in stock when I need it, I need other than domestic malt, and I need hop union 1 oz N2 pillow packed hops. But that's just me and my needs. Someone else might need something different.

And, I never have used a boil kettle without a tri-clad bottom so I can't compare, but have read convincing evidence against that.

GuingesRock wrote:

EverwoodAveBrewShop wrote:

GuingesRock wrote:19 is close enough to 20, but if you want to make good quality beer must have tri-clad base. Do they have that? I know Dave has some like that. I read something on gas flames with plain SS bases making hot spots (because poor conductivity of stainless) that produce reductones (plain English scorching wort) and it's screwing home brewers.

I would debate this. First, reductones are a broad class of chemicals that have a number of properties, one of which is the ability to absorb oxygen. Reductones occur naturally in beer as they are produced during the kilning process of the malt. Roasting malts is, after all, carmelization of some of the sugars in the grain (the same type of carmelization that occurs with scorched wort). The issue is when fermented beer is exposed to oxygen, the oxygen can be absorbed by the reductones (and other chemical compounds) which in time can produce off flavours. (J. S. Hough, D. E. Briggs, R. Stevens, T. W., Malting and Brewing Science: Volume II Hopped Wort and Beer, Ch 23.3, page 872). So if you don't add excess oxygen to your beer reductones will not, by themselves, cause off flavours.

Second, it is just as easy to scorch wort in a kettle with a tri-clad base as it is a kettle with a single layer base. I have been using a 15 gallon kettle for a few years and after I figured out my burner, have not scorched a single batch. Your assertion that a tri-clad bottom will prevent scorching is misleading at best. What you should focus on is properly managing the heat source so scorching is prevented.

I sell kettles with single layer and tri-clad bottoms and I would rather send someone home with a kettle that works for them. Batch size, process and budget are always the main considerations. Yes, sometimes I think it would be nice to have dropped the $4000 I've spent over the years on a complete system. But I actually still use all of my gear depending on my batch size, time and mood. It wouldn't have mattered what equipment I started out with, it took time to understand proper brewing technique and I'm very happy I started small and worked my way into larger systems.

Send your beer in to competitions and get back to me Dave. It's not a perfect system but it's the best we have. It's not good enough to say "I make good beer and I'm happy with it" without endorsement from BJCP judges. As a supplier thank you for listening. Your objective is to sell, but start the struggles of competing and you'll learn how difficult it is and what's required. AND! it's very difficult. Don't eyewash people. Please learn. Please listen to what people need. It's tricky though. You need to find a market niche. What I need is stuff in stock when I need it, I need other than domestic malt, and I need hop union 1 oz N2 pillow packed hops. But that's just me and my needs. Someone else might need something different.

I'm OK with domestic and vacuum sealed hops, and bulk grain. I create a beer I'm happy with, and friends and family are happy with. I also create a beer that will and has won comps. High end isn't the be all and end all. Often you are limited by your budget, but can still create amazing beer.