Aluminum Vs. Stainless brew kettles

Which is better and what are the pros and cons of each?

I've heard rumors that aluminum can spot leaks; told to me by people that deep fry turkeys on the reg. I personally bought an 8 gallon SS pot and have never looked back. Just make sure that whatever you get is over 1mm thick throughout though, that's important.

There is no such thing as "better" in most of these questions, just a matter of preference. Read the FAQ that was posted above, and you decide for your self. I use both and there is no difference.

There is nothing wrong with aluminum, I just like stainless for the fact that you can clean it with just about anything. Aluminum can be more reactive. I actually use a 7 gallon aluminum pot for heating all my strike water though. I'm just more of a fan of stainless and it's properties. IF you think you are in this for the long haul, I would go with stainless.

Stainless helps me embrace my inner laziness.

"meh, soak it, it will clean itself."

wait . . . what was the question?

Aluminum is cheaper, Stainless is sexier.

Buying quality is more important than material, however you decide.

15 gallon kettle with 8 gallons of water, which one gets to boil the quickest?

Stainless is better, aluminum is good enough. I'm sure my old turkey pot would have a hole in the bottom by now if I had brewed as much beer in it as I have with this fryer. The stand is not doing so well. My cheapo SS pot shows little signs of ware. It may last a lifetime.

The decision to use aluminum vs SS is really up to you. I had reservations about using aluminum pots because of all the crap we were fed during the 90's about aluminum causing alzheimers. All bull**** apparently. Restaurants use aluminum all day, every day. If it works for them, it'll work for you.

I bought my 15 gallon aluminum stock pot from bass pro 5-6 years ago. Dented, stained, ugly, beat to **** and I love it. No plans on replacing it anytime soon.

***damnit! old thread.

PackerfaninSanDiego said:

15 gallon kettle with 8 gallons of water, which one gets to boil the quickest?

Click to expand...

The water will boil before the kettle does...


Wait, what the heck is the question here?

Gameface, you know the question, read between the lines......

I heard stainless steel kettle cause impotence.

Peruvian802 said:

I heard stainless steel kettle cause impotence.

Click to expand...

Only if it falls on your man-parts.

I can NOT believe how many times this question has been answered. Does not anyone read the FAQ's???

I started with aluminum for extract. It came with a burner. After moving to all grain soon after, I bought a nicer SS kettle, since I knew I was a fan of the hobby and wasn't just going to blow a bunch of cash on something I would do a couple times and then get bored of. I now use my aluminum pot to heat up most of my water.

I only own stainless and I'm a BIABer. I almost don't even have to wrap my kettles to maintain a constant mash temp.

I think investing in quality stainless kettles is totally worth it.

I have all MegaPots from Northern Brewer.


/Will always still be figuring it out/