Concord brew kettle owners

[jtp137]

Thinking of getting 25 gallon pot how hard are they to drill and how is the stainless steel is it cheap, magnetic will it eventually rust? It is listed as 18 / 10 is that the same as spike or SS tech kettles

 

[tsever00]

I have three Concord kettles and have been very happy with them. Two are welded and one is weldless. I used the drill bit they included with the weldless kettle and it worked very well. I used a little 3in1 household oil while drilling and it took about 2 minutes to drill the hole. I've had no rusting issues at all after two years. I would recommend going with the welded kettles as the weldless silicone gaskets eventually go bad and the leak always start at the worst time. I'm sure the more expensive kettles are nice but I really couldn't justify paying twice as much for a brand name kettle.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

I have 3 20 Gallon kettles, we punched about 10 1/2" holes and 2 2" holes in them for welded couplers and triclamp fittings using a drill press and two hole saw bits...had no real problem.

Yes they are 18 gauge, same as every other stainless pot out there really, including Blichmann.

 

[flugelizor]

I have two it is good stainless. Not magnetic. Won't rust.
Drilling any stainless pot is not a walk in the park, but it can be done. Check out this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=479746

 

[RTL]

I have two of the 25 gallon ones and I just upgraded to 40 and 45 gallons. I had the 25s welded by a guy I found on the local classifieds. He warped the hell out of them and didn't do a very good job but even after the crappy welding they didn't rust once I repassivated them. The metal is thin, 1mm is about 18 - 19 gauge, but I am all electric so it doesn't really matter. I'm not sure how much different gas is as I haven't brewed with gas since I was doing stovetop.

For the price they can't be beat, I got a 40 gallon and a 45 gallon plus all the fittings I needed and welding for the price you would pay for one Blichmann 55 gallon kettle, and Blichmanns don't even come with a wort-in port. I mean really? They say "redesigned from the ground up" but you still have to punch a hole to attach a sparge arm, and drape a hose over the side of the boil kettle to sparge? Weak.

Sorry for the rant. In summary the stainless if fine, its made in China but so is just about all the other stainless you buy in the states.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I would recommend going with the welded kettles as the weldless silicone gaskets eventually go bad and the leak always start at the worst time. .

Silver solder is good DIY option as well. Inexpensive and all you need is a basic Propane torch.

 

[jtp137]

Looks like they have tri clad bottoms now are they worth it

 

[wilserbrewer]

Looks like they have tri clad bottoms now are they worth it

Not needed IMO. The price is one of the Concord strong points is price, upgrading and spending more isn't justified IMO. They are nice pots in standard form.

 

[SilverZero]

If you check out my build thread you can see a few photos of my 20 gallon kettles. I did about the same as FuzzeWuzze (and at about the same time!) but I also silver soldered and it was no trouble.

My build here. I started talking about it on page 2, pics start at post #37.