Purchasing a new brew kettle

[LepusLucis]

Well, as the title says I'm thinking about getting a new brew kettle. I want to be able to make 10gal batches easily and maybe a lttle more depending on what I'm making (currently have two glass carboys for fermenting, one 5gal and one 6 gal)

Should I just shoot for the 15gal kettle?

These are what I've been looking at:
-SS Brewtech
-Spikes

I'd like to try and keep it under $300.

Any advice you can give is welcome! Thanks in advance!

 

[Dcpcooks]

15 is going to be tight for 10g. You'll have evaporation and trub to account for which will be around 3 gallons. That will only leave you with 2 gallons head space. So you'll have to watch it at the start of the boil to prevent boil overs. You can't do more than 10g final batch size in a 15. You still need to leave space in the fermenters for trub that means you'll need a 11 gallons of beer into your fermentors to hit 10 gallons of finished clean beer.

If you want 12 gallons final volume you'll need a 20g pot. I'd say you should plan on that unless you have a little extra space in the kettles. I believe Sone of the manufacturers have a little extra capacity over the listed size. So maybe that will help you decide which way to go

 

[marjen]

I just ordered a 20 gallon for 10 gallon batches. Agree with poster above. I went SS Brewtech Brewmaster, as Spike is out of stock on 20 gallon kettles.

 

[LepusLucis]

Well, as the title says I'm thinking about getting a new brew kettle. I want to be able to make 10gal batches easily and maybe a lttle more depending on what I'm making (currently have two glass carboys for fermenting, one 5gal and one 6 gal)

Should I just shoot for the 15gal kettle?

These are what I've been looking at:
-SS Brewtech
-Spikes

I'd like to try and keep it under $300.

Any advice you can give is welcome! Thanks in advance!

Hmm, yeah I've always been a "go big or go home" kind of guy when it comes to equipment. Maybe I will go with the 20gal.

 

[Garou24]

Yeah you will want a 20 gallon. I got a 25 gallon and that allowed me to do 15 gallon batches. 20 should give you enough room for the extra wort prior to boiling and also space to prevent boil overs

 

[MindenMan]

I have to agree^^^ I bought a 10 gallon pot thinking it would be big enough for 5 (finished) gallon batches--it barely is. If I am making a high ABV batch and need to do any extra sparging for any reason, it seems as though it takes forever to boil off the sparge water in added batches.

 

[Morrey]

Before you say it costs too much, let me tell you about a deal I found on a Blichmann 20 G kettle.

I knew they were too much but I started looking on their website. They had a selection of kettles that had a minor scratch here or there. The scratches on mine were a tiny set of scratches on the inside of the kettle at the bottom where the dip tube is installed. I never even think about them and it makes no difference anyway, but I saved $100.

But definitely 20G for 11G batches.

 

[LepusLucis]

Before you say it costs too much, let me tell you about a deal I found on a Blichmann 20 G kettle.

I knew they were too much but I started looking on their website. They had a selection of kettles that had a minor scratch here or there. The scratches on mine were a tiny set of scratches on the inside of the kettle at the bottom where the dip tube is installed. I never even think about them and it makes no difference anyway, but I saved $100.

But definitely 20G for 11G batches.

I was checking out their site today and couldn't find that section. Could you point me in the right direction?

 

[Morrey]

I was checking out their site today and couldn't find that section. Could you point me in the right direction?

Sure, from their home page, look at the top bar and select "replacement parts". Then you'll see a link "buy it here", click on that and on the next screen select "Closeouts". I just looked and they only have one 30G kettle available. But they add items daily....this is the first time I have not seen several kettles available for good deals. Keep looking.

 

[Dcpcooks]

You can also buy used. I did that with everything, it's stainless steel and I don't care if it has a ding.

 

[ChelisHubby]

I bought a 20 gallon spike kettle and it will let me brew probably 14 gallons in the fermenters. It caused me to make several beers that suffered from my misjudgments of volume. so I kept making my fermenters hold 6.5 gallons of wort. Thank God I am using the larger Fermonster.