NervousDad
BFM
After seeing the bad reviews, on reddit, about Stout I was somewhat nervous ordering from them. I originally tried to order from BruGear, but I got no response to my inquiries. I could not be happier that they didn't respond to me! Stout delivered in my option the best kettle design and conicals and their customer service was fantastic!
What I ordered
20 gallon Electric HERMS
20 gallon MashTun
20 gallon Electric boil
2 7.5 gallons conical fermentors.
What I love about the kettles:
What could use from work:
Fit and Finish
There were some posts that the weld quality was poor. I am admittedly not a welder, but they look very nice to me. They are very smooth and no pitting. And these kettles are polished to a mirror finish, not sure how I'll like trying to keep them that way.
The fermentors are design to fit in to a small fridge and the are perfect so far. One of the few designs that have no weldless fittings and uses butterfly valves. So it's truly sanitary.
The Customer Service
Rich, was very responsive. I originally ordered a 15 gallon setup, but then I changed my mind. I gave them a call and they were happy to switch to a 20 gallon setup. My HLT came with a dent on the bottom (no fault of Stout) looked like Fedex put a pretty good beating on the box. I emailed Stout and they instantly emailed me back and asked me to return the bad HLT and as soon as they received the tracking information they set the replacement to me.
What I ordered
20 gallon Electric HERMS
20 gallon MashTun
20 gallon Electric boil
2 7.5 gallons conical fermentors.
What I love about the kettles:
They put a lot of thought into how they laid out every port. The Mash Tun drain valve is on the bottom of the kettle, so there is virtually no loss of wort. The boil kettle has a bowl shaped bottom and a tangential for whirlpooling and the HLT has the HERMS coil raised to it doesn't interfere with the element.
What could use from work:
The element ports are only 1.5". I really wish they were 2", but I had no problem using the Brewmation elements, however they were $60 each
The HERMS coil diameter is a bit small, not sure if this will be a problem or not.
The HERMS coil diameter is a bit small, not sure if this will be a problem or not.
Fit and Finish
There were some posts that the weld quality was poor. I am admittedly not a welder, but they look very nice to me. They are very smooth and no pitting. And these kettles are polished to a mirror finish, not sure how I'll like trying to keep them that way.
The fermentors are design to fit in to a small fridge and the are perfect so far. One of the few designs that have no weldless fittings and uses butterfly valves. So it's truly sanitary.
The Customer Service
Rich, was very responsive. I originally ordered a 15 gallon setup, but then I changed my mind. I gave them a call and they were happy to switch to a 20 gallon setup. My HLT came with a dent on the bottom (no fault of Stout) looked like Fedex put a pretty good beating on the box. I emailed Stout and they instantly emailed me back and asked me to return the bad HLT and as soon as they received the tracking information they set the replacement to me.