Re: Kettles

Dave, Personally, I agree with many of the comments about kettles. I prefer SS because all components (pump, SS counterflow and tubing) can be cleaned with the same cleaner. It does transfer heat but a bit more slowly but I still throttle back my Supurb burner when doing 14 gallon boils. Usually the wort is fully boiling about 10 minutes after finishing runoff. I also strongly prefer having a false bottom for the same reason Steve mentioned. It allows using whole hops and is a great site for crud collection. Same with the bottom outlet. Whenever you try to siphon hot liquid, the pressure at inlet and top of tube decreases which lowers boiling point and can cause the wort to boil and cavitate the pump. Not a good thing and it sounds worse than it is. Converted kegs are also ok but we have had reports of temperature line fractures - not a good thing. Then there is strength. Welded constrution vs deep drawn. Foreign vs domestic. Finally, width vs height. This is a whole subject worth considering. Tall brew kettles extract a little more from the hops. Short mash kettles are also known to work better than tall. The kettle you found is a great kettle but a wee bit short. My personal suggestion would be to get that kettle and replace the outlet valves with SS. Best of luck. Rick