17 Nov
2003
17 Nov
'03
7:45 a.m.
I agree with Steve on the stainless and the inconvienence of converted
kegs. I have a keg that is used as a turkey deep fryer these days and
15 gallon stainless kettles for brewing. The drain valves are
extremely valuable. The weldless fittings are a cheap option though
you will need a hole saw or punch to prepare the kettle.
Remember that with the aluminum kettles the heat transfer is very good
(a real plus) but some agressive cleaners are not a good idea (lye or
oven-clean after a boilover or scorching is a nono).
As for converted kegs try SABCO at http://www.kegs.com/
Note they also have a lot of other things like 2.5 gallon cornies.
Steve Fletty writes:
I prefer stainless steel kettles. They're light, durable and easy to clean.
I had a modified keg at one point, which I quickly sold. Those are just too
heavy and more difficult to clean compared to a kettle.
Stainless is of course more expensive, but will hold it's value.
If you can, just get brew kettles with the spigot already in them and save
yourself the time and effort of messing around with modifying something, unless
you like doing that.
A good option for modification is the Zymico weldless fittings, at both
Midwest and Northern Brewer.
--
Steve Piatz piatz(a)cray.com
Cray Inc. 651-605-9049
1340 Mendota Heights Road
Mendota Heights, MN 55120
I have been looking at brewing kettles, and I
could use some advice.
I am looking for something around 15 gallons, so that I can do all grain
batches of at least 10 gallons. Northern Brewer has a Polarware 15 Gallon
Kettle made of 18-8 stainless that would work. Midwest has a 14 gallon
stainless kettle with .8mm sides and 1.0mm bottom which is quite a bit
cheaper, but I would question the durability of this compared with the
heavier kettle. I know that a lot of people have converted used kegs for
use as brew kettles, but I have not found a good source for that option, and
I am not sure how much modifying I want to try to do.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Dave