Best Kettle (in your opinion)

Get the cheapest aluminum pot on amazon, just season it first.

 

I got this one for $68 on amazon just before Christmas, if you keep an eye on it there is a chance itll drop again but even $87 seems like a good deal.

http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-1044-44-Quart-Stainless-Steel/dp/B000VXHKMC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358990997&sr=8-1&keywords=44 quart stainless steel stock pot

They also have this 9 gallon one for $67

http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-1036-Stainless-Steamer/dp/B0009JXYUA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1358990997&sr=8-4&keywords=44 quart stainless steel stock pot


That was my first kettle and I am glad I decided to get a big one right from the start. Its big enough to do all grain which I plan on trying very soon and it makes life easy when doing full boils with extract kits.

 

Love my keggle

 

I really like the setup.

http://morebeer.com/view_product/11854/102211/Brewing_Kettle_-_9_Gallon

 

For the money I'd be hard pressed to beat the Winware/Winco aluminum pots they sell on Amazon. I love mine and it's really heavy gauge (not a chance of flexing.)

 

No matter the pot, you should remove it from heat when adding extract to avoid scorching. I got a 15 qt aluminum stock pot (restaurant grade) as a gift 2 XMases ago and love it!

 

Bayou Classic pots are great; I got one off amazon and added valve/sightglass (weldless) from brewhardware

 

Agree with the above. If you advance in the hobby you will outgrow it immediately, so don't spend a lot on a simple pot for boiling a few gallons of water.

 

Just ordered this yesterday after my first extract batch almost foamed over

http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-3025-30-Quart-Accessories/dp/B00062VZMY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359039583&sr=8-1&keywords=turkey fry

I am a prime member so paid no shipping as well. Even comes with a thermometer

Looks like they have used ones for $33

 

Season?

 

What kind of stove (heat source) will you be using for the foreseeable future? Do you still plan on using it as a bottling bucket also (other thread)? What size batches will you be brewing...still going to be doing the 1 gal. ones?

 

This is exactly my set up and I am extremely happy with it. I have a 15.5G Bayou Classic Pot ($120, shipped, Amazon) and added the weldless valve (18$ Brewhardware.com), side pick-up fitting (bargainfittings.com, 24$) and a weldless sightglass tube (26$, brewhardware). That's roughly half the cost of the Blichmann Engineering 15G Boilermaker. According to my math, that means I have 200$ more dollars for grain, hops and yeast.

 

You're removing the packing oils and building an oxide layer. This step is necessary for aluminum pots.

 

As mentioned above, it builds up a passive oxide layer that keeps the (not actually as per real scientific studies) EVIL aluminium from reacting with the wort. All you do is boil water in it for a while with a lid on and the steam will do it for you. It will get darker and duller as a result.

 

Thanks for letting me know. New pot arrives today!

 

Not sure about DC, but here in Chicago you can find really reasonable large tamale pots at the mexican grocery stores.

My recommendation is to start out with something big enough, but that doesn't cost too much. If you are a beginner I would wait and see what you enjoy and how your process shakes out, and then upgrade accordingly.

In my experience the really cheap stainless pots are flimsy and suck. The really cheap aluminum pots are still plenty hefty enough.

 

I have a 15gal megapot, love the damn thing.

Whatever you do, add a weldless ballvalve to it, makes life a lot easier.