Choosing a kettle

An 8 gal. kettle will be fine for a 5 gal. all-grain batch assuming your burner is not turned up too high. Note: I would recommend a stainless steel one with a "sandwiched aluminum bottom" for gentle heat distribution (< $90 at a restaurant supply store). I use a natural gas stove and straddle 2 burners for more btus. You will also need ~ 5 gal cheapo hot liquor tank (kettle/pot) and a ~ 10 gal. mash tun of some kind.

 

When I started full, 5+gallon boils, I discovered that I couldn't keep 5 gallons boiling on the stovetop in my 8 gallon enamel pot. Remember that you may also need to purchase a turkey fryer burner also. I don't spend much money on my hobbies (frugality is part of the fun) but I opened my wallet for a 15 gallon kettle with a spigot. For me, the spigot is critical because a large kettle is heavy and unwieldy. I've only brewed 10 gallon batches twice, but it is a nice option if I want to brew with a friend. I thought that 15 gals might be too much but I'm glad that I went with the 15 gallon option.

 

You can brew a 10 gallon batch in a 15 gallon kettle. If you are solely going to brew 5 gallon batches you do not need something this big. An 8 gallon kettle will 'work' for you if you conduct gentle boils. I would suggest that 10 gallons is a 'better' choice since it provides 'extra' headroom for the boil.

Cheers!

 

10-gallon kettle for 5-gal batches. At times, I even wish my kettle was 12-gallon or something when doing big beers or DIPA's with a lot of hops (due to absorption, I want 5.5-6 gallon into my fermenter to account for losses), so my pre-boil volume may be something like 8-8.5 gallon. So the available real estate goes pretty quick!

 

I started with a 10 gal aluminum stock pot, that suited me for about a year, then I moved to the SS 15 gal. I mostly brew 5 gal batches, the odd ten, but 15 gal isn't too cumbersome to lug around, and you have the option to do 5 or 10 gal batches, or do high gravity BIAB batches that wouldn't fit in a ten gal kettle.

I wish that I had just gone for the stainless 15 gal right away.

Thermometer is nice, as you can monitor your chilling temp quite easily when you finish your boil, also if you use your kettle to heat strike water, its nice to not have to stick a hand held thermometer in the pot. That said, you can definitely get away without one. Spigot saves you from using your siphon for transferring wort, so there will be less cleaning on brew day, although you will still need to clean that transfer tubing...

 

@mugs1789 posted: "15 gallon kettle with a spigot. For me, the spigot is critical because a large kettle is heavy and unwieldy."

Cheers!

 

I do not recommend a spigot on a kettle unless you are willing to clean it exceptionally well every time...they have lots of nooks and crannies that hide bugs and mung. My 10 gal setup has a ball valve drain on the kettle (keggle), but I like the simplicity of a regular kettle with no penetrations for 5 gal. batches. For me, the aluminum bottom is a much more desirable feature.

 

Good point. Spigots require conscientious cleaning.

Cheers!

 

I have a 10gal Anvil. It is great for me as, at least right now, I have no intentions to go over 5gal batches. I brew in a bag, and can say that for my larger beers, I am pushing the limits on this kettle. On top of that, I have to use a turkey burner outside to brew with it as my cooking stove can not make it boil with more then 5 gallons of liquid in it.

Mine has both spigot and thermometer. If you plan to BIAB, then the thermometer would be a good idea for that.

 

This is probably the most important consideration...what anyone is going to use for a burner. I can easily get a nice rolling, gentle boil on my NG stove by straddling 2 burners...which is why I bought a squat/wide 8 gal. kettle.

 

I got a 15 gallon blicchman. Spigot is a must because lifting all that hot water is unsafe imho. Its nice to have a thermometer port. If you are boiling you don't really worry about bugs anywhere besides your spigot. I run pbw with hot water through my kettle before every brew day and manually remove the interior of my spigot every 3 months and have never had a problem. It's only marginally dirty after that third month. Routine measures will prevent a lot of gross gunk when you finally break down your spigot. If I were you I'd get a ten gallon anvil with spigot and temp probe.

 

An important thing to consider is if / when you move to all grain, will you go for the BIAB method or use an HLT / MLT gravity type system. With BIAB you might want to go for the 15 gal. Also if you think you might do a ten gal batch ever then you definitely need to go 15 gal.

 

Kettle should not have to be lifted hot...lifting to stove after collection of MT runnings is about as hot as it gets as it gets (<140*F)...it's cool by the time it goes into the fermenter (except for BIAB, which has other considerations as well). A pitcher can easily be used from HLT to MT.

 

A pitcher could be used but it takes considerably longer than hulking it into the mashtun like I did before I had a spigot(stupid). In my opinion it is considerably more annoying to use a pitcher to transfer than it is to routinely clean a spigot with and hot water and pbw. Don't get into brewing if you don't like to clean properly and if the guy is starting fresh he will regret not having a spigot placed and having to drill his own when he realizes it's much easier.

 

Oh also - something I find incredibly useful are embossed gallon markers. Oh man, those make life easier.

 

Interesting point on cleaning the spigot. I never clean mine, other than to run hot, soapy and then fresh water through it, while opening and closing the valve a few times, while I clean the entire kettle. I'll take a closer look at it the next time I brew and make sure that I clean it thoroughly.

 

I'll second that