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Walts Malt
Joined: 27 Sep 2013 Posts: 119 Location: Farmington, MN
Drinking: Two Hearted Clone
Working on: Planning my Fall Brewing Schedule
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Link Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 1:15 am Post subject: Northern Brewer Mega Pots - 20 Gallon |
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I'm very close to purchasing three of Northern Brewer's 20 Gallon Mega Pots for my build. I'm going with just the pot and having fittings welded in. I have access to a quality welder.
I've provided a link to the false bottom that I plan to buy along with the pots.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/titan-universal-false-bottom-17-diameter
Is there anything that I should be aware of before purchasing these (other than the cost?) or the false bottom?
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ParadiseBrew
Joined: 09 Dec 2014 Posts: 83 Location: paradise, ca
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Link Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 4:32 am Post subject: |
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Walts, i have one of these and wish i had done them for all three! they are really nice and i love the construction of them. it's also nice to have gallon lines on the back. if you do end up buying them and putting your own holes in them make sure the gallon lines are in the back!
you can see my build with the one i used for the BK in this video near the end.
https://youtu.be/NdSrNZIf-tw
ptown
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Vesteroid
Joined: 02 Sep 2015 Posts: 57
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Link Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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I have the 10 gallon set. Since your welding in the fittings I say they are good pots. The weld less firings that came with them were junk in my opinion. I replaced all mine with ones from Brewers hardware. The bottoms are very stout however.
I use a flask bottom from NorCal in mine....the bottom that came with mine (the same your ordering but I a ten gallon size) was about 3 inches less in diameter than my pot. I did not care for it. Perhaps the 20 gallon is different.
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 11116 Location: Ottawa, Canada
Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter
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Tungsten
Joined: 06 Dec 2014 Posts: 318 Location: Buffalo, NY
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Link Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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I have a Megapot that I use in propane brewing as I'm working on building the new electric design, and it's pretty nice. That being said, I will definitely be switching to Blichmann for the "real" setup.
Regardless, I'd like to comment on a couple things:
Quote: | - Hard to tell but I don't believe the kettle bottom is stepped? You may have side wall shunting because of this. |
The kettle bottom is not stepped. I only use mine for a BK so I can't comment on shunting, but it would make sense if that was an issue.
Quote: | it's also nice to have gallon lines on the back. |
These are nice to have if you're comparing the kettle to a different kettle that doesn't have lines OR a sight glass. But, it is extremely difficult to tell how much volume you actually have (in the BK), because wort is past a gallon line, you really have to eyeball it and guess that you have 9.5 gallons, for example. You probably won't see any differences in your final product, but if you want absolute repeatability and exact measurements, those lines won't help.
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 11116 Location: Ottawa, Canada
Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter
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Link Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 9:13 pm Post subject: |
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I'll say the other thing I like about my Blichmann kettles is that I can remove the Hop Stopper without using any tools.
There are some other kettles that have external sight glasses that are well made, but I've yet to see ones as easy to clean as what Blichmann does. Others come apart in ~3 pieces and require tools to disassemble/reassemble. With Blichmann it's a quick turn of the allen key to remove the nut at the top, pass the brush, put the nut back in. That's it. See here for pics/details: http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/kettles-overview
Some kettle manufacturers making kettles specifically for brewing talk about having a clad bottom for "even heat distribution for gas fired" but that just isn't required. There’s no benefit for heat distribution when gas fired given either that wort is not very thick and won’t scorch as the thin nature keeps it moving through convection. The thousands of gas fired non-clad bottomed Blichmann kettles in use around the world are proof that it’s not an issue. Clad bottoms to avoid scorching make sense when heating thicker liquids like spaghetti sauce that do not move around naturally.
Good thought on the false bottom and having close to zero protrusions on the top like Blichmann makes cleaning/stirring much easier. Your paddle won't get stuck or hit anything.
Some like to think that welded fittings work better than weldless and that's not true when weldless is done properly. I bet most Blichmann owners don't even realize that the sight glass, thermometer, and ball valve are all weldless. They are extremely solid and require zero maintenance and never need to be removed. Doing weldless with the ball valve will often let the valve sit closer to the kettle, so less of a protrusion than if you welded on a fitting first. Less protrusions means the kettle's easier to move around, takes up less space, less likely to snag on things, etc.
More reasons why I like the kettles here: http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/kettles-overview
My 2 cents!
Kal
_________________ Our new shop with over 150 new products: shop.TheElectricBrewery.com
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Purchasing through our affiliate links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!
My basement/bar/brewery build 2.0
Last edited by kal on Fri Sep 25, 2015 3:27 am; edited 2 times in total
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Walts Malt
Joined: 27 Sep 2013 Posts: 119 Location: Farmington, MN
Drinking: Two Hearted Clone
Working on: Planning my Fall Brewing Schedule
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Link Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 11:49 pm Post subject: |
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Dang it, Kal! You are making this tough. I actually love the Blichman pots for all the reasons that you sight. I really like it for a mash tun as I think that's the best false bottom out there. The price is what really scares me away, but as my Dad always says, "it only takes a little more to go first class." So, here I sit with a tough decision.
The points about the NB false bottom are good ones. I don't like the idea of a FB that doesn't cover the whole bottom as its likely that it will move then.
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 11116 Location: Ottawa, Canada
Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter
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Link Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 3:27 am Post subject: |
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Your dad sounds like a smart man. To quote myself from my FAQ:
Quote: | There's an old saying "Only the rich can afford to buy cheap things" (because you end up buying them over and over again). In designing our brewery we did not want to continually replace components because we were not happy with the performance or because the parts were cheap and broke. Buy once, use it a lifetime. |
There are certainly many ways to make beer and many ways that will make many people happy. The difficult part is deciding what will make you happy of course. No point in spending more money if you would have been perfectly happy spending less.
Kal
_________________ Our new shop with over 150 new products: shop.TheElectricBrewery.com
We ship worldwide and support our products and customers for life.
Purchasing through our affiliate links helps support our site at no extra cost to you. We thank you!
My basement/bar/brewery build 2.0
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Tungsten
Joined: 06 Dec 2014 Posts: 318 Location: Buffalo, NY
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Link Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 12:25 pm Post subject: |
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Walts, any reason you'd be against going MegaPot/Boilermaker/MegaPot for your BK/MLT/HLT? You wouldn't have all the same kettle, but it would still be symmetrical, would still save some money and you could get the false bottom you want.
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itsnotrequired
Joined: 15 Sep 2015 Posts: 177 Location: central wi
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Link Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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Tungsten wrote: | Walts, any reason you'd be against going MegaPot/Boilermaker/MegaPot for your BK/MLT/HLT? You wouldn't have all the same kettle, but it would still be symmetrical, would still save some money and you could get the false bottom you want. |
this is an excellent point. there is nothing that says all your pots have to be the same size and/or be from the same manufacturer. i personally am going with a blichmann for my mlt, based on the rave reviews of the false bottom. for my bk and hlt, i am going a bit more 'economical' with kettles from spike brewing.
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