BoilerMaker - 20 Gallon Kettle

I purchased this kettle to move up to 10-15 gallon batches. It really makes brewing a breeze. Excellent quality and will last a lifetime. Ensure you have a burner strong enough to boil it. I had to upgrade to a 225K BTU burner.

You definitely need to throw some serious flame to this baby. Great for 10-15 gallons. A must for your upgrade. High quality. But the neighbors start asking questions when this thing is in action on the patio.
I had only two issues: The Brewmometer and the heat shield. The brewmometer was way out of calibration. I tried using a small precision screwdriver and could not budge the needle with the setscrew. Use a small wrench if you need to calibrate. Also, I wish they rounded the corners of that heat sheild. I've scratched my legs working around the kettle.
Other than that it's worth every penny!

I was going to go with the 15 gallons but decided to go with the 20 and I am glad i did, it is the perfet size for 10 gallon batches. I have 3 of them on a brutus 10 system (guess you can call it brutus 20) and brew a lot of IPA so this size works great.
Pros:
I love the site glass, thermometer, valve, lid, and the false bottom and minimal dead space.

Cons:
With the polished finish they are hard to keep spotless, you need to wash and wipe them down every time, if you want them to look nice too.

The bottom of the pot gets really hot, if I was to do it again i might consider the heavy duty pots with the really thick bottom and then add the site glass, thermometer, valve, etc.

I was hesitant to drop this much money on a kettle when there are obviously less expensive alternatives. I've had other kettles in the past where I went the DIY route and they worked for the most part but with the Boilermaker, you're really purchasing a well engineered complete piece. The polished finish makes cleanup easy and the sight glass is great. Everything is leak free despite being weldless fittings. As a whole, I'm happy with the purchase.

Initially wanted to purchase a 15 gallon but decided to go with the 20. At the time, I picked up the Blichmann burner with leg extensions. The Kettle is awesome, for I brew mainly ten gallon batches and on occasion 15 gallons. I have since moved indoors to brew, drilling a hole in the kettle to accommodate a 5500 watt heating element. I also added a thermal wall. I use a temperature controller plugged into an electronic brew machine which turns the heat on an off if my set point is reached. The purpose for all of the modifications is so I could brew in a bag. This kettle has met and exceeded my expectations.

This is a very well made brew kettle. It does have a thin bottom though. Extract brewers may want to look at a kettle with a thicker bottom to prevent wort scorching, especially if you use an electric burner for heating.

The dip tube drawing extension on the outlet valve allows the pot to drain almost completely. Other pots waste much more wort.

The valve, thermometer, lid, sightglass and false bottom are all very well made. They match the kettle to make for a very cohesive setup.

I looked at building my own pot with vlave, sightglass and thermometer. I could save about $100. However, it would not look as professional as the Blichmann.

I make a lot of 10 gallon batches because they are not much more effort than 5 gallons, with twice the yield. This pot is an excellent all around pot that will last me my lifetime. I like the extras like the dip tube/ball valve combination, the protected/marked sight gauge, and the thermometer. You can obviously make smaller batches as well, and you can make bigger ones if you use Fermcap.

I've been using my Blichmann Kettles for over a year now. I own two 20 gallon and one 15 gal kettle. A false bottom for both 15 & 20 gal. kettles. After using 5 & 10 gal. Orange Cooler setups, stepping up to Blichmann's made setup, brewing and cleanup so much nicer. For the hot liqour tank & mashtun you need to insulate them to keep the efficiency of a cooler though. I made kettle jackets for my kettles out of Reflectix insulation.

I have bought the kettles I will be brewing with for the rest of my life and very happy with them. The only thing I'd like to see in the future is tri-clover setups with the Blichmanns.

Sure it costs more - but look what it comes with: great adjustable thermometer, good sight gauge that is protected by a shield, good ball valve, great dip tube. I usually brew 10 gallon batches but I can scale up or down, from 15 gallons (with Fermcap) down to 5 gallons. All in all - its a great brew pot.