Northern Brewer - MegaPot Stainless Steel Brew Kettle with Volume Markings (8 Gallon w/Valve and Thermometer)

Very nicely constructed pot. Heavy guage, thicker than most others. With proper care and use it should last for decades Update: I bought this pot to be a multi tasking workhorse. In the past 3 months I have used this pot to do many, many loads of waterbath canning. I have also done a small amount of brewing. Finally although it will seem sacrilegious for such a fine pot designed for brewing, I used it to deep fry our Thanksgiving turkey. This pot has done it all and is still as sturdy and formidable as the day I bought it. Get you one you won't be disappointed

This kettle is everything I hoped it would be, and much more. The construction feels rock-solid, and all the elements of the pot, including the accessories that came with it (ball valve and thermometer), are first class. This is a pot meant to last a lifetime, and I feel it was money well spent for the long haul. After running my first batch with this pot over yesterday, it passed all my quality tests, and I am delighted with my purchase. On another review for a MegaPot with valves and fittings, I noticed someone complaining about leaks. If everything is properly installed, using the thread tape, and the nuts snugged up to the right tension, there should be no leaks. If you have leaks, there are instructions online, as well as videos, that can be found with a little searching. Up until now, I've always been a 5-gallon batch home brewer, and I just got tired of doing a lot of work for such a small amount of beer. This will allow me to double and triple my volume with about the same amount of work. I like the larger valve on the pot, which uses a larger hose than my old 3/8" lines. I'll be adding a false bottom and possibly a bazooka pipe soon, but this kettle was ready to go within minutes of opening the box and installing the valve and thermometer. If you're looking for a rock-solid product that is built to last a lifetime, look no farther. This baby rocks.

The kettle itself is great. You have to install the ball valve and dip tube assembly yourself. There is no bearing surface for the dip tube rotation except the O-ring that keeps the seal to the outside of the kettle. To get it to even marginally work requires endless tweaking of how tight you put the fittings onto the kettle. This is made a little easier with some silicone lube, but I'm constantly paranoid that I'll spill my wort out if I rotate the dip tube, as it's just too easy for the included O-ring to bind up between the pot and the ball valve. This needs either a different geometry on the O-ring or a complete re-think of the mechanism.

So far so good. Have brewed two 5 gal extract kits. This was an upgrade from a smaller non-brew pot so much better overall. Plenty of volume for the 5gal batches with no concerns for boil overs, easy to clean, and seems well made. Not a big deal to assemble the ball valve, but definitely hand tight is enough...too tight and will leak for sure. Glad skipped the temp gauge option, would just be one more place for leak to occur. Glad I purchased so can have a dedicated brew kettle. time will tell if the ball valve is worth it or not, transferring still a pain to keep sludge out of primary. If on the fence like I was...would go for it.

I have been homebrewing for over 10 years, using a thin "economy" stainless steel pot that I bought from the local homebrew supply store. I brew partial grains/extract and have been using that pot (5 gallon) the whole time. The smaller size required me to boil about 3 gallons and then top off with water in the fermenter which i didnt like to because of concerns about hops utilization and also worries about the "top off water" possibly having contaminants, etc. The other thing about the economy pot was how thin the bottom and sides are, I often scorched and burnt wort on the bottom, even with constant stirring. I bought this pot last week and from the minute I unpacked it, it was night and day compared to my old economy pot! This thing is very heavy duty, has a thick clad bottom for heat distribution, thick walls and also has very useful gallon markings on the inside of the pot where you can easily look at the liquid level and know your volume. Nice heavy lid, rubber grips, and heavy-duty ball valve included. This is a very high quality product, I can't wait to brew my first batch in it.

Made twenty gallons of beer with the NorCal brewing false bottom and a riptide pump. Spilled very little and the beer was surprisingly clear going into boil kettle. I’ve got two of them for beer making. You may consider getting an external thermometer to verify the accuracy of these thermometers, mine were 20 degrees Fahrenheit different from each other when I was transferring the same liquid between kettles. I transferred 152 degree Fahrenheit brew wort and the boil kettle registered it at around 170 degrees Fahrenheit before I added any heat. Anyway, good enough equipment. Sometimes northern brewer site has a 10-20% off sale where these aren’t excluded.

UPDATE: ONE THING IT DEFINITELY NEEDS IS MORE VISIBLE GALLON MARKERS. EVEN WITHOUT STEAM AND ROLLING BOILING WORT, IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO SEE THE GALLON INDICATORS ON THE SIDE OF THE POT. I am very pleased with this pot; it is a bit more expensive than some of the other ones I considered. the heavy duty stainless and thick clad bottom help distribute heat and I got a very good even boil. I easily boil 7 gallons with plenty of room for boil ups; I think you could manage an 11 gallon boil session. I wish that the calibrations on the side were a bit larger and visible on the outside of the pot because they are very hard to see inside when the pot is boiling and putting off steam. the siphon downspout for draining allows getting all of the liquid out of the pot. I learned about whirlpooling which is perfect for this pot to take of the wort and leave the spent hops behind. you can make great beer with the lesser expensive pots available provided you keep your eye out for hot spots and stir well. however, if your budget affords for the difference, this is a good investment pot.