Beer Forum

Recently I purchased a 15 gallon PolarWare Kettle for use as my brew kettle and found that there was some debate on heat transfer efficiency due to its squat shape. Was just wondering if anyone out there uses one. Any other input on pro's and cons? How about PolarWare vs. B3 Kettles?

I abstain due to the lack of "No pants" option.

Push Eject

Im with Push (not like that he's spoken for!)

NO PANTS

Thts because technically you can brew with no pants reguardless of what kettle you use...but watch the flame eh? OUCH!!!

No Pants!

I find the 60qt Polarware pot I have to be too wide and shallow to easily boil the 54qts I typically run off. The metal on the bottom is thin and scorches every time I try to step-mash in it. Since there are no threads on the inside of the pot, the best I can do for a pickup tube is friction-fit, and it often loses suction before the keg is empty. As an HLT it would work OK except for the dip tube problem, but overall I'm not impressed.

I have a 60qt Vollrath kettle that I like much better. It is proportioned much like the B3 kettles - about the same height as diamter - and has a heavy aluminum sandwich bottom for better scorch protection.

I've used keggles at my buddy's house, and they work fine too. I wonder if they are a little more efficient because of the skirt around the bottom of the keg holding the heat to the bottom instead of letting it slow so easily up the sides.

DannyW wrote:I've used keggles at my buddy's house, and they work fine too. I wonder if they are a little more efficient because of the skirt around the bottom of the keg holding the heat to the bottom instead of letting it slow so easily up the sides.

I'm not sure about that. One thing for sure is a keggle tang "skirt" gets hotter than the freakin' surface of the Sun. MAJOR safety issue there, mk? And I think for Efficient Heat Transfer, you want laminar flow up the sides of the kettle, and with a keggle, the tang interrupts the heat flow, possibly to the point where it is actually less efficient. Anyone got a study or experiement on this?

Oh, and No Pants