Tri-Clad bottom really needed?

Northern Brewer General
1

I have a 10 gal Megapot 1.2 with no ports and it’s been a great kettle. But I want to upgrade to 15 gal pots.

I’ve narrowed the list down to these two: BrewBuilt and Spike Brewing. I like these two because they offer welded ports.

The only real difference between the 2 is that the BB has a tri-clad bottom and Spike does not. Spike says in their faq that a tri-clad bottom is overrated and not needed. What do you all think? Is a tri-clad bottom worth the extra $70 or so?

2

I boil in my 20 gallon Blichmann pot which doesn’t have a clad bottom and have had no issues in the past 5 years. There is no scorched wort that I’ve ever had to clean off the bottom of my kettle either, well at least not on the inside. :lol:

3

I think the bigger concern is with partial extract batches. If the extract doesn’t get fully dissolved the lack of the tri-clad bottom only promotes scratched wort even more. Full boils and all grain help alleviate this issue, although undissolved extract is still at risk.

4

I don’t think a tri-clad kettle is overrated at all. There’s no doubt that a tri-clad kettle heats more evenly than a single layer kettle. Whether it’s worth the cost is up to the individual, though.

5

I have a few batches done in a spike kettle with good results, no scorched wort.

6

I have a 25 gallon Megapot with the Tri-Clad bottom and then my 25 gallon HLT is single wall. The only benefit I see is that the Tri-Clad is more durable (it resists dents better) during mis-handling.

7

Thanks for the input guys. I think I’m going with the Spike kettle. I have a blickman burner and I think that delivers a more uniform heat across the bottom of the pot vs a turkey fryer style. So the single layer pot should be ok. Plus I can use the cost of the tri-clad bottom to have Spike weld an additional port for a whirlpool arm and still have a few bucks left over.

:cheers:

8

Good decision.