Northern BrewerMegaPot Stainless Steel Brew Kettle with Volume Markings (30 Gallon w/Valve and Thermometer)

The media could not be loaded.  Hello everyone, I’d like to start off by saying that I am absolutely impressed with this brew pot. Although I must say that I intend to use this product for a different purpose than the manufacturer intended. I bought this pot in April 2018 for shipment abroad. The pot shipped quite fast however I had to forward it abroad through a different carrier (I paid a lot for shipping abroad but it was actually with it). After much anticipation I received the pot along side a Matfer stock pot I got also on Amazon. I had intended to get just two of the Matfer stock pots with faucets. However, I stumbled upon the Megapot during my search and decided to buy one of each. It turns out the Mega pot (although intended for a different purpose) is much sturdier than Matfer. The mega pot is also more bang for my bucks. I paid more for the Matfer which is actually way smaller than the MegaPot. After receiving the packages, now I wished I had just gotten two of the MegaPots. I will be ordering more as soon. I know you are probably curious about my intended use of the mega pot. Here it is, I intende to use the hot pot create artisan hot sauces. The reason I wanted a pot with a faucet is coz it will make my bottle filling much easier. I Am building a small sauce factory abroad and our processes integrate both manual and automatic methods. I figured we can just fill the bottles through the faucet. I actually bought a faucet to attach to the valve compartment to make the bottle filling easier. Anyway, I will be posting an update once we actually start cooking with the pot. I’d let you know how it holds up. Great job @NorthernBrewer

Product does was it claims.I was able to brew a batch with it successfully.I do have a few negatives:1. Assembly. Product needs drain spigot assembled and the instructions are mediocre at best. It’s not a hard assembly once you figure out what direction items go but it also isn’t a solid one. The spigot first leaked for me because I over tighten both inside and outside. Once I loosened both and didn’t stretch the o-rings it held.But, this means that I can basically rotate the whole spigot assembly if too much pressure is applied to the handle. Also the hose required for the size of the spigot is just a little bit bigger than the gauge hose every other piece of brew equipment comes with.2. Spigot location.I ran into two issues with how low the spigot is. First, you have to watch where you position your pot on a gas burner because if it is too close to the heat the rubber on the spigot will melt. I caught it before it got to this but it is a concern. It also causes me to position the pot off center and I doubt I get full even heat. It also limits how much heat you can apply. Don’t think you can turn your burner up to 11 and go because the exposed print could melt and your would have a world of trouble.The other issue with the spigot location is that if you brew a hoppy beer with a decent amount of trub, be prepared to strain a lot of your drain before you get the good liquid. This also takes two people if you don’t have a large strainer that can be sat down while you hold the hose and spigot handle. For a NEIPA we had to drain the strainer 3 times before clean beer really started flowing. I’d say about 2 cups of trub came out when it was all added up.As other reviews stated the numbers for measurements on the inside are a little hard to read at times.Other than that it worked as expected. It was easy to clean. Just watch your burner size and heat. Also don’t over tighten the spigot even though you can still rotate it.

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.

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.