Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Bayou Classic 800-416 16 Gallon Stainless Steel 6 Piece Brew Kettle

Top positive review

Can't beat the value of this brew pot.

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2014

The pot arrived promptly and without any damage to the packaging or the pot itself. assembly was pretty easy as I'm a fairly handy person when it comes to mechanical things, but having read the other postings here it was helpful to know I needed to use the yellow tape. However, I only have the white Teflon tape so I just gave it a few extra wraps and everything seems to be working fine at the valve and the thermometer, with no leaks detected. Overall quality of construction I consider to be very good. While the side walls seemed a little thin compared to my other brew pot, they're more than strong enough to hold a full pot of grains. So far I've done two brews in this pot, a five gallon extract brew and a 10 gallon all grain brew. The 5 gallon brew was exactly what others have posted, absolutely no chance of boi overs.The ten gallon all grain brew was a big IPA with 34 pounds of grain and 11 gallons of strike water. The false bottom had no trouble at all handling that load, even with the pot filled within two inches of the top. I would recommend this system to anyone looking to get into all grain brewing. It is an incredible value especially when you shop around and look at other systems, many of which are much more expensive. Grab one, you won't regret it.

5 people found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

Deanster

Brewing was an afterthought for this set

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2016

This is a decent priced set, but it's important to know that the brewing application was an afterthought for this equipment. This was really designed to steam crabs and that sort of thing. The kettle is okay, the components are cheap and you might wind up replacing them all. If I had to do this over, I'd buy a decent heavy duty kettle separately, then drill & add better components. You could even just buy this very pot separately & add better components. Or better yet, buy equipment that was purpose built and designed with brewing in mind, rather than steaming crabs & corn on the cob.

THE KETTLE: The pot is basically an economy thin walled stainless pot with a heavy duty bottom. It works well, but I wish the walls were thicker. Mine has a very slightly out of round shape at the top. Not enough to cause a problem, but enough to show that it's something less than heavy duty. The indented ring at the bottom supports the false bottom, but makes replacing it with a domed false bottom a little tricky

FALSE BOTTOM: This is the worst part about this set. The false bottom sits so high that you have more than 3 gallons of water below the false bottom. If you are mashing, you WILL need to adjust your water/grain ratios. I am able to get decent results with more water, but I am not happy about having to do it. I am looking into a domed false bottom to replace this, but because of the indentation ring on the pot which this sits on, I don't know what size would work.

BAZOOKA SCREEN: This is lighter gauge and thinner mesh than the ones I've seen at my LHBS. When I tried to use this instead of the false bottom for mashing, it clogged because the screen to too fine.

THERMOMETER: This is also a low quality component. I don't know if it's accurate, but it has varied from readings I take with a regular 12" thermometer that I trust. I need to do some tests to confirm, but I don't have confidence in this thermometer.

6 people found this helpful

156 total ratings, 95 with reviews

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From the United States

Gregg

Can't beat the value of this brew pot.

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2014

Verified Purchase

5 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Great pot, looks great with a nice finish

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2014

Verified Purchase

Great pot, looks great with a nice finish. It's not as heavy as I thought it would be. The thermometer is awesome and has various brew related temps on it. The spigot leaked a little around 10 gallons full, not sure why. I used yellow teflon tape as well as the washers. Ended up removing it, applying more tape, tightened it back down and it no longer leaks. Hopefully it won't pop up as an issue again later.

False bottom must have been improved over the years. Mine seems extra sturdy and I can't imagine in breaking like in some of the previous review.

They also provided a bag of extra washers which was really cool.

The instructions aren't very good. They don't even tell you to use tape on the fittings.

Helpful

Justin Hayward

Great brew kettle. Mine was dented.

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2020

Verified Purchase

Currently in use for the first time. I had a very small leak when I first set it up. Added an extra stopper to it and that's all good now. Only other problem I had was mine has a pretty decent dent in it. It's still doing its job just fine, but it'd be nice to get a discount or something if I'm gonna get a dented kettle.

Helpful

Jose

Worth The Money: Part By Part Breakdown (Beer Brewing POV)

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2015

Verified Purchase

Overview:
I have two of these, one purchased with the accessories included here and one with just the ball valve. At the moment I use one for my brew kettle and the other for my strike/sparge water. They are both worth every penny, I will soon be picking up a third to use as a mash tun to replace my cooler.

Part By Part
Kettle Body: Strong, resilient, easy to clean, tall but not so tall you can't reach the bottom when cleaning. Handles appear a little worrisome but so far have held great. I would be interested to know how the pot does in heat retention when being used as a mash tun. I'll post an update when/if I find out for myself.

Ball Valve: functional but one of my the ones that came with my pot did have a dripping problem as if water was getting through the threads. Adding plenty of yellow Teflon tape as you may have read suggested solved the problem. I agree with some of the other reviews that it's location is a little high on the pot for my liking but does not pose a substantial problem.

Bulhead Fitting: All stainless steel and comes with high temperature O-rings. In fact they included an extra set. Not sure if the dripping issue was due to the threads on the fitting or the ball valve but it's an easy fix and the drip was very slight.

Thermometer: One of the only downsides, doesn't maintain accuracy very well. I've had to calibrate it every time to get it to read properly. It seems to hold it's calibration in use but perhaps loses it during cleaning. After a few uses I noticed this last time that water had gotten into the visual indicator while cleaning it. Left it out to dry, seems OK now but I would keep an eye on it. May be worth it to replace it with a higher quality model.

False Bottom: I have yet to use this as a mash tun so I haven't tested it's true durability but based on its construction it seems strong and well built. I've used it in my brew kettle and it did an outstanding job of keeping the great bulk of the trub out of my finished wort.

Bazooka Screen: Great stainless steel construction, has served me many different purposes. Be cautious using it in your brew kettle as any trub that develops below the false bottom or gets past it does plug up the screen. Not enough to stop flow but does impede it substantially. I've discovered the false bottom does well enough on its own to reduce the solids that make their way into the fermentation vessel so I've ceased using the screen in the brew kettle.

Lid: I wish the lid could hang on the side of the pot when not in use. Although I only use the lid when using the pot for my strike/sparge water it would be nice to not have to put it down somewhere when adding more water to the port. Other than that there's not much to say on it, stainless steel as well, looks nice, the handle doesn't get too hot to the touch.

One person found this helpful

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ride528

Great for Brewing

Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2016

Verified Purchase

Use this for brewing, had to add extra plumbing tape to keep it from leaking, but for the price couldn't go wrong. We don't use the false bottom but the screen works very well. It's nice to have the large pot to allow for good rolling boils. After 3 years this pot still looks like new and it gets a lot of use. I have brewed around 40 recipes in this pot. I like that it's so easy to take apart and clean and then put back together.

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Reloader

Nice pot. Better than expected.

Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2015

Verified Purchase

I was impressed when the quality of this 16 gallon pot was better than expected.
The Bottom is nice and thick (a lot thicker than I expected). It makes the pot feel very beefy.
All of the accessories make a nice addition to the purchase.
I would highly recommend this product to others.
At around $230, I felt like it could be a little cheaper, but it seemed to be one of the lower prices when trying to shop for other pots of this size (in stainless) with the Drain & thermometer.
If I see the price drop, I would definitely get another.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Greg Barnes

Great kettle for the price!

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

I was hesitant to buy this after seeing photos of the false bottom all bent up...but then I remembered I don't do all grain brewing! And it worked great! My first batch was a vanilla bourbon imperial stout and it's amazing. My best beer to date! I had a problem with the thermometer from the get go. One of the screws was out and it couldn't be adjusted. I contacted support and they sent me a replacement right away. Very pleased with their service and support AND the product.

Helpful

Excellent. Quality built mash tun that has delivered good ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2015

Verified Purchase

Excellent. Quality built mash tun that has delivered good results. Thermometer has mashing temp ranges inscribed (protein rest, sacc rests, etc) Only complaint is that my thermometer occasionally has filled with water/wort while boiling water/wort. I don't know how this happens but it is aggravating because i can't read the thermometer when it happens. In that case i just use a digital thermometer. Over all the product was a great buy and I'd order another one in the future if I wanted to expand.

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Jeremy Estes

Brew Kettle for All-Grain - A nice Value

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2016

Verified Purchase

Needed (well really wanted) a new Brew Pot to go from Extract brewing to All-grain. Researched several pots, read who knows how many reviews, and ultimately decided on this pot due to price and what you got.

Note: This will arrive at your house showing what is in the box (no amazon box around it).

So lets review:
When I opened it up i was delighted that I was about to begin my journey in all-grain.
I received all the pieces that were listed in the description.
The pot is heavy duty with a nice thickness to the stainless steel. The only downsize is that showed signs of rust on the inside wall about a third of the way up. Was highly disappointed in this. The false bottom is also of a good quality, but note that after you install the bottom valve and the thermometer, it is a little tricky to get it in. Couple of tries and you will get the hang of it. I installed the valve but was disappointed in the directions. It could use some additional steps and a couple of photos. Also, you will need some electrical tape (high heat) to help seal the components from leaking. Not sure why a company like this would not make a youtube video or give you a link on their website to show you have to install thing properly.
Also, the marking on the side are a very nice addition to know how much water you have in the kettle. I do wish they had quarts and litter markings as I am always have to convert my calculations in beersmith to gallons. 3.3 gallons how do I tell were that is.... oh well i will get close.

Reason for dinging them a star is the rust mentioned before and the fact that the thermometer is junk. I have tried calibrating it but it the accuracy swings so much depending on temp. At 64 degrees it is spot on, when my wort is boiling, it reads 189 degrees F. I have just accepted this and moved on.

Couple of things to be aware of.
1. The valve sits 1 gallon above the bottom. You will need to adjust your brewing calculations for this lose. Wish they had included a pick up tube in the with the kit to get this down to a half gallon. Wouldn't want to go too much further as you will get into sediment.
2. If you have a standard wort chiller, you will need to bend the arms at the top up. This is a deep pot and I had issues with that at the beginning. Once bent you will need to be careful with the hoses coming in and out as they will rest on pots edge.
3. This pot with 7 gallons of wort is very heavy. You need to think about how you plan to transfer liquid in and out. I place mine on an old end table to help with transferring out and use 3 gallon buckets to transfer my wort into the kettle.
4. You will need to whisk below (24") to help stir, again this is a deep pot.

I am not affiliated with Bayou Classic, nor did I receive anything free in exchange for a review. I am just a dad that like to let people know about great products and to give back my review to those doing their research.

Photo: This is before I realized that 6.5 gallons of wort is heavy. I have now rearranged my setup for this fact.

Update International (FW-24) 24" French Whip

Helpful

Grant Morgan

There will always be 1 gallon of wasted wort at the end of lautering

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2017

Verified Purchase

I have two of these kettles. I use one as a mash tun and one as a hot liquor tank. I've brewed with them six times now, so I'm starting to get a feel for them. Here are my likes and dislikes.

Likes

1) They're durable, and heavy-weight enough to serve my brewing purposes.

2) Despite the rather small amount of tape included in the kit, I haven't had any problems with leaks.

3) The built-in thermometers seem quite accurate.

4) I've used as much as 26 pounds of grain in a 10-batch session, and haven't had any of the problems others have reported with collapsing false bottoms.

5) The volume is marked every quarter gallon, which is really convenient.

Dislikes

1) There's a 2.5 gallon space beneath the false bottom. 1.5 gallons of this is recoverable (ie, above the spigot). But a full 1 gallon is not recoverable. There will always be 1 gallon of wasted wort at the end of lautering.

2) The thermometer is at the 5 gallon mark. That means that if there's less than 5 gallons of water in my hot liquor tank, any reading is inaccurate.

3) The thermometer cannot be calibrated. It's accurate now, but if that changes, I'll have no way of fixing it.

4) A surprising amount of grain gets past the false bottom before the grain bed is fixed. Some of this always comes out during lautering.

5) There's no place to hang the lid on the side of the kettle. I'm always search for some empty surface to put the lid.

These kettles do the job they were meant for, which earns them four stars. The full gallon of unrecoverable wort is a pretty big deal, and merits a lost star all by itself.

9 people found this helpful

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Bayou Classic 800-416 16 Gallon Stainless Steel 6 Piece Brew Kettle

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