The Kettle

The photo to the left is my brew kettle. It's a 60 litre aluminium pot which I picked up a number of years ago. It doesn't look pretty and has a nice beer stone inside as well as a good thick player of protective oxides. Ideally it would be made of stainless steel and soon enough it will be, but for now aluminium does the job. I think it is important to note that at wort temperatures and pH there is little chance of aluminium leeching into the beer. If it did, it would be in lower concentrations than in more deodorants (not that a lot of UK based readers would know about those!), or in an antacid tablet.
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The tap at the bottom is a stainless steel ball valve which is connected to a stainless bulkhead. Inside is a stainless pickup tube so I can completely drain all the wort after the boil. In this photo I have a polypropylene hose barb fitted into the ball valve to facilitate removal of liquids. This was a slight oversight on my part and would melt as soon as my high pressure burner is lit underneath it. It has now been replaced with a stainless steel part which was $6.95 as opposed to $0.69 for the poly part!
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It may also be worth pointing out that the kettle will be doubling up as a hot liquor tank as well. Ultimately I will be getting an instantaneous hot water heater to provide hot liquor, which is unusual for most home setups, but its More efficient and quicker than heating up water separately.
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So that's the kettle. I'll post about the heart of the system, the pump on Friday. I plan to brew on Sunday and may include some action shots and recipe next week. Until Friday take total blessed care.