I figured since i just received the Spike Brewing Kettle 20 gallon capacity, that I would submit a review regarding build quality and my experience with Ben Caya, the owner/founder of Spike Brewing in Wisconsin.
First off let me say that I research everything to the n'th degree when I'm going to make a purchase. I looked at Stout Tanks, Glacier, Blichmann, Bru Gear, and Brewers Hardware. Each had their pros and cons but the elements that led me to purchase a Spike Brewing Kettle were in my eyes much more important.
I believe that all the kettles are sourced from China but modified mostly here in the USA. So after looking at Stout, I found that it appears that their standard configurations on their website are modified in China by welders there. Anything else custom is done by Stout in the US. I read and saw on these boards a few brewers who experienced some pretty significant flaws with the welding quality from Stout. They all also cited some pretty significant issues with Customer service as well. Stout was the most "blingy" kettle that i liked with all the TC fittings and the concave bottom and the very shiny polish on them. I like the way the looked the most, but could not see spending around $650 for a kettle that was prone to rust issues and or leaking (as some brewers reported). Blichmann was a wish list item, but being that it was a weld less design like SS brewing kettles, I thought they were a bit overpriced. (Not SS being overpriced, but blichmann)
Glacier was nice, however i couldn't get what I wanted there, Bru Gear suffered from simiar issues as Stout, and Brewers Hardware, while incredibly nice, was not willing to spend the $$ for it.
So that leaves me to Spike. I contacted Ben back in November to inquire about a kettle and at the time was anticipating getting it before Christmas, but was not done with my research at that point. Ben was great in getting back to me and was very responsive. Every question I had he answered and also checked and double checked with me regarding my order that i placed this month.
Here is how the kettle arrived: Love how the box has the logo on it
It was packed really well:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd...._=1435382370_bd2b679a1a565fda3109fd914c0502c9
And you can see the Laser Etched numbers on the SightGlass:
The Kettle:
One of the things that I really liked about Spike Brewing was that they weld all their fittings here in the USA and they do a fantastic job. Like no joke, the best I've seen anywhere:
TC port for Kettle Element:
Bottom Drain port and Recirculation port:
All in all, I'm extremely happy and I am currently cleaning and passivating right now. I can't issue a better recommendation then going with Spike Brewing. Who knows, maybe I'll convert in the future to all Spike kettles in my eHerms setup.