Northern Brewer - Gigawort™ Electric Boil Kettle - 4.4 Gallon For Homebrewing

Got it fast and put it together and tried it out worked great look forward to my next brew day. Love it made my day easy could leave it and play with my son instead of hovering over it all day

I’ve been brewing for 25 years and typically brew mash/extract recipes. If using liquid malt extract it will typically burn and scorch on the bottom. This causes an error code and the unit shuts off. The reset button is on the bottom so you need to go underneath the unit (while it is full of steaming liquid) to reset the unit. Even using DME it will still scorch on the bottom if you are making a big beer. Then you have to literally scrape the scorched beer off the bottom. If using liquid malt extract I suggest turning the unit off and diluting the extract in hot water and stirring thoroughly before boiling.

only used it once so far but worked perfect. just as advertised.

I purchased mine from Northern Brewer and have not been dissatisfied. Yes it is small. Yes it isn't perfect, but it allows small batch brewing inside at a smaller price point. I have brewed many batches and it works pretty well. Don't try to use too much grain, it just can't handle it without partial mashbor adding DME to bump up the gravity. I have at least 13 batches through it and it is holding up well. Scorchwd a little on the bottom, but that's where the element is. Pay attention to the unit and you can brew good beer once you understand the variables. I will be a five gallon version soon because in reality it takes very similar amount of time to get twice the beer. I do like using 2.5 kegs and plan to just split every 5 gal batch with a new 5 gallon capable system. Too bad Northern Brewer doesn't make a 5 gallon capable version. Hint. Too bad heat is only in base, and add a pump to recirculate. I currently use a bag but a basket would be nice addition also. Just my 2 cents. Happy brewing.

I purchased this for my 2.5 gallon batches. It does not hold the mash temp stable. At all. I have used it twice, same results. I set the temp to 152. It reaches it just fine and then it drifts down till it hits about 146 or so and then it heats back up, but it goes into the mid to upper 160s and then turns the heater off, and just cools gradually. I believe this temperature inconsistency makes this not worth buying. There should be better control of the mash temp.

Love how easy it is to set up and clean. Not a fan of the input for the time and settings, probably my fault but definitely a learning curve.

I got this as a gift for Christmas, and it was basically dead on arrival. The Bulkhead that was sent over has 2 o-rings, which doesn't even fit the vessel. When you tighten the nut on the inside of the vessel, it causes the o-ring on the outside to warp, eventually leading to leakage through the base of the unit. To add insult to injury, this is where all the electronic components are held!I threw 3 gallons of water inside the kettle to pressure test it (as my intuition told me to), and that is when the failure to occur. I've asked Northern Brewer for a replacement, but come on. This isn't even damage via shipping. This is straight up laziness from the manufacturer. How can you sell a product if you've never even used it? If you had, you would have known that the two o-ring Bulkhead wouldn't work!I wish I could comment on the usefulness of the product, but I can't even get it to work considering that my wort would leak all over the floor if I attempted to brew with it.

I mainly do small batches (around 3 gal) of BIAB all grain.The thermostat in this unit is not reliable. Trying to hold mash temperature is imposible. Set it at 152... drops down about 6 degrees and then heats back up overshooting to 160 or more.I've gotten 3 batches of beer where gravity does not go low enough as there are many non-fermentables given the high mash temp due to the problem described above.