Dear Mr.
Blichmann,
Let me start this
email with a warm and whole-hearted "Thank You" for your wonderful products. I love my
BeerGun,
ThruMometer,
QuickConnector fittings, and last (but certainly not least) the amazing
Therminator. It is because of this
necessity for my brewery, that I write you for your expertise and expert
advice about this product. I know I will never part with this specific product no matter what my future brewery changes are, and so I am looking to
minimize my remaining equipment as best I can. I have begun to ponder thoughts of using the
Therminator as "other than recommended," knowing full well if I did it would void any warranty (
pfft, like any is needed with this or any of your awesome products). I am a very
gadget-type of guy and very hands-on with my own fabrications, but have no idea about any specifics of your product. I read another poster's threads in my forum (I'm
WortMonger on
homebrewtalk.com by the way). He wrote you about using the chiller as a heat exchanger for
wort heating like a HERMs coil does. I read his
Cliffsnotes of your response and it go me thinking.
I wondered,
(warranty void as a 100% known) what pressures can the stainless steel plates inside the
Therminator and the copper holding them together hold up to? I wonder what pressure tap waters around the country put on them, coming from a place where it is high? It got me thinking that, if one could supply steam as an exchange-medium and pass a wanted liquid through the opposite plumbing, it would make a superior hot, as well as, cold heat exchanger for multi-purpose brewing procedures. I understand completely any hesitation on your part to advise on a product you made for a specific purpose, but my inquiring mind has to ask you with the hopes you will understand my plight and tell me any relevant information.
If the product can withstand up to "?"
psi of steam pressure, it would be great to know what that pressure would be for a worst case scenario? With all the new talk about steam injection of mashes and things, it would be nice to have that steam handy to use in, clean, and sanitize the Therminator if it could handle it. I am talking about using a maximum of 20
psi steam expelled through the chiller for heating wort or water, and then also using it with a pressure relief on the exhaust port where it would actually be holding the full pressure of 20 psi (acting like a pressure cooker would with a wort/water-filled copper tube going through it for exchange).
I sure appreciate any information you will be willing to give me about the questions I am wondering about. It sure would be nice to have a multi-purpose and easily steam cleanable
apparatus for making brewing simpler. At the base of all of this is the
curiosity about hooking the thing to my pressure canner for sanitizing prior to use as a chiller. I put the whole thing in the pressure cooker now and man would it be great to just have to blow through instead. Thought I'd ask before I voided anything on mine. I just can't live without it, I love it that much.
Thank you again for your time and your products,
John Lowry, Jr. aka Wortmonger