Stout Tanks Mash Tun vs Blichmann Mash Tun (w/ false bottom)

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julian81

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I'm brewing 5 gallon batches and my current setup is as follows:

10 gallon megapot for HLT w/ ball valve
10 gallon igloo cooler w/ stainless false bottom and ball valve for MLT
10 gallon Blichmann Boilermaker w/ temp gauge, sight glass, 3 piece ball valve for Kettle.

Unfortunately with this setup I'm unable to do very large 5 gallon batches, and definitely not 10 gallon batches, unless they were very very low gravity.

Biggest batch I've done was 1.098 and that was a Stone IRS clone. It was cutting it extremely close though. My MLT was filled to within 1/2" of the top after dough in. Crazy.

Long story short, I'm in the market for a bigger Mash Tun and Kettle and have been looking at Stout Tanks vs Blichmann. I love the Blichmann kettle but the allure of going with a dish bottom for whirlpooling and triclamps is pretty attractive given the price. I have not heard much from people in regards to Stout Tanks' kettles and MLT /w false bottom. The only things people seem to buy on here are the conicals.

I'm looking for feedback as to what might suit me best. Currently I'm using a hop stopper in my boilermaker and filtering out the ball valve to pump then to therminator and that works beautifully. Nice clear wort insta cooled.

Looking for feedback as to whether filtering the hot wort is going to be as efficient with a whirlpool in the stout tank, and how people like the stout tank MLTs vs the Blichmann kettles with false bottoms as MLT.

Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
Julian
 
I have a blichmann mash tun, and if you get one without a warped fb, their great. I can re-circ at over a gallon perminute without any problems at all. I will admit the stout tanks look cool for the money.
 
Thanks wildwest450. What do you mean by warped false bottom? Aren't all the blichmann false bottoms manufactured the same? Also, wouldn't they need to be warped to provide a pocket for which the wort can flow into?

Awesome avatar btw :)
 
Some of the false bottoms have been found to be "out of spec" and are not flat... fortunately I didn't have that issue and my boilermaker is the best mash tun I have used, hands down. The false bottom is great and I can recirc very quickly with it, and while I have not personally experienced it, from other accounts and pictures it does seem that they have pretty poor quality control over some products. If you pick one up, by from a reputable dealer that will let you return things so if you get a warped one you can exchange it.
 
Thanks RiverCityBrewer. Sounds like more people have Blichmann kettles with false bottoms than Stout Tanks MLTs. I'd love to hear from anyone who's using a Stout Tank MLT for comparison, otherwise I guess I'm sending Blichmann more money :)
 
I would send blichmann more money. Think about it this way... you only have to do it once in your lifetime (unless you upgrade constantly).
 
Thanks wildwest450. What do you mean by warped false bottom? Aren't all the blichmann false bottoms manufactured the same? Also, wouldn't they need to be warped to provide a pocket for which the wort can flow into?

Awesome avatar btw :)

Rivercity pretty much covered it. Mine was badly warped, letting grain into the dead space which is unacceptable. John basically said they are all warped to a degree because they are made in a press. Some are worse than others, it was a bit of a pain to get them to replace it. But now I love it, and would never consider changing.

_
 
Rivercity pretty much covered it. Mine was badly warped, letting grain into the dead space which is unacceptable. John basically said they are all warped to a degree because they are made in a press. Some are worse than others, it was a bit of a pain to get them to replace it. But now I love it, and would never consider changing.

_

Gotcha, thanks both for the clarification. I'll look out for this if I go the Blichmann route.
 
Does no one on here use a Stout kettle or Mash Tun? Someone has to have bought one and have an opinion on them...
 
*bump*

No one? No one on this forum has a Stout kettle or Mash tun they care to provide feedback on?
 
I ordered a 45 gallon kettle with two additional TC ports for electric elements and a 40 gallon mash tun. I already have one of their conicals and I'm happy with it. I also like that all the fittings are tri-clamp. I was going to order a 40 gallon HLT from them as well but for financial reasons I'm going to start with a 27 gallon kettle from Glacier...$149 + on ebay.
 
I just got my 40 Gallon Stout Mash Tun. It looks good. I have never used a false bottom so I will not know how to compare as I have always used the 1/2 steel mesh in a homemade igloo cooler. I have 14.5 Conical from Stout that is Great. I love the Ball Valves and their ease of cleaning. After taking one apart, I believe it should be done every time. Not so easy with the Blichman Kettle Valve. I suspect there will be a learning curve but I am saving for a Stout Brew Kettle next. 27 Gal Conical is also in my dreams. I am eventually going for 1 bbl!
 
I have never used the stout tanks but have seen a few of them in person. I can tell you that the false bottom does not fit. There is a half inch gap if you slide it to one side. I think it's an easy fix with a silicone hose sliced to make a gasket. Once that's done it should work great. I'm heading over the White Flame brewing right now to help him setup his 2BBL stout tanks system.
 
I have a 15 gal brew kettle from stout and I love it. I whirlpool for 10-15 min and then let it rest for another 20 min. Then I transfer thru a counter flow chiller. The tri-clamps are great. John at stout's is really nice to work with.
 
Just used my brand new Stout 40 Gallon Mash Tun.

I brewed a 16.8 Gallon TGS ( The Good Stuff ) a British Mild Ale that is one of my regular brews. I was aided by my BBB (Best Brew Buddy) Mike Rekart,

It was our first time using the new Mash Tun. In addition it was out first experience with a false bottom. Also a first we used a Chin Chiller as HERMS because of the heat loss in the SS Mash Tun. We had always used 2 ten gallon Igloo round coolers with homemade bazooka screens from Home Depot.
We always have a post brew discussion after the brew session with cigars and one of our brews (A Wet Hopped Dave’s IPA, thank you Dave for the Fresh Hops!)
How do we rate the Stout 40 Gallon Mash Tun?
Like the conical, this is a thing of great beauty and use. Both of us rate it a 10+. It worked as advertised right out of the box. It is well made and carefully engineered with features such as a built in RIMS or HERMS return. We use a March pump to HERMS the WORT through the Chin Chiller. We were able to control the Mash Temp very easily using adjustments to the hot counter flow water (need a Plus 6 degrees above our desired Mash Temp to maintain the Mash Temp exactly). This was all done manually but we got it right away. We ordered our Mash Tun with two thermowells, but the batch size made only the bottom (standard one) useful. We did have to calibrate the thermometer but that was easy as well and should have been done the day before. The false bottom worked perfectly. We thought about a Wort grant, but we did not have any problems as we throttled the output with a valve. We love out new Mash Tun.

John was, as always, very easy to work with. John, simply put, gets it! I am in the market for a new brew kettle as soon as we save up. Because of the quality and features, it will be a Stout Brew Kettle.

For those who are looking for quality and great products, Google “Stout Conical”!
 
I had not problems with the fit of the false bottom of my 40 gallon Mash Tun. I have a Blickman and the side clearance looks about the same. I never used the Blickman false bottom as we went to igloo coolers rather than buying another kettle as that was our only kettle. Regardless of the price, Stout is better. It just happens to be less $.
 
I have the 20 gallon stout HLT, MT, and BK. I love them all. The mash tun is great and doesnt have the gap previously mentioned in the false bottom. I like the tri clamp fittings that come on the stout tanks rather than the threaded fittings on the blichmann. I have seen the blichmanns and for the options (not price) i went with the stout kettles and dont regret it at all.
 
I have the 20 gallon stout HLT, MT, and BK. I love them all. The mash tun is great and doesnt have the gap previously mentioned in the false bottom. I like the tri clamp fittings that come on the stout tanks rather than the threaded fittings on the blichmann. I have seen the blichmanns and for the options (not price) i went with the stout kettles and dont regret it at all.

It must be a 75 gallon thing then. Both 75 gallon MLT's I have seen had the same gaping gap.
 
Do you have this Mash Tun? In all of my dealings with John, any problems were fixed in short order. Was the gap actually there or was it the high polished finish? My 40 gallon "leaked" grain in the amount of maybe 20- 30 particles before the grain bed set. This was my first use of a false bottom and I knew that some debris would need to worked with at the start, but it was very little. I had used mesh screens in the past and the amount of debris was less, but the one quart of wort returned to the Tun and the wort was debris free so the false bottom worked well. That seems to be the real test of the gap as it worked perfectly.

I did use a chin chiller to HERMS the wort which seemed to work well after I got the Temperature Delta down. (maybe automation in the future for this process).

My dream is to get a small HLT with the built in HERMS piping with electrical heat that can be controlled with a PID.

Heat retention of the Stainless Mash Tun was a concern, but the HERMS removes that issue.

Ancient Egyptian were paid in beer everyday. The even took it to the grave!

Htp di nswt wsir nb Ddw prt-Hrw t Hnqt Ka Apd n kA n <Name>

An Offering the King Gives, Osiris, Lord of Djedu, an invocation offering of bread, BEER, meat and fowl for the Ka spirit of <Name>

Even your Ka needed beer! :mug::mug:
 
I have both and love all of them. I just love the Stout stuff more. I was just cleaning the supplied ball valves from Stout. I brewed last week and set the ball valves in some PBW to soak. I took them out to clean them, and glad I took them apart. If you think you can clean ball valves by recirculating through them, these were done with hot water the hot PBW then rinsed. They recycle was about an hour total with the warm PBW for about 45 minutes. This was done immediately after the brew. I threw them into the PBW as I ran out of time. When I took them apart today ( 15 seconds), they were gunky inside with natsties. The equipment I have from John is first rate and I prefer it over Blickmann for the ease of cleaning. I have 2 Blickmann Brew Pots (10 and 20 gal), a 40 Gal Stout Mash Tun and a 14.5 gal Stout Conical. My next brew pot (30 Gal) will be a Stout. The only sad thing is the lead time, but I think worth the wait.
 
I agree about the lead time. I would also like to add that I think one major benefit of Stout over Blichmann is the customization John can offer.

For instance, I've been toying with a new Mash with a welded-in recirculation point for my continuous sparge. Imagine something like a tangential inlet like their brew pots, but on top of a mash tun. You can't get that with Blichmann. Although, I'm not arguing with blichmann's quality, it's certainly nice. I have nothing against either.
 
We have been using the Stout MLT for sometime now and have added a 30 gallon Stout HLT with HERMS. We have a Trub filter on the outlet of the MLT pump before the HERMS. We have brewed many batches with the system with very good results. My only wish is for a Mash Rake. We have a digital temp on the MLT inlet of the HERMS return and one at the outlet just after the MLT outlet valve. We do notice a 6 degree drop between the in and the out after about 70 minutes. They remain the same for a while and then the drop starts.

That all being said, We are thinking about going electric. I toyed with the idea to pay the extra for the TC Ports for elements but did not. I wish I had. I am not sorry that I bought Stout and a welded fitting vs the leaky and thin walled Blickmann weldless fitting is day and night. You cannot hang a trub filter (Brewers Hardware) on a Blickmann without it being supported somehow. It will bend the side of your Blickmann and leak very badly.
 
I am looking for a new Brew Kettle (boil Kettle) and wondering how you keep the hops from clogging your outlet in a Stout Kettle? I only use whole hops so the whirlpool wouldn't do much for me. I see how the Blichmann would just keep the mash screen in, but without using a hop bag, what do people do?

-I want to buy this pot one time, and keep it forever.
 
I love my Stout Kettle but use hop pellets and bags. We use Whole Hops in a Blickmann Hop Rocket but that is after the kettle. You should contact John at Stout and see what he has to say.
 
What about a SS hop spider rather than the bag? There is a large thread in here on them, search new way to control hop gunk
 
The Hop Spider is a good idea. What do you do now? I do not think it would make much difference what kettle you got regarding leaf hops. I have 2 Blickmann's and one Stout. I much prerfer the Stout because of the welded fitting. Both of the Blickmann's leak and cleaning the Stout ball valves is very easy to clean. The Stout is a much heavier gauge metal as well.
 
A little surprising you're having a problem with the Blichmann leaking. I suspect this is not common or they wouldn't be so popular. No? Which fitting is leaking?
 
The weldless fittings leak. If I fill the kettle the night before, all of the contents will be on the floor the next morning. If they were side by side in a store, the Stout Kettle would sell out based upon the gauge of the metal alone as it is much "stout"er. I personally like the tri clover (tri clamp) fittings as the are easy to change. For months, I never took the valve apart. We finally decided to clean it after we found another "dirty" part. I was amazed at what was hiding in the valve. Lucky it was on the hot side. We had always cleaned the valves by recycling PBW for about 30 minutes. We now do that and then take them apart and soak overnight in PBW. It takes seconds to get them apart and to reassemble the next day.

We had hung a Brewers hardware trub filter on one of the Blickmann's and had to immediately remove it as it actually caused the metal to bend around the weldless fitting. The other just started leaking after about 2 years. of use. We have replaced the o rings and while better, they still leak. We can use them to brew but If we had to do it over, they would all be Stout.
 
I am looking for a new Brew Kettle (boil Kettle) and wondering how you keep the hops from clogging your outlet in a Stout Kettle? I only use whole hops so the whirlpool wouldn't do much for me. I see how the Blichmann would just keep the mash screen in, but without using a hop bag, what do people do?

-I want to buy this pot one time, and keep it forever.
Use a hop bag.... throw it away when your done.
It is simpler, cleaner, and cheaper.
 
The weldless fittings leak. If I fill the kettle the night before, all of the contents will be on the floor the next morning.

I have a 15G Blichmann HLT, MT and BK. I always fill my HLT the night before I brew and have never leaked a drop. I have additional holes drilled in my HLT, MT and BK for electric elements and temp probes (all weldless) and even they don't leak.
 
I have a 15G Blichmann HLT, MT and BK. I always fill my HLT the night before I brew and have never leaked a drop. I have additional holes drilled in my HLT, MT and BK for electric elements and temp probes (all weldless) and even they don't leak.

Mine did not leak at first. We have 2 Blickmanns and they both leak. We have replaced the O Rings more than once. The metal in my mind is just too thin. I had added a small 1/4 bleeder valve so I could more easily prime my March Pumps and after that I started having problems. We no longer have the bleeder valves on my Blickmanns because of the leaking problem (and they still leak slightly when brewing) The Stout Kettles have much thicker walls and the weld is strong. If you had them side by side and you did not know which was which, you would always choose the Stout equipment because it is more substantial.

Blickmann makes a good product, just Stout makes a better one.
 
Oakbarn
We have a double Blichmann (one 55 gallon BK on top of the other) and brew 2-3 times a week. We beat the f out of it. Been through several elements, changed low water lever gauge, dropped, banged dented it with no leaks in 3 years (That we could not fix easily). You might check that you got the right O rings and did you put them on the outside of the kettle?
We do have a 3bbl BK and MT from Stout on order. And yes it&#8217;s much more rugged.
 
I might try to fix again but we mostly use our 45 gal Stout now. The original 10 gallon is now part of our "Historic Brewery" as it is what we started with. We only use the other one for hot water so not too much of a problem. I would have gone all stout from the beginning if I knew how good they are. The only SNAFU is the order time.

We do 20 to 30 gal batches with a Stout Mash Tun, A Stout HLT with Herms and the Stout BK. We have a pump for each and have a system of "t"'s and crosses with valves so we never disconnect a hose during brewing. Just reroute the liquid. It works great now that we have it figured out.
 
I ordered a 15 gal BK from Stout and am now waiting for delivery. They said it should ship this month. I will let you guys know how it works.
 
I have read reviews on both but do not have an personal exp with either one. This is my take. Sounds like stout kettles, HLT and MT are made from thicker gauge steel, provides the buyer with more options and even will customize to your spec's and price is very reasonable. The down side is you have to place a order long in advance before getting to brew and they are made in China unlike Blichmann which is made in the USA. John, the owner of stout ,is very attainable and sounds like he stands by his product. If you have a prob he will fix it.

Bilichmann has more users and a larger following. They use weldless fittings and in my opinion fittings that are welded will always be better than weldless regardless of everyone testimony. Blichmann does not provide options you get what you see. One advantage is you can go to a retailer of a boilermaker and see the product before buying it and if your LHBS is reputable they should work with you if a problem arises. And finally as stated above Blichmann is American made which is very appealing.

I am personally leaning toward stout kettles, HLT and MT. If others have added input please post. As stated I have not purchased either and Im looking to make a large investment. All input is very welcome.
 
Five years later....

Anybody want to see my STOUT 9 Gallon HLT & MLT Set-Up? I brew mostly sessions and do step and no-sparge. So this size is great for me.

I can do both RIMS and HERMS on a stove top with two pumps. Ones a wort pump the other is the hot liquor pump.

All TC with QDC for the water and 1/2 barbs for wort.

Without a doubt, their stuff is Stout!

I cleaned and passivated these last week. You can haul these around with confidence by the handle and the ball valve shank!

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