blichmann therminator

Who uses a Bilchmann therminator and how do you like it ?

Thanks Pat

I have one. I used it for about a year but recently switched to the whirlpool immersion chiller. The therminator is fast but I tired of cleaning it and cleaning the hopstopper that was required for it to be used. But the reason I eventually quit using it all together was that the hop stopper was loosing siphon and leaving a lot of wort behind...and that's something I won't stand for.

I use one and I love the cooling power. I started using hop sacks to help keep the hop material out of the chiller.

I recirculate boiling wort to sanitize, and at flame out just turn on the water. I recirculate the wort to drop the temp of the entire batch to 140, and then straight into the fermenter. Much easier and faster than my old IC.

The reason I ask is that I was at a guys house this weekend and he had one. He ran his wort through it and right in his to fermenter and it was 68 degrees.
This guys system made mine look like crap !

Pat

Yes you can easily do that. I recirc back into the pot to get the entire batch to 140 to help eliminate any chance for DMS. After getting to 140, I have had the wort go into the fermenter at 58 degrees, and can do ale pitch temps with the march pump wide open.

Ridiculous! That puts my IC to shame! Just another piece of equipment to add to the list. I guess I'll need to get a March before the Blichman though....

....if it's a race, or if you've got really warm tap water, etc. I use a plain old vanilla copper immersion chiller. It's dirt-simple, requires no special cleaning or maintenance, and it bothers me not a smidge that it takes 15-20 minutes to cool 5 gallons (we have 55F well water). The fact that someone's IC can reduce the wort to pitching temps instantly has no particular attraction for me....different strokes n' all that.

rico567 said:

.... The fact that someone's IC can reduce the wort to pitching temps instantly has no particular attraction for me....different strokes n' all that.

Click to expand...

The quicker that you can reduce the wort to pitching temperature the better though right?

I have had a Blichmann for about 20 brews now and I am just using gravity, don't even need a pump if you can get the boiler above the fermenter. Best thing is that it only takes one pass to drop the temperature down. I think our ground water temperature here in California was in the high 60's

I have a Blichmann and love how it cools. I religiously back flush it out with PBW after each brew session, but have noticed my last three brews have an unusual (non-infected) taste. I'm wondering if it's my Blichmann.

I just boiled the Therminator for 20 minutes and hope that my 'off-taste' issues are solved.

I have a double zone (2 chiller) set-up and it rocks! I too clean it within an inch of its life. I like boiling caustic and then acid after I use it. I flush with OXY before each use. Mine are not Blich but they still work great. I whirlpool to leave as much crap behind. Been using this set-up for many years and haven't had any problems.