Blichmann 20Gal Boilermaker

I am so stoked I cant wait till it shows up. Just ordered it from my LHBS

SWIMBO said go get it and its been gotten. MUHAHAHAHA

My first batch will hopefully be next weekend to christen the pot if it shows up.

Will let you all know my thought's.

You are a lucky bastard.

That is a great pot. Congrats!

I'm holding out for the 50 gallon myself

Congrats! That's SWEET!

I just can't get over how expensive they are. I think I'd be looking for a cheaper solution.

For example, I bought a 102 quart (25.5 gallon) stainless steel crawfish pot for $212 (they are now $219). It came with a boil basket (not needed for brewing) and a lid. I could add a Brewmometer and a three piece 1/2 inch stainless valve and two full 1/2 inch weldable couplings for $60, plus another $50 for having a welder drill holes and weld the couplings for me. I personally don't like sight gauges so I wouldn't bother with that.

My total cost ends up being under $325 plus whatever I pay for shipping or tax. Let's say $350 and I end up with a 25 gallon brew pot instead of a 20 gallon Blichmann Boilermaker that costs $398. I can do 20 gallon batches in my pot that wouldn't be possible with the 20 gallon Boilermaker.

My crawfish pot is 1mm thick, which is closer to 19 gauge than the 1.27 mm thick 18 gauge Boilermaker, so the Boilermaker is slightly better. That's the one thing I don't like about all these big pots. They use thin metal. 14 gauge (2 mm) would be really nice, and 16 gauge (1.5 mm) would be adequate.

Consider the 142 quart Bayou Classic stock pot. It is 16 gauge 1.5mm thick metal. It is 35.5 gallon capacity. It costs $350. Spend another $110 as in the previous example to add thermometer and valve, compare your $460 cost with the $509 cost of a 30 gallon Boilermaker, which is still only an 18 gauge pot even at that size.

billtzk said:

I just can't get over how expensive they are. I think I'd be looking for a cheaper solution.

For example, I bought a 102 quart (25.5 gallon) stainless steel crawfish pot for $212 (they are now $219). It came with a boil basket (not needed for brewing) and a lid. I could add a Brewmometer and a three piece 1/2 inch stainless valve and two full 1/2 inch weldable couplings for $60, plus another $50 for having a welder drill holes and weld the couplings for me. I personally don't like sight gauges so I wouldn't bother with that.

My total cost ends up being under $325 plus whatever I pay for shipping or tax. Let's say $350 and I end up with a 25 gallon brew pot instead of a 20 gallon Blichmann Boilermaker that costs $398. I can do 20 gallon batches in my pot that wouldn't be possible with the 20 gallon Boilermaker.

My crawfish pot is 1mm thick, which is closer to 19 gauge than the 1.27 mm thick 18 gauge Boilermaker, so the Boilermaker is slightly better. That's the one thing I don't like about all these big pots. They use thin metal. 14 gauge (2 mm) would be really nice, and 16 gauge (1.5 mm) would be adequate.

Consider the 142 quart Bayou Classic stock pot. It is 16 gauge 1.5mm thick metal. It is 35.5 gallon capacity. It costs $350. Spend another $110 as in the previous example to add thermometer and valve, compare your $460 cost with the $509 cost of a 30 gallon Boilermaker, which is still only an 18 gauge pot even at that size.

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I'm not sure you are making a good argument that your 'crawfish' pot is 'cheaper solution'. The Boilermaker pot at your own admission is only $50 more and you DO get a sight tube along with a better engineered product. 3-piece ball valve, off set handles, chamfered bottom, seamless ports for thermometer, valves, etc. The fact that you dont like or use the sight tube isn't to say it is expensive. It may be slightly less on paper, but I don't think you are comparing apples to apples.

I am not saying they are cheap by any means, but I looked hard for less expensive alternatives and if you are buying a stainless steel pot and keeping everything stainless, by the time you add all the valves, thermometers, sigth tubes, etc., the Blichmanns aren't really that out of line unless you are using kegs for tuns and kettles.

I have the 15 G mash tun and a 20 G boil kettle and I have no regrets purchasing them. I would do it again and highly recommend them. They function flawlessly and clean up amazingly.

Maybe it is apples to nectarines, but the crawfish pot would work out better for me. I probably ought to leave it at that.

I would not want a sight gauge, so for me it makes sense to omit it if I'm building my own. It is a "con" against the Blichmann on the "pro / con" checklist for me, if I were weighing alternatives.

The exact same 3-piece valve Blichmann valve ($30 from William's Brewing) and Brewmometer ($30 from Austin Homebrew), comes to $60 as I said, and you could beat that by about $5 by using an equally good non-Blichmann three-piece valve, and by $10 using a non-rebuildable valve. Frankly, I have both types and I have never had a reason to want to disassemble my three piece valves. I have to tighten it now and then so it doesn't leak, unlike my non-rebuildable valves that don't have that problem.

Perhaps I don't understand the value of a chamfered bottom. They say it supports the optional false bottom (useful in the mash tun), but I think that is not a big deal, IMO.

What is a seamless port? If I drill a hole in a keg or a crawfish pot, it is also seamless. Are they using rubber grommeted bulkhead fittings? If so, that is not an advantage over a welded coupling.

The crawfish pot has 5 more gallon capacity.

Finally, is $50 cheaper or not? If you can weld sanitary fittings in stainless yourself, it is $100 cheaper. How about the advantages of the thicker steel and greater capacity still with a savings of $50 if you step up to the next size (142 qt = 35 gallon crawfish pot vs 30 gal Boilermaker).

Multiply the savings by three pots HLT, MLT, BK, and it's $150 or $300 if you happen to be able to weld the couplings yourself.

In the long run it isn't such a big deal one way or the other. I'm glad you like yours. I do happen to think the snap in drains and the false bottoms are super snazzy.

Edit: Oh, I forgot the offset handles. Well, if I turn my crawfish pot 90 degrees before drilling and put the holes under one of the handles, voila.

You have a great SWIMBO, and I'm sure she never let's you forget it.
Fighting the rising wave of nasty green jealousy. (I live in an apartment, and that stuff just will not work with my wonderful naggers, I mean neighbours.

That's awesome and it's a piece of brewing equipment that you'll never need to replace.

Congrats!

Congrats, you will enjoy immensely, I have enjoyed mine. As soon as my Brutus project is built, I will add two more.

my most valuable addition to my keggle is a sight gauge; why do you not like it?

I don't like sight gauges because they are relatively fragile, increase the number of fittings that may leak, and make cleaning more difficult. None of these are huge disadvantages, but in total they add to the fiddley aspects of brewing while providing no benefit. At least, I don't consider being able to see the fluid level in the gauge to be beneficial. I have a notched stick for measuring volume, and that is something you need to do only a few times during the brewing process.

The ball valve was the most valuable addition to my keggle. I'd hate to have to siphon my wort out.

Why is a sight gauge valuable to you?

I just got this pot and I can say that the sight is valuable to me so I dont need a measuring stick...

The 20 gal Boilermaker is great. I'll also say that the Blichmann site gauge is the best around. The fact that it's attached not attached with an elbow--instead it's just flush to the kettle--definitely takes away the "fragile" aspect.

I searched for almost a year for a cheaper solution. (keggles are impossible to find here) and in the end I bought a blichmann. I'm very very happy I did. It's a great pot and for the money, I don't think it can be reproduced when you factor in the labour. I'd buy another in an instant.

I feel that Blichmann kettles are a great value. I looked at other kettles quite a bit. I was running keggles during my search and was very happy after making the switch.

I'm sure you will enjoy OP. Unless you BIAB, you will probably have another 2 on the way before long.

Are the Blichmann pots back in stock now?

erikrocks said:

The 20 gal Boilermaker is great. I'll also say that the Blichmann site gauge is the best around. The fact that it's attached not attached with an elbow--instead it's just flush to the kettle--definitely takes away the "fragile" aspect.

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it's an elbow, it's just a square elbow.

re: the sight gauge usefullness, I find them incredibly useful. Especially on the HLT, when fly sparging. And it's nice to see my boil off in the BK. Sure I could use a notched stick, but I have a sight glass so I don't need a notched stick. To each their own.

To the OP, congrats on the pot. I own a 15 gal i use for a mash tun, and have two Penrose Kettles I use for a HLT and BK (couldn't justify the blichamn price for a HLT, and wanted to put other holes in my BK that would possibly bring down the price of a Blichman if i wanted to resell it). Works great for a MLT, the false bottom and the stepped bottom really work nicely.

BeerguyNC61 said:

Are the Blichmann pots back in stock now?

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I was told last week that they start shipping again well this week. I have 3 on order.

dfess1 said:

it's an elbow, it's just a square elbow.

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way to pick the fly sh|t out of the pepper...

Just snagged a 20 gallon for 300 with slight cosmetic defect (small scratch)))).

Always fun to see a 4 year old thread revived with no one complaining about it.

I got a 20 Gal Blichmann for Christmas. It's awesomeness; shiny awesomeness. It always draws neighbors and passerbys when it gets set up in my yard.

Also, I concur with the sight glass. It's quite useful for figuring out how much water you need to boil down, or really any other part of the process.

jammin said:

way to pick the fly sh|t out of the pepper...

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excuse me?