Blichmann Boilermaker G2

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Swiller said:
Valid? No... If he wants to take the high road, fine. But it's beyond me to respect a former employer who didn't respect you or understand the reason for bringing light to a safety concern to educate the public.

It is all about money. People who have NO REASON to profit off such a horrible product see it one way; those who profit, see it another way. And those who don't know any better are the ones who buy it and get injured.

I don't believe he, nor Blichmann deserve such consideration. I don't live in your area, but I'd boycott this guys LHBS if I did...

http://www.cpsc.gov needs to know about both of these products from Blichmann... The rims rocket and this new kettle.
Click to expand...


This issue has nothing to do with my employment at my LHBS. There are other reasons why, like downsizing.

Now that I'm clear of any conflicts of interest, I wanted to continue this dialog about the G2.

Aside from the safety issue is the inherent design of the valve, now instead of an industry standard 3pc ball valve with a stainless ball and Teflon packing, we have a honestly poor finish plug type valve that uses silicone o rings to do the job of dynamic sealing. So now your on the hook for replacement o rings as they will wear much faster than a ball valve. Again the "engineering" wasn't done on o ring material, what about viton, kalraz, chemraz, edpm......
 
trimixdiver1 said:
This issue has nothing to do with my employment at my LHBS. There are other reasons why, like downsizing.

Now that I'm clear of any conflicts of interest, I wanted to continue this dialog about the G2.

Aside from the safety issue is the inherent design of the valve, now instead of an industry standard 3pc ball valve with a stainless ball and Teflon packing, we have a honestly poor finish plug type valve that uses silicone o rings to do the job of dynamic sealing. So now your on the hook for replacement o rings as they will wear much faster than a ball valve. Again the "engineering" wasn't done on o ring material, what about viton, kalraz, chemraz, edpm......
Click to expand...

Ya sorry about misunderstanding that. And sorry you lost your position for whatever reason.

I do honestly believe they design their gear in order to make residual income off the replacement of these silicon parts. That plug on the rims rocket is the same thing. It serves no purpose for saftey, but it will need to be replaced often.
 
Well, as a person with no experience with the original design, I decided to order the 10g G2 tonight and got the HopBlocker to go along with it. I'm not sure exactly how long it will take it to arrive here but with any luck I'll have it one day next week.

I'll make a video walk around of the unit when it arrives.
 
kal said:
Speaking of which, has anyone confirmed that you can replace this valve with a standard ball valve? It's not clear to me what's left on the kettle when you remove this valve. Is there a standard 1/2" male NPT threading on to which you can attach a standard 1/2" female NPT ball valve?
Click to expand...
To close the loop: I contacted Blichmann and yes, you can remove the linear flow valve and attach any standard 1/2" NPT female ball valve. This is what I'd be doing with my setup if I had to rebuild today with G2 kettles. I'm not a big fan of the new handle, lid, or satin finish, but I do really like the sight glass and how well the false bottom/stepped bottom of the kettle work together, so if I had to re-buy, it would still be G2's.

Update: John Blichmann sent me a note a few days later to indicate that a direct swap of the proprietary valve with a standard ball valve is not possible as the o-ring and thin washer that they use to seal their ball valve on the G1 pot is not used for the proprietary valve on the G2. So you need to use an o-ring and a washer, similar to what they did on the G1 kettles. More info

Kal
 
PilotCline said:
As per the cosmetic defect kettles. I ordered the 20 Gal back in April or so from AIH. It was flawless. I could not find anything wrong anywhere. I ordered a 15 Gal in the beginning of August. I was hoping that I would have the same luck. Well, not so much. I immediately noticed a large dent below the ball valve. OK, so that's my defect. Cool, I can live with that. I put the lid on and noticed that it slid all over the place. Not cool. I inserted the false bottom and it did not seal all the way around. I contacted the seller and they contacted Blichmann. Well, apparently out of round is considered a cosmetic defect even though it affects the function of the lid. They also said that the false bottom seals on the bottom and not the sides. OK that I am alright with. It is just the fact that the lid does not seat properly and if bumped slides everywhere. So according to Blichmann I have a working pot. Well the store said I could try bending it back myself, which I did. Just didn't want to have to do that with a $377 pot. Also the Auto Sparge hole was punched for my by Blichmann. Well, where they punched the hole it dented the pot, and they left a nice burr that I will have to file out. Luckily I now have my complete matching Breweasy system, so whatever I will live with it. Had I known all of that about the 15 gallon I received I would have just paid 10% more for a new one. Unfortunately that was no longer an option when I ordered.
Click to expand...

After reading this, John got a hold of me. They sent a new kettle and took back the bent one. Shipping was taken care of by Blichmann for both the new kettle, and the return. Makes me with that I just emailed them first before trying to go through the dealer. I am again one happy customer!
 
PilotCline said:
After reading this, John got a hold of me. They sent a new kettle and took back the bent one. Shipping was taken care of by Blichmann for both the new kettle, and the return. Makes me with that I just emailed them first before trying to go through the dealer. I am again one happy customer!
Click to expand...



To all those that think some of us are here just to complain, now you know why we do this. We are paying good money for Blichmann, we expect customer service like this. Thanks for doing your job Mr Blichmann.
 
Hmmm.......
Why is it that I can't select "page 18" on this thread, as it shows said page exists?

Maybe this post will go there.


Edit:


Guess that answers that!
 
FYI - After a bunch of tests, I posted pictures/information on how to replace the linear flow valve with a standard 2 or 3 piece ball valve. See here

Kal
 
I've had nothing but excellent customer service from Blichmann. Thanks John!!!
Debating moving to electric brewing, and I like that Blichman is still in the game.
The rims rocket seems like a good idea, and perhaps much simpler to clean afterward compared with the typical SS pipe designs.

TD


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
TrickyDick said:
The rims rocket seems like a good idea, and perhaps much simpler to clean afterward compared with the typical SS pipe designs.
Click to expand...
I would say the exact opposite. A RIMS chamber with a heating element is more cleaning than a HERMS coil. I use HERMS myself and never have to clean my coil (haven't in 5 years) since I flush the sparge water through it. A heating element always picks up "gunk" so you have to disassemble/clean every time.

Kal
 
I think TD meant in comparison to other RIMS setups with the element in the SS tube.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Carlscan26 said:
I think TD meant in comparison to other RIMS setups with the element in the SS tube.
Click to expand...
Ah! Ok - that makes more sense. I took "SS pipe" to mean HERMS.
The Blichmann solution's probably easier to take apart to clean than having to unbolt some NPT fittings.

Kal
 
I just ordered one of the 20 gallon G1 "scratch and dent" from Adventures in Homebrewing that showed up last week and it is in perfect shape. Glad to find out that these are still available for the time being.
 
I can't dismantle my valve from the kettle. Is it supposed to? Either I need to use some more muscle, or they are not meant to come off.

It's useless for me on the kettle, but the linear flow-design is great for having after the pump, as it's difficult as hell to dial in the right flowrate with a standard ball-valve. Just a microscopic nudge on the ball valve makes a huge difference.

Edit: I just saw the post a few posts up..
 

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