Blichman boilmaker ?'s

[lbaker]

Just got surprised with a 15g Blichman boilmaker brew pot for my bday. After the excitement wore off I realized I knew next to nothing about these beasts. What's the most common method of transferring to the Carboy? Do I need a special fitting or just attach siphon tubing? Does the bottom do a good enough job of keeping the floaties out? What's everones favorite burner for this?

 

[Joe_K]

Can't help you out too much, just have to say I'm jealous!! I have the Blichman burner with leg extensions and it works great. I just have a standard 9 gallon stainless pot.

 

[ryandlf]

Nice thing about the blichman burners is that if you ever buy one of their stands, the burners are ready to attach to it so its upgradable. Transferring to the carboy...personally I prefer to use my racking can because I leave the hops and protein in the bottom of the kettle when I transfer, but if you whirlpool and have some sort of stopper in front of the ball valve you could just open the valve and let it flow down into the carboy.

 

[osagedr]

Apparently the Blichmann false bottoms work great with their pots--may as well use the $100 valve the kettle comes with. Like the poster above, I just use an autosiphon.

 

[Oldyote]

I have a 10 gallon I use on my gas stove top. I had a lot of trouble with plugging the valve before I bought the hop blocker.

The hop blocker does interfere a bit with my wort chiller but maybe that won't be an issue with the 15 gallon.

 

[lbaker]

Why would you still auto siphon with the brew pot having the valve? I'm so damn confused

 

[Seven]

Just got surprised with a 15g Blichman boilmaker brew pot for my bday. After the excitement wore off I realized I knew next to nothing about these beasts. What's the most common method of transferring to the Carboy? Do I need a special fitting or just attach siphon tubing? Does the bottom do a good enough job of keeping the floaties out? What's everones favorite burner for this?

I use the blichmann top-tier burner (with leg extensions) with mine and it works great.

Also, if you don't have one, you'll need a 1/2" NPT x 3/8" Barb for your kettle to attach siphon hose to your ball-valve. These can also be purchased (in brass) at Home Depot for about $3.

Once you have the NPT fitting attached to your ball-valve simply attach some 3/8 hose, stick the other end into your carboy, then open the valve.

I like to use a small hops bag when brewing to keep most of the used hops out of my finished wort. No clogs for me whatsoever when doing this.

Good luck!

 

[osagedr]

Why would you still auto siphon with the brew pot having the valve? I'm so damn confused

Only real reason I have is that I'm trying very hard to get the clearest wort I can into the fermenter. The autosiphon gives me a great deal of control over what I rack. I know a lot of people transfer everything with no ill effects.

 

[Teromous]

I have a 15 gallon one as well. I don't have a false bottom because I don't use it as a mash tun. Some of the things to consider are that when doing a 5 gallon boil...the temp gauge is between 6.5 and 7 gallons so when you boil down to 5 or so gallons it doesn't give an accurate temp of how cool it is. You can whirlpool the wort to create a cone in the center, and use the ball valve which is angled close to the side wall to get your wort out. Some things to consider when cleaning, are to remove whatever barb you use and clean out the threads. Also you can use an allen wrench to remove the cap on the sight glass and bush out the sight glass. Blowing it out with a hose also works well. The kettle is designed so that you can hang the lid from the handles on the side which is really cool, but I highly recommend you don't do this! I've knocked mine off so many times I don't even take it outside with me anymore (the lid). Also the pot is huge, so I recommend cleaning it outside with a hose. Dry it with the ball valve open so that the pick-up tube dries as well. I have a bunch of other tips but it'll take forever to type.

You can use whatever burner you like, but I'd recommend something that puts out a high BTUs and has a base wide enough to support the kettle. I like the Kick a Banjo Plus because it's wide and puts out a lot of heat. It's also cheap compared to the Blichmann Burner and it's easier to carry the heavy beast around because the stand is essentially made with 4 handles.