Northern Brewer Stainless Steel Wort Pump vs. Blichmann RipTide

[Presbrewterian Pastor]

I've got a gift card at Northern Brewer that is enough to buy their Stainless Steel Wort Pump... or I can save up a little over a hundred more and get the RipTide. Would it really be worth it though? Looking for advice.

 

[Nick Poggetti]

The Northern Brewer pump will get done what you need it to get done, and the biggest perk is that you have your gift card.

I will say, I upgraded from a similar pump to the Riptide, and I thought it was worth every dollar.

This write up does a good job highlighting the perks of where the pump shines.

My biggest highlights include...which are written more in depth in the linked article:

• Easy tri clamp breakdown for disassembly and cleaning - compared to bolts needing to be unscrewed each time.
• A PRV style valve for easy priming
• It's silent compared to the ~$100 pumps...which to me is a big deal.
• The linear flow valve allows for precise flow control. Which isn't a big deal to me anymore...but when I was fly sparging it helped a ton compared to a regular ball valve.
• On/Off switch which is nice if you're plugged directly into an outlet instead of a control panel.

Either choice will get the job done, but consider those bullet points if they extra cost would be worth those perks.

If you do get the riptide, get a back up set up O-rings as well. I had the bad luck of the one coming with my pump being broken on arrival, so I needed to wait in order to use it for a replacement. Nice to have on hand in case of a broken one.

 

[marc1]

The Northern Brewer pump will get done what you need it to get done, and the biggest perk is that you have your gift card.

I will say, I upgraded from a similar pump to the Riptide, and I thought it was worth every dollar.

This write up does a good job highlighting the perks of where the pump shines.

My biggest highlights include...which are written more in depth in the linked article:

• Easy tri clamp breakdown for disassembly and cleaning - compared to bolts needing to be unscrewed each time.
• A PRV style valve for easy priming
• It's silent compared to the ~$100 pumps...which to me is a big deal.
• The linear flow valve allows for precise flow control. Which isn't a big deal to me anymore...but when I was fly sparging it helped a ton compared to a regular ball valve.
• On/Off switch which is nice if you're plugged directly into an outlet instead of a control panel.

Either choice will get the job done, but consider those bullet points if they extra cost would be worth those perks.

If you do get the riptide, get a back up set up O-rings as well. I had the bad luck of the one coming with my pump being broken on arrival, so I needed to wait in order to use it for a replacement. Nice to have on hand in case of a broken one.

I have a riptide and like it for those reasons.
Buy spares of all the little parts, there's a tiny metal washer that I've almost lost a couple times. Having to pay separate shipping to replace that would be annoying.

 

[Presbrewterian Pastor]

The Northern Brewer pump will get done what you need it to get done, and the biggest perk is that you have your gift card.

I will say, I upgraded from a similar pump to the Riptide, and I thought it was worth every dollar.

This write up does a good job highlighting the perks of where the pump shines.

My biggest highlights include...which are written more in depth in the linked article:

• Easy tri clamp breakdown for disassembly and cleaning - compared to bolts needing to be unscrewed each time.
• A PRV style valve for easy priming
• It's silent compared to the ~$100 pumps...which to me is a big deal.
• The linear flow valve allows for precise flow control. Which isn't a big deal to me anymore...but when I was fly sparging it helped a ton compared to a regular ball valve.
• On/Off switch which is nice if you're plugged directly into an outlet instead of a control panel.

Either choice will get the job done, but consider those bullet points if they extra cost would be worth those perks.

If you do get the riptide, get a back up set up O-rings as well. I had the bad luck of the one coming with my pump being broken on arrival, so I needed to wait in order to use it for a replacement. Nice to have on hand in case of a broken one.

The Northern Brewer pump will get done what you need it to get done, and the biggest perk is that you have your gift card.

I will say, I upgraded from a similar pump to the Riptide, and I thought it was worth every dollar.

This write up does a good job highlighting the perks of where the pump shines.

My biggest highlights include...which are written more in depth in the linked article:

• Easy tri clamp breakdown for disassembly and cleaning - compared to bolts needing to be unscrewed each time.
• A PRV style valve for easy priming
• It's silent compared to the ~$100 pumps...which to me is a big deal.
• The linear flow valve allows for precise flow control. Which isn't a big deal to me anymore...but when I was fly sparging it helped a ton compared to a regular ball valve.
• On/Off switch which is nice if you're plugged directly into an outlet instead of a control panel.

Either choice will get the job done, but consider those bullet points if they extra cost would be worth those perks.

If you do get the riptide, get a back up set up O-rings as well. I had the bad luck of the one coming with my pump being broken on arrival, so I needed to wait in order to use it for a replacement. Nice to have on hand in case of a broken one.

Thanks!

I have a riptide and like it for those reasons.
Buy spares of all the little parts, there's a tiny metal washer that I've almost lost a couple times. Having to pay separate shipping to replace that would be annoying.

Thanks!

 

[esdill]

I have a Riptide, after one year of use the impeller "swelled", the metal sleeve on the impeller split jamming the impeller against the inner sleeve and stopping the pump. In the middle of a brew I had to peel off the metal sleeve, and file down the impeller so it would clear the inner sleeve before I could continue using the pump. I ordered a new impeller and inner sleeve directly from Blichmann two months ago and my order still hasn't shipped ... but they took my money immediately. Buyer beware.

 

[Nick Poggetti]

I have a Riptide, after one year of use the impeller "swelled", the metal sleeve on the impeller split jamming the impeller against the inner sleeve and stopping the pump. In the middle of a brew I had to peel off the metal sleeve, and file down the impeller so it would clear the inner sleeve before I could continue using the pump. I ordered a new impeller and inner sleeve directly from Blichmann two months ago and my order still hasn't shipped ... but they took my money immediately. Buyer beware.

Dang that's bum luck.

I can also agree that purchasing directly from Blichmann for the past two years throughout Covid has been a very, very slow process. I purchased the Brewcommander and another piece of hardware, and both took weeks/months to ship.

I did have what sounds like better luck with customer service responses, though.

 

[SpikeBrewing]

The Northern pump is just a white labels cheap-o pump. It move wort but it'll be slow and you won't be able to use a CIP ball with it.

If you haven't seen already, we're launching our new pump later this year. Check it out!

https://spikebrewing.com/products/spike-brew-pump

​

 

[CrabbyOldMan]

Hey Spike...
Get a grip on marketing 101..."never knock the competition."
You started by saying "theirs" is crap and never referenced yours.
Why didn't you say, "They make a good product, but here's why ours is a lot better."