SS Brewtech eKettle & Blichmann BrewCommander

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fwai

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Long time lurker, first time poster. Anyway, looking to put a simple ebiab system together and was thinking of pairing the SS Brewtech eKettle and the Blichmann BrewCommander for a relatively cheap setup. I know SS Brewtech claims their temp probe is proprietary, but others have had success using it with non SS Brewtech controllers. Anything else I should be thinking of and general thoughts on this setup?
 
I just purchased the BrewCommander and brewed two batches. I have a 20 gal kettle from Spike Brewing. So far I'm happy I made the decision of buying the BrewCommander. I custom ordered my kettle from Spike and most of the other accessories I got from brewhardware.com. The temperature probe connection seems to be very similar as the one for the brewcommander and also you can make temperature corrections within the software if needed.
 
Thanks for the response. Just saw your setup in your recent post, looks great!
 
Any updates here? I just purchased the 20 gal ekettle from ss and the brew commander....waiting on mail man now
 
I can confirm the SS ekettle's thermometer doesn't work with the brew commander for some reason, so I found a stubby tri clamp thermowell for the upper port and used the brew commander thermometer. Works fine.

Really like the system although the brew commander could use a firmware update. Nothing critical, just some tweaks here and there to ease the brew day.
 
Really? I emailed them a while back and ss said it should work since they’re both Pt-100....that really sucks since I have both being shipped to me today and I thought they’d work together.
 
That was my experience. When I plugged it in, the BC showed XXX for a temp. Maybe I have a bad sensor and you’ll have better luck. Let us know how it works out.
 
Nahh I spoke w blichmann, their port is not rtd sensor..... really hoping they update to accommodate either in the future.
 
Anyone figure this out? If you cut the wire ends on the ekettle temp line and the blichmann line and solder them together would that work? What is the rtd vs a lab grade thermister?
 
I want to use that port for SS brew whirlpool fitting. I may just drill a 1/2” hole for bulkhead for probe from blichmann.
 
Anyone figure this out? If you cut the wire ends on the ekettle temp line and the blichmann line and solder them together would that work? What is the rtd vs a lab grade thermister?
There's was some discussion about it in another thread and the general consensus was.... nobody was quite sure what the sensor is that comes with the brew commander. Unless you can get some information from blichmann or reverse engineer the thing, you're probably going to have to find a place for a thermowell.
 
There's was some discussion about it in another thread and the general consensus was.... nobody was quite sure what the sensor is that comes with the brew commander. Unless you can get some information from blichmann or reverse engineer the thing, you're probably going to have to find a place for a thermowell.

I suspect it's a DS18B20 sensor wired for parasite power mode.
 
Anyone figure this out? If you cut the wire ends on the ekettle temp line and the blichmann line and solder them together would that work? What is the rtd vs a lab grade thermister?

I used the port above drain for a thermowell also. I actually like it better than having a fixed location as I switch it to a thermowell at the end of my counter flow chiller which allows a good amount of control of wort temp going into my brew bucket.
 
Just wondering if anyone has successfully connected the SS brewtech temp probe to the Blichmann brew commander yet?
 
Man glad I am not the only one but seems the only solution is using another thermowell, sucks.
 
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