Finally! The BoilerMaker Update.

After endless harassment (OK, actually one casual comment) by my good friend, Tony Lerma, it's time to get the blog back to its main purpose - beer. Awhile back I complained about the wait for my new homebrew pots, Blichmann Engineering's BoilerMaker. I went on about how these should be the coolest brewpots on earth. Well, they arrived some time back now and I've had the opportunity to brew three batches of beer with them (15 U.S. gallons). Here is one of said pots in all it's glory.



As I mentioned in the previous blog, I purchased two 10 U.S. gallon versions of these marvels. They come standard in food grade stainless steel with a graduated high-temperature sight gauge to indicate the liquid level, the Blichmann stainless steel value assembly and the Blichmann adjustable face BrewMometer. Another feature is the beveled bottom with a lip to rest the optional false bottom on.


The first one serves as a mash tun with the uniquely designed false bottom. It is a combination of a manifold design and a "pizza pan". It is said to be optimal for mash efficiency. The jury is still out on this one for me due to other issues not associated with the pot.

The second pot serves as my new boil "copper" or kettle. It is seen here with the optional boil screen that is an improvement on the Bazooka screen, if you're familiar with them (I am, I've used two different ones in the past). It is indeed an improvement, in my opinion.




I am very pleased with the Boilermakers. As a brewing "copper", I could not be happier. The boil screen works great with little wort loss using my high-temperature pump. I use primarily whole hops and it does a fine job filtering them out. I haven't done a batch with a lot of pelletized hops so I cannot comment completely on how effective it is if one uses solely pellet hops.

As a mash tun, I'm pretty pleased. There is one fairly big annoyance, I have to admit. The probe for the BrewMometer (the finest brewing thermometer of its kind, I believe) is so high up on the pot that it renders the thermometer useless for an average 5 U.S. gallon batch of beer (assuming roughly 10-11 lbs. of grain in the grist). The probe sits too high to effectively measure the mash temperature. I emailed John Blichmann about this and his response was to increase the liquor-to-grist ratio (I have used 1.5 U.S. Quarts per Pound of grain almost exclusively). I tested this on two of the three batches I've done increasing the ratio to 1.75 Qts/Lb and it did improve it but it still doesn't put the probe in the middle of the mash where I think it should be. John said the design is as it is to avoid getting the BrewMometer too close to the heat source as to avoid exposure to excessive heat. That is fine for a boiling kettle, but, in my opinion, not necessarily so for the mash tun. The only situation a pure mash tun would be subjected to heat is for external heat applied during a step mash. In this case it is best to hit the mash tun with short blasts of heat, not prolonged heat so I would think the BrewMometer could hold up. Again, this is only my personal opinion and I'm not trying to deter anyone from buying one of these pots. I do understand that these are engineered for mass production and to be suitable for all uses but this, to me, seems an unfortunate consequence.

This fact, however, does not change my feeling about purchasing the BoilerMakers, I'm still very pleased and, despite their high price (at face value, anyway), I think for what one gets, the price is warranted. If unconvinced, price each of the Blichmann features such as the adjustable BrewMometer, the Blichmann stainless valves, the high temperature sight gauge and the food grade stainless pot itself and you should be convinced it is priced appropriately. In short, I am incredibly pleased with the BoilerMakers and don't regret purchasing them in any way. Finally, here is a photo of the Boilermakers in my now modified three tier brewery plant.

Cheers!
Neil