40 litre Buffalo or cheaper 35 litre boiler?

[gjs]

Hello.

I've just got a new shiny 37.5 litre thermopot with ball valve and false bottom to use as my mash tun, but now I want to get a (shiny!) boiler.

I was about to order a Buffalo 40 litre tea urn style water boiler at £159.99, when I came across a much cheaper 35 litre water boiler for £53.99 on ebay.

The product is here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/310901361286

Will 35 litres be big enough for all grain brewing 23 litre/5 gallon batches up to a decent strength? Also, does anyone have any experience of these cheaper models?

I'm wondering whether it is a case of you get what you pay for, or whether they do the same job but pay more for a branded one. I had accepted that the boiler would be about £150, but seeing that one £53.99 is making it tempting (ebay seller has some negative feedback though). It goes up to 110c like the Buffalo does so might not need any mucking about with the thermostat for a rolling boil.

But im not into false economies so don't want to buy the cheap one if it is a pile of poo!

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Regards


Greg

[Jim]

I don't know anything about the boiler on ebay, but you need to be careful as not all water boilers are suitable for brewing - it depends what materials come into contact with the water.

However, 35l is big enough for 23l brews - my boilers only 33l and it works fine (though needs topping up during the boil a bit).

You can't really go wrong with a SS stockpot fitted with a kettle or immersion element, and that will work out a lot cheaper than £160 (though you'll have to fit the element and a ball valve tap yourself or find someone who can do it for you).

[Ben711200]

You can't really go wrong with a SS stockpot fitted with a kettle or immersion element, and that will work out a lot cheaper than £160 (though you'll have to fit the element and a ball valve tap yourself or find someone who can do it for you).

As a middle ground, I bought this and after the good lady got fed up of me quite literally destroying the kitchen with steam and offending her sense of smell, I bough a 1.5" Q-Max, a Backer Element and a KM8 locking nut so that I could run it outside/in the shed. Total price, including the Q-max that has been used for subsequent builds was about £105. while that pre-converted stockpot isn't perfect, it's an excellent start with all stainless parts, a very basic but functional hop strainer and a 1 piece 1/2" ball valve. I may upgrade that so it's easier to clean at some point but it works perfectly at the moment.

Alternatively, many of the usual homebrew suppliers will pre drill and piece together a pot for you for not much of a premium at all.

[Jim]

You can't really go wrong with a SS stockpot fitted with a kettle or immersion element, and that will work out a lot cheaper than £160 (though you'll have to fit the element and a ball valve tap yourself or find someone who can do it for you).

As a middle ground, I bought this and after the good lady got fed up of me quite literally destroying the kitchen with steam and offending her sense of smell, I bough a 1.5" Q-Max, a Backer Element and a KM8 locking nut so that I could run it outside/in the shed. Total price, including the Q-max that has been used for subsequent builds was about £105. while that pre-converted stockpot isn't perfect, it's an excellent start with all stainless parts, a very basic but functional hop strainer and a 1 piece 1/2" ball valve. I may upgrade that so it's easier to clean at some point but it works perfectly at the moment.

Alternatively, many of the usual homebrew suppliers will pre drill and piece together a pot for you for not much of a premium at all.

That pot you linked to looks an excellent buy! With a suitable element fitted it would be all you need (assuming you don't want to go the gas route).

It's a little bit tight for 5 gallon brews, but quite workable with a few top-ups during the boil - it's only 1 litre less than mine.

[gjs]

[quote="Jim"][quote="Ben711200"][quote="Jim"]
You can't really go wrong with a SS stockpot fitted with a kettle or immersion element, and that will work out a lot cheaper than £160 (though you'll have to fit the element and a ball valve tap yourself or find someone who can do it for you).[/quote]


As a middle ground, I bought [url=http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/ag-equipm ... s-pan.html]this[/url] and after the good lady got fed up of me quite literally destroying the kitchen with steam and offending her sense of smell, I bough a 1.5" Q-Max, a Backer Element and a KM8 locking nut so that I could run it outside/in the shed. Total price, including the Q-max that has been used for subsequent builds was about £105. while that pre-converted stockpot isn't perfect, it's an excellent start with all stainless parts, a very basic but functional hop strainer and a 1 piece 1/2" ball valve. I may upgrade that so it's easier to clean at some point but it works perfectly at the moment.

Alternatively, many of the usual homebrew suppliers will pre drill and piece together a pot for you for not much of a premium at all.[/quote]

That pot you linked to looks an excellent buy! With a suitable element fitted it would be all you need (assuming you don't want to go the gas route).

It's a little bit tight for 5 gallon brews, but quite workable with a few top-ups during the boil - it's only 1 litre less than mine.[/quote]


Thanks for your replies Jim & Ben711200.

I've taken your comments on board, thought about this more and had a re-think - I think I'll go down the stainless steel stockpot route and get one with a ball valve fitted by the supplier, which not being a DIYer, will only leave me with needing to find some help making a hole in it and fitting an immersion element. Then I can put it on the hob and use the gas wok burner as well as the immersion element to get up to a boil, and then switch to just one of them to maintain a rolling boil. Gas is cheaper to use than electricity so that will help with the running costs.

Looking at the prices, I think I'll go for a 50 litre as they don't cost much more than the 33 litre pots. It is a shame that the German firm (catering-portal/Bergland) aren't sending them out to individuals in the UK now and by the look of it, have given exclusive rights to only two suppliers as that means we can only get them through those two which will be at a higher cost than direct from Germany, and I've seen a few firms showing as out of stock so probably a number of homebrew kit suppliers were relying on those imports and they cant sell them now reducing the customer choice.

Regards,


Greg.

[sbond10]

Home brew builder will drill holes for you I believe but I don't know of anyone using gas and electric

[Dave S]

I think you're right to go for a larger Stock pot having forked out for a decent sized MT. Mr Lard, (Home Brew Builder) will supply your needs for what I think are reasonable prices.

[gjs]

Thanks for the replies sbond10 & Dave S.

I used electric and gas with BIAB, albeit with a smaller pot (13 litres) but it worked well - just kept the pot to the right a bit on the burner to keep the flames from licking near the casing around the gubbings from the element (gave heat from opposite sides too). But there would be less to worry about with a 50 litre pot as they are a fair bit wider than the pot I've been using.

I'll drop Home Brew Builder an email/tweet to see how much a 50litre will be with one of the immersion elements as price for that is not stated on the website but they look good (their own design). Any issues with using immersion elements? They sound more suitable than kettle elements as designed to run for a longer period but I read people saying they shouldn't be used due to the 3kw power being near the limit of the maximum 13a, but then others say they are fine.

Incidentally, I tested the thermopot with just hot water from the tap, and I am impressed with the heat retention. I filled it to 3/4 full and waited a few minutes for the temperature to stabilise and then took a reading. It only lost 0.7c in an hour - that sounds good to me (is that good?!). We then took the kids out and I measured it when I got back - it lost only 2c in 3 hours & 10 mins, and then another 0.7c for the next hour after that which was good for consistency.

Cheers again.

Greg

[Dave S]

On thinking about it, you may want to go for a 75 litre pot as you've got a good sized MT. I don't think the difference in price is huge.

On the temperature loss thing, I think if you are losing only 1C in a 90 minute mash it's fine.