John Blichmann is as near to a homebrewing engineer saint as one can get, so please be advised this is not an attack–merely a question I keep asking myself, so I thought I’d quiz the forum.
Why are the boilermaker brewpot bottoms so silly thin?
Yes, the pots are notable for their stiffness and durability as well as build quality and features at an incredibly light weight. True and true. But why no sandwiched core to distribute direct fire heat and minimize scorching? That’s worth a little more weight in my book.
I can’t tell if the generation 2 pots are thicker, but they don’t advertise their bottoms as having any enhancement. Bummer.
Hmmm, I was hoping for a bit of community therapy. Starting with a bunch of yeah-I-know-what-you-mean’s and maybe going somewhere useful, like suggestions of heat dispersal solutions and who knows what. Cheers.
From spike brewing regarding why they do not sell clad kettles.
Q: DO YOU SELL TRI-BOTTOM KETTLES / DO THESE KETTLES HAVE AN ALUMINUM SANDWICHED CORE?
A: No! We actually used to sell the ‘tri-bottom’ kettles but after testing and customer feedback we stopped selling them. Somewhere the rumor got started that the tri-bottom kettle is the way to go for brewing; it’s not true. Based on our testing, our 1000’s of satisfied customers and other companies that offer kettles we’ve concluded that a tri-bottom kettle is more marketing ploy than functionality. These tri-clad bottom kettles are meant for kitchens making thick soups, sauces and stews that tend to scorch. They cost more and weigh much more than a single layer kettle that was designed for brewing. The only real benefit of a tri-clad kettle is if you want to use it for induction heating.
I have kettles that are both tri-clad bottoms and regular stainless bottoms… both work great with no scorching. I also have some really cheap stainless kettles that are extra thin… There is extreme scorching using those. So it really does depend on the thickness of the stainless… If you can’t deform the pot with your hands and the bottom is the same thickness I would say your fine… If you can deform the pot with your hands then it will likely be able to scorch your wort. Very scientific I know
From what I’ve seen from people that have the blichmann pots they do not seem to scorch anything.
Soo… according to their website http://rapidramen.com/ it takes three minutes. Maybe it’s because 1 is half of 1/2 and they’re dividing by half of half - so dividing by 1? Right?
Id wager you dont get as much of that “cooked ramen” taste that can happen with a lot of noodles in a long boil. thats why a lot of the craft ramen places are moving towards adding most of the noodles towards the end of the boil, this limits the chance of that happening.
While I am not a huge fan of the guy who runs Spike Brewing, he does have a point. The 27-quart Vollrath stock pot from which I built my 3.5-gallon batch size kettle has a tri-ply, induction-ready bottom. I also own American-made Polar Ware 321BP (8 gallon) 361BP (10 gallon) factory manufactured brewing kettles that only have single-ply bottoms. The Polar Ware kettles are more efficient kettles when it comes to heating wort. In fact, they are significantly more efficient when it comes to heating wort.
From the FAQ in the Boilermaker section of Blichmann’s site:
Do I need a clad bottom?
Clad bottoms are great for cooking viscous foods like spaghetti or gravies, especially on an electric stove. Because these foods don’t convect like thinner liquids (such as beer wort), scorching is more likely. With the full rolling boil of a wort boil, and the use of a gas/propane burner, scorching is not an issue, even on the lightest worts. Our research and development team has thoroughly tested the BoilerMaker™ pots on high-BTU burners with very light beers (Koelsch, Pils, etc.) and experienced no discoloration or scorching whatsoever. While the clad bottoms look impressive, they add cost, but no real benefit, to the brewer. Because we designed the BoilerMaker™ from a clean sheet, we added cost only where it added specific benefits to the brewer. The stepped bottom, quality level gauge, adjustable BrewMometer™, and snap-in dip tube are a few examples.
I use 3 of the Morebeer type kettles (from various sources), each with the triclad bottoms. All work great and I have not scorching. As for the cost, they are less than the comparable boilermakers despite having the more robust bottom sections. I direct fire my MLT with a Blichmann Tower of Power. So it’s extra insurance there as far as I’m concerned.
Thanks for the post. Yeah, I’ve never had a problem with wort boils, but using the Blichmann as a direct-fire mash tun can be a whole different story. Flame restraint is crucial.
I love those heavy duty MoreBeer pots as well. Armored vehicles of the brewing vessel world.