Blichmann brewing equipment cost

Blichmann pricing seems to be consistent across many retailers. I was told that Blichmann sets the price for their product, that's why you will almost never see it on sale.

I prefer stainless steel ball valves. I enjoyed the process of shopping for and putting together my mash tun. Glad I didn't buy it pre-fabbed.

 

Blichmann products tend to be pricey. Though I believe that, in Blichmann's case, you get what you pay for. it's really nice stuff.

But Yikes!

You can get a converted 15 gal keggle for about 1/3 of the price of that BoilerMaker. Add $10 for a thermometer, a bit more for a false bottom or other filtering device, skip the sight glass, and you've saved about $300.
$25 for a 23 jet wok burner paired with a $30 tool stand from Harbor Freight and you've got your floor burner
$100-ish for a Duda plate chiller
You're in the right ballpark for the mash tuns.

I just saved you $535 without even trying, just by sacrificing some pretty.

 

This! You'll be just as happy with this setup. I wish I would've purchased 2 generic banjo style burners over the Blichmann, which is essentially a generic banjo burner with a fancy stainless casing. Also, CHECK CRAIG'S LIST!!! I got a 16.5 gall stainless pot for $75. I added about $80 worth of weldless fittings (sight glass, bulkhead/3 piece ball valve, 2" Blichmann Thermometer) and I have a beautiful/massive kettle for just over $150. I have purchased almost all of my equipment off of craig's list. It is the bee's knees. (please disregard this message if you live in the Baltimore/DC area)

 

If its been a while since the last time you brewed and you might could be a little rusty...you just might want to e-a-s-e your way back into the sport without going whole hog overboard on hardware only to end up trying to unload it next year in a Craigslist fire sale.

 

I use this:
http://www.sears.com/thunder-group-...-SPM6309789905?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1
I can't say how it compares to a Blichmann in terms of efficiency. This one uses Natural Gas, so I really don't care about efficiency as long as it's hot enough (it's a monster in that respect). If your budget can handle the fuel cost, this is also available in propane for the same price.

An oldie but a goodie:

 

actually if i were to recommend one thing on that list over the others, it would be the burner. I have had several burners over the years, and nothing performs like the blichmann burner. Very quiet, sips propane and transfers heat to the pot unlike any other burner i've used so that I can get 13 gallons to a boil quickly. While the bayou is cheap...to me, they're cheap for a reason. Components like the valves & hosings of those bayou burners are generally shitty grade. Would say they're good for maybe 5-10 years. Mine lasted maybe 6 years and the last two years were headaches.
Putting together your own pot is a fun project. I've put together two and though I love my boilermaker as I mash tun, I could be almost as happy with one of my homemade pots in place of the boilermaker as my boil kettle.

 

I have the Brewmometer (thermometer) and burner from Blichmann. The brewmometer is mounted on a port on my 15 gallon brew kettle; it's very handy to have continuous monitoring of wort temperature, especially as the wort cools. A nice feature of the burner is that it is easily mounted onto a stand, as shown below. This setup is very stable.

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On what planet does a brass ball valve cost $35?! They are like $8 at home depot.

I agree with some of the above posts urging the OP to go with a bayou classic burner. Blichmann may be worth it for some stuff, but they are straight up ripping you off on those burners.

 

I've got a Blichmann burner and love it, haven't used any others so I have no real way to compare.

If you've got the money why not buy all the Bilchmann stuff you want to. I guess it's a matter of preference. Some are better at DIY than others. I get that you've got to have a certain minimum level of mechanical aptitude in order to fully enjoy this hobby but I'm not entirely interested in building everything from scratch. I bought my 10 gallon Igloo mash tun fully assembled and love using it. Sure I could have put it together from parts but I didn't want to.
Cheers!

 

Surely, you will acknowledge that nearly $700 for a kettle and burner is a bit on the high side? You can buy ready made, high quality components for less than half that price - no DIY necessary. As I alluded to above, Blichmann products are excellent quality. They're just overkill, IMO. I wouldn't buy a Rolls Royce just because I can afford it. (I can't, BTW)

 

To put this in perspective: The Rolls Royce Ghost is their "entry-level" model that carries a price tag around $250,000.

For this price you could get 17,241 4-paks of Heady Topper
or
13.896 750mls of St Bernardus 12
or
35,765 12ozers of Goose Island Bourbon Coffee Stout

So where's the nearest Chevy dealer?

 

Blichmann is pricey but you do get what you pay for. Due to costs I did mine in parts. I started my AG setup with the Blichmann Top Tier stand. Then got the 3 burners and now I'm figuring out pot sizes. While it was expensive I am happy with the Blichmann burners and setup/products.

 

Do tell...what products from Blichmann are worth their coin?

comparable Bayou is $100 vs. blichmann's $150. $50 extra for a burner designed for stability, efficiency, durability and wind resistance as well as top of the line components. Pretty sure I paid off that difference in one year brewing.

 

From what I can see, the stand is the only thing blichmann makes on that unit. The burner, regulator, ect are all the same parts that bayou or anyone else uses (seems like there may not be many manufacturers that make that sort of thing). If you think the stand is worth the extra $50 (and I'll admit it is a nice stand) then there you go, but I don't buy that it is vastly more efficient because they mounted the parts in a different stand. I know they say it is, but by far the most important factor in an efficient gas flame is the operator and how they set the fuel air mixture (something a lot of people get way wrong on these propane turkey frier burners) so I am a bit skeptical of their data.

Honestly, Blichmann and bayou are kind of both ripping you off on the stand, since you can get a regulator, hose, and cast iron burner for about $40. Of course then you need to build a stand and at that point you might as well be building a brew sculpture, but when you are talking blichmann prices you probably should be at least considering going all the way and building a sculpture of some sort anyway.

For my money the only thing they make that is really worth what they charge is the beer gun. It works well and it's reasonably priced. They make a lot of other stuff that's clever, but either way too expensive or just brewery bling in my opinion.

 

Thanks for responding nick.
So the problem as i see it is perception versus reality. Most people look at the price tag and then see a comparable model for so much less (see here) and assume they can do it just as well as blichmann at a fraction of the cost. But notice the reviewer who actually did the math and found out that burner is only putting out 27,000 btus. Notice the shitty air shutter. I'm not sure exactly the engineering that went into blichmann's burner, but what i do know is that it has by far the best needle valve i've ever used. Also the air/gas mixture was easy to dial in with their air shutter and the 72,000 btus that blichmann quotes transferring from source to sink i believe. I have another banjo burner and I can tell you it doesn't come close to transferring 72,000 btus at full power. When I'm at boil with 13 gallons, it's amazing how much I can dial back the flames on the blichmann burner. Also I love the platform with the customizable brackets to make sure your pot is centered and stable over the flame.
I've got my own counter pressure filler i built so never used the blichmann beergun, but have heard good reviews. That said, i built it at a fraction of the cost and am very happy with it. Yes, there is definitely bling factor with blichmann stuff, but what I gotta give them props for is that they back up their high price tag with quality, well engineered products.

 

I do not have the Blichmann burner. I have a bayou something or other, sp-14? I don't know the specifics. it works great. the flame boils wort like it is supposed to. it is cast iron. cast iron rusts, quickly. I lose a little bit of the burner every time it is moved. eventually it will be nothing more than compressed rust and will need to be replaced. I think I have maybe another year, maybe two. but it was rather cheap.

stainless steel on the other hand, now that is a good idea for another $50.
just my two cents.

 

I've got to agree that Blichmann puts his name on some mighty fine products. Arguably, they may be worth every penny you pay for them. And how do you put a price on bling?

My take on it is that bling is overrated in what is, essentially, a DIY endeavor. The ghetto look of my keggle and home-built burner stand adds to the charm, IMO. In terms of BTUs delivered to the kettle, my $25 wok burner takes 13 gals of wort from sparge temp to boiling in about 5 mins - definitely not a problem.

 

I didn't realize that the blichmann burner came with a needle valve, that alone is a nice feature and I don't think the bayou burners usually have one. The bayou floor burners I used to have had adjustable regulators, which could be used to control the flame, but an actual needle valve does the job way better.

I built a brew stand and used these http://bayouclassicdepot.com/bg10_cast_iron_burner.htm for burners. Plenty of power for a 10 gallon batch and a great value, but needle valves are a must to control the flame.