Buffalo boilers

[fermentall]

Hi,I am thinking of purchasing a 40lt buffalo boiler to start AG brewing & wanted to know if they provide a rolling boil or not?.
Is it much of a hassle to fit a ball valve tap & hop strainer (probably of the slotted manifold type)? or is there a better way in anyone's opinion.MTIA : Ken

 

[orange]

I have same boiler but not used it yet but have been told it does a rolling boil without any mods.
I had to enlarge the tap hole to fit a 15mm ball valve.
Hope that helps.

Orange

 

[fermentall]

Thanks orange for the info i just need to know what size hole/q-max cutter etc to fit 1/2" ball tap into boiler? :

 

[Aleman]

20/21mm

 

[fermentall]

: Aleman

 

[robsan77]

buffalo boiler........ dreadlocked brewmaster!

 

[Baz Chaz]

I have a buffalo and its very good, I've insulated mine, its a big surface area and the old camping mat and duct tape works well :thumb:

Yes it does get a good rolling boil going and I would reccomend the 40 ltr one, I just do 23 ltr brews and the spare capacity is useful, in fact brewing again tomorrow or Tuesday

 

[fermentall]

cheers Baz,i remember reading your post when you were waiting for it.At the moment i can get a 40lt boiler delivered to me from Nisbets for £119.00 which i thought was reasonable,hope you have a good brew this week : ken

 

[gurtpint]

Hmm, mine conked out yesterday. The plug fuse was alright. Element/thermostat/power? Hope the shop I'll be taking it to will be able to fix it soon. Had used it a few times already with no trouble.

Anyone else out there with similar incidents w/Buffalo?

 

[Baz Chaz]

Hope you get it fixed quickly and easily :!: let's know how you get on/what the problem was please :idea:

 

[gurtpint]

Hope you get it fixed quickly and easily :!: let's know how you get on/what the problem was please :idea:

It was way quicker than I had expected - in Tuesday morning and out the same afternoon. Great service. The cause of my troubles was the overload sensor. This may have to do with my problems getting a steady simmer. I have to crank the dial up to at least 105 to get any boil at all and when it boils it's really rabid and nearly a third of the wort evaportes during the boil. No way to control it really. I think I'd better get the thermostat checked. How is it with your boiler Baz? Can you simmer?

 

[Baz Chaz]

Glad you got sorted quickly :thumb:

I usually ramp mine up until there's a good rolling boil then notch it back a bit ti simmer and then last 15 mins a full rolling boil again :!: so far no problems, just got my delivery from Rob, @ The Malt Miller this morning, so migjht have a brewing session Tuesday or Wednesday :thumb:

 

[robsan77]

He was a buffalo boiler....

dreadlock mash tun..

 

[gurtpint]

Glad you got sorted quickly :thumb:

I usually ramp mine up until there's a good rolling boil then notch it back a bit ti simmer and then last 15 mins a full rolling boil again :!: so far no problems, just got my delivery from Rob, @ The Malt Miller this morning, so migjht have a brewing session Tuesday or Wednesday :thumb:

Hmm, so you really are able to get a simmer out of yours... It's starting to seem apparent that something's gone amiss with the thermostat of mine. If I try to notch it back just a teeny tiny bit after the wort reached boil it just stops boiling altogether. So basically what I get is a full bloody rolling boil all the way through. I hope the thing lasts for a brew or two more - then my apartment will start getting too warm for fermenting and I'd have plenty of time to get everything checked and fixed before the autumn's brewing season.

Good luck for your next brew! I'm also going to get hops from Malt Miller the next time I need any. His prices seem great.

 

[gurtpint]

He was a buffalo boiler....

dreadlock mash tun..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4Vd2l3g ... re=related
:

 

[judasegg]

gurtpint, I've got the same problem, I have to crank mine to max (110) to get roiling boil (I should call it splashing boil...it splashes up and out, even at the 16 litre mark), and then immediately stops boiling if I go below 100.

That's with water or wort, generally I've kept the lid off. My thermometer read only 98deg when it was going like crazy, but that could be more symptom of thermo than boiler.

I also didn't get a hot break on my first AG with it, I'm assuming because it boils up slowly.

I kept the lid off while boiling, as I didn't want to have hot break overflow...

 

[Baz Chaz]

Have you insulated the boiler at all

I'm quite happy with the performance with the buffallo so far, but I insulated it with a camping mat and duct tape before I used it, have had no problems with rolling boil or steady simmer, in fact very happy with all brews I've made with it :thumb: find the extra (spare) capacity handy, (40 litre) don't splash around as much as I used to

.... I also didn't get a hot break on my first AG with it, I'm assuming because it boils up slowly.

I kept the lid off while boiling, as I didn't want to have hot break overflow...

I've found the boiler gets up to boiling quicker than my old one, again it may be because of insulation :hmm:

 

[judasegg]

Baz,
Do you keep the lid on for the whole boil, or is it open air mostly? I'm surprised from the heat and steam that the duct tape doesn't fail.

Here's a question...I used a permanent marker to mark every 2 litres in my buffalo...then after my first AG, I assume due to the acidity of the wort, the markings are all but gone. I'm a little worried about the ink in my brew, but more concerned about how I can mark the boiler, without scratching markings into the stainless. Through marking, I was able to tell how much wort I collected from mash and sparge, and also how much was lost to the boil, which seemed like beneficial info.

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Rather than mark the boiler, make a dip stick. You can either mark this or use a stick with some notches cut out at suitable intervals.

 

[Fender Precision]

He was a buffalo boiler....

dreadlock mash tun..

Jar ! Rusty Four eyes. :lol: