Buffalo or Burco?

[wagum]

Morning guys. I have finally got some money together to get myself an electric boiler for some BIAB and have narrowed it down to two the Burco Cygnet 30l and the Buffalo 40l and was looking for a bit of advice which to go for?
Cheers 🍺🍻

 

[MyQul]

Im sure the forumites will soon wade in to help you answer you question but have you done a forum search on these two bits of kit to start your research? I've just done a quick one and there's a lot of threads on these boilers :thumb:

 

[wagum]

I have but there was so much info i thought i would ask on here because you all seem to be a helpful bunch

 

[aamcle]

quality burco wins but if your doing 23 litre batches then you need the extra 10 litres, so it depends on your batch size.

aamcle

 

[dps51]

I also could not make up my mind so I did a few searches on this forum also on the web and youtube
and I landed up buying a ace system

 

[wagum]

I unfortunately need to get it from Amazon as that is where my vouchers i got given from work are for and i am not sure that they do the ace

 

[mr_bridger]

I had this exact same quandary last week. Went for the 40L buffalo, purely for the volume, and the fact so many mods​ posts and videos about. And it was delivered quick through Amazon. 👍

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[wagum]

I keep going back and forth between the two but think i might be leaning towards the Burco. Let us know how you get on with the buffalo

 

[mr_bridger]

Just looking to swap the tap over today, the hole is a fair bit higher than expected so fair bit of dead space. (Pics of the old variant had it much lower it seems) Can always tilt it over a tad tho when emptying. Or i may just put another hole lower down.
Interested to know if anyone has a burco how high the standard tap is from the bottom.

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[Bigcol49]

Just looking to swap the tap over today, the hole is a fair bit higher than expected so fair bit of dead space.

Hi!
I recently converted a 20l boiler to use as a HLT. I left the original tap in place and cut a new hole for a ball valve tap using a Qmax cutter.
The problem with some boilers is that the shape of the tap hole is not circular.

 

[mr_bridger]

Yeh, i see that too, I'm going to enlarge the hole for now, and then maybe cut a hole lower at a later date, as i managed to get a 16mm qmax for the 3/8 pipe for my old pan, but no 21mm for the 1/2 pipe i want on the boiler in stock so ordered one in.

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[Grizzly299]

I Do 20 litre batches regularly in a 30L Cygnet. I have a three vessel system though. X2 Burco Cygnet Urns and a SS mash tun. Works a treat!

They tap holes are not circular, however if you use a flanged locknut it's not a porblem.

 

[wagum]

In the end i went for the Burco as it was slightly cheaper and should be big enough for what i need.

 

[wagum]

The Burco seems to be working well. I did a test with 10l of water and it kept a rolling boil for an hour with no mods

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[Fore]

Similar question on another thread, here my reply...I guess we all sing the praises of the one we have, and I've only ever had one to experience. But I bought my 40l Buffalo a few years ago and it works like a dream. Refitted tap & Bazooka. I did the research and modded the cut-out switch and the fuse (upped, not removed). Still had some cutting out; turned out to be the thermostat topping out, so I moved the temp gauge away from the element and now, on rolling boil, the thermostat clicks about half way through the dial travel, so nowhere near topping out. I should mention that the element, supposedly 2.6 kW, seemed to struggle to reach a rolling boil. In hindsight I was probably being picky, but I did add an extra 1.5 kW element. So if it is working to full wattage, it's a 4.1 kW unit. I could probably get away with running only the main concealed element, but I run both for a rapid start and strong rolling boil, and get 19% boil off in 75 minutes. Clean-up is a doddle. I use just a sprinkle of powdered citric acid in as little water as possible, leave a few minutes, and everything wipes off like new. The pain was the initial modding, but in use it's great.

 

[wagum]

27L test also went well with no problems (apart from the condensation running down the walls)