West Coast Brewer Home Brewing Blog

Category: Blichmann

Installed New Blichmann RipTide Home Brewing Pump Upgrades

 

I initially purchased my March home brewing pumps about 7 years ago, well before stainless steel homebrew pumps were really a thing. Once stainless pumps became more popular, I considered upgrading, but my existing pumps worked fine and I could not justify the cost.  Then Blichmann released their RipTide home brewing pumps which feature a tri-clamp attached head!!! In my opinion that is a big deal because it allows you to easily gain access to the pump cavity for easy cleaning.  As it stood, I had to rely on hot water and PBW to do all of the cleaning unless I wanted to spend an extra 30 minutes breaking down, clean and then reassembling each of my March pumps; which is really not something I wanted to do after a long day of beer brewing.  The one down side was that a new Blichmann Rip Tide home brewing pump will run you $199+. So I waited…..

Then, Blichmann release the RipTide Upgrade Kit! The Rip Tide Upgrade Kit allows you to upgrade some of the most common existing home brewing pumps to a Blichmann Rip Tide, for just $99. With this RipTide Kit, you can upgrade your March or Chugger pump with the Riptide’s Tri-Clamp housing.  The RipTide’s head is made from stainless steel and can rotate 365 degrees to fit almost any home brewing setup. The kit also comes with Blichmann’s  integral linear flow valve, which provides superior control and eliminates the need for an upper ball valve in must situations.

 

Blichmann Rip Tide Home Brewing Pump Upgrade Kit

Blichmann Rip Tide Home Brewing Pump Upgrade Kit

Here is a list of home brewing pumps that the Blichmann Riptide upgrade kit is compatible with.

More Beer Homebrewing Pumps:

H340, H331, H332, H315HF, H350 and H375

Chugger Homebrew Pumps:

CPSS-CI-1 (115V),CPSS-IN-1 (115V), CPSS-IN-2 (230V), CPSS-CI-2 (230V), CPPS-IN-1 (115V), TCPSS-IN (115/230V) and TCPSS-CI (115/230V)

March Home Brewing Pumps:

809-SS-HS, 809-BR-HS, 809-PL-HS, 809-BR-HS-C, 809-PL-HS-C, 809-SS-HS-C, 809-BR, 809-PL, 809-SS, 809-BR-C, 809-PL-C, 809-SS-C, 815-BR, 815-PL, 815-SS, 815-BR-C, 815-PL-C and 815-SS-C

The Blichmann Riptide Upgrade Kit Can Be Purchased Here for $99

 

After verifying that the Blichmann RipTide Upgrade Kit would work with my current March homebrew pumps, I place my order for two of them.  After placing my order, it took about 8 days for them to arrive. I purchased them from More Beer, but the pumps were shipped directly from Blichmann.

RipTide Homebrew Pump Upgrade Kit

RipTide Homebrew Pump Upgrade Kit

Blichmann RipTide Upgrade Kit Installation Instructions

Next step was to read the instructions (which were relatively simple), make sure I had everything needed (which was just a screwdriver, a couple of wrenches and some PTFE thread seal tape. The instructions from Blichmann came in black and white and unfortunately the contrast made it so that it was difficult to see where the washer was supposed to go, so I included some color photos here to help you out if needed. I began by breaking down my existing march pump per the instructions and removing my existing fittings.  It is important that you just remove the pump head and NOT the magnet collar! The pump head was held on by 4 stainless steel screws in my case.  Here is an image to help:

Blacihmann RipTide Upgrade Instructions

Blacihmann Rip Tide Upgrade Instructions

Next I mounted my home brewing pump on to the included stainless steel pump riser. This was not required in my situation but I like the idea of it because it raised my pump up a couple of inches, bringing it close to my kettles, reducing the amount of tubing that I needed and giving me a little more space to empty the pumps when I had to clear wort from them.  Everyone’s situation is a little different, but it works well on my home brewing rig.  After that you will want to mount the Tri-Clamp adapter bracket on to your pump.  Blichmann includes two sets of screws to use, so make sure that you select the appropriate screws for your pump. Be careful not to over tighten the screws; doing so could crack the bracket or damage the pump. Next, place the impeller housing and the impeller into the pump magnet as shown in the following images:

 

Blichmann Rip Tide Homebrewing Pump Upgrade Instructions

Blichmann Rip Tide Home Brewing Pump Upgrade Instructions

Next is where I nearly had a problem.  Install the pump head o-ring and washer to the stainless steel RipTide pump head.  My first kit was missing the washer and the photo quality on the instructions that came with the kit were so bad, I could not tell if I was suppose to use one of the mounting washers.  Something did not seem right and I would have then been missing a mounting washer, so I checked my second pump kit and could see that there was a smaller washer that was intended for the pump head. It thankfully had two in that box, so all was good.  Here is an image to help you see where to place the o-ring and washer into the Blichmann RipTide pump head:

RipTide Upgrade Kit Installation Photos

RipTide Upgrade Kit Installation Photos

Lastly mount the Blichmann RipTide pump head on to your pump using the include stainless steel 3″ Tri-Clamp and attach any fittings that you may have. The entire process took me approximately 30 minutes per pump to upgrade an re-install onto my home brewing stand. Except for the issue with the washer, it was very painless.  Here are a couple of photos of the Blichmann RipTide homebrewing pumps after they were installed on to my homebrewing rig.

 

Finished Images Of The Blichmann RipTide Pump Upgrade Kit

Blichmann RipTide Home brewing Pumps On My Homebrewing Rig

Blichmann RipTide Home brewing Pumps On My Homebrewing Rig

Close up Image of the Blichmann RipTide Home Brewing Pump

Close up Image of the Blichmann RipTide Home Brewing Pump

After that I tested the RipTide home brewing pumps for leaks and checked to make sure all of the ball valve connections were free from leaks as well.  All was good and I also took a short video in case anyone was curious about the type of pressure or flow rate that you could expect from the RipTide upgrade kit.

Blichmann RipTide Pump Video

 

If you are looking to purchase a Blichmann RipTide Home Brewing Pump Upgrade Kit, they can be purchased here for $99

 

All The Small Things – Notch-Yo Lid

Like with many hobbies, home brewing has a learning curve.  Initially there is a lot of information to take in and many processes to keep track of. In time, you gather knowledge and experience and you master the fundamentals of brewing.  Where home brewing differs from many hobbies is that once you have done so, there are a variety of tangents that you can pursue. For instance you can explore water chemistry and the impacts on different styles of beer, design your own beer recipes and figure out which hops best compliment a specific yeast strain, try different mashing techniques and focus on boosting your brew house efficiency or even build and customize your own brewing hardware. At some point along the way, if you home-brew long enough; what makes your beer unique is all of the small things that you learn, apply in your process and customize along the way.

On the topic of all of the small things, one of the things that I should have done long ago was place a notch in my mash tun lid to accommodate my sparge arm. Prior do doing so I had to leave my lid ajar, allowing heat to escape from my mash tun, requiring my RIMS system to use more energy to compensate.  I am not going to lie, any upgrade or project that requires me to drill into or cut in to one of my stainless steel Blichmann kettles make me a little nervous. After all, the last thing that I want to do is ruin one of my vital pieces of home brewing hardware. The good news is that I almost never use a lid on my Boil Kettle, so if I jacked up the mash tun lid bad enough, I had a backup!

I used three tools for this project, an angle grinder (costs about $30 if you do not already have one), a file to clean up the rough edges and sharp spots and a dremel (or drill) with a fine grinding bit to shape the groves more precisely so that the lid would fit snugly against the sparge arm. Although initially intimidating, it really was not so challenging.  My best advice is to measure conservatively for your initial grinder cut and use the dremel to remove any excess metal. The vertical cuts are easy with the grinder, but the horizontal cut can be challenging if you are not careful. As a final touch I may add a silicone stopper and trim it to fill some of the small gaps that still exist; but even with out that I am very happy with how it turned out! Also, if you are looking for an incredible stainless steel sparge arm, I can not recommend the More Beer Ultimate Sparge Arm highly enough.  I have used it for around 3 years now and it had performed flawlessly.

More Beer Stainless Steel Sparge Arm

More Beer Stainless Steel Sparge Arm

CORNICAL

Blichmann Cornical - Keg Based Homebrewing Fermenter

Cornical Fermenter

Blichmann has done it again! They just released their new Cornical Fermenter based homebrew fermenter. The Cornical is the latest fermentor from Blichmann who has a long history of creating top quality home brewing fermenters. The Cornical is made from two main pieces; the first being a modular home brewing keg with a removable base. The modular design makes cleaning it a snap. The second part of the Cornical is a stainless steel conical bottom that attaches to the keg turning it into a homebrewing fermentor. Unlike most homebrewing fermenter, the Cornical is rated all the way up to 50 psi, allowing a home brewer to carbonate right in the fermenter. When fermentation finished, if desired you can replace the bottom of the keg and serve right from the Cornical. The modular design allows you to use the conical bottom to ferment another batch on a different keg while you drink your first batch!  Here are some of the features of the Blichmann Cornical Home Brewing Fermenter:
  • Built from stainless steel
  • Both a keg and a fermenter
  • Keg made in Italy, Cone and legs made in USA,  assembled in USA
  • Ferment, carbonate, and serve beer from one vessel
  • Modular design to allow use as both a fermenter and a serving keg
  • Removable bottom makes cleaning simple and fast
  • Rotating racking arm with sanitary sampling and racking valve
  • Full 1.5” sanitary butterfly dump valve allows for yeast harvesting and trub clean out
  • Sanitary stainless steel fittings for contamination free beer
  • Pressure capable to 50psi for carbonation and beer dispensing
  • Easy to use lid hatch for dry hopping and secondary additions

For additional information or to purchase a Cornical fermenter, click the following link. MoreBeer offers some of the best prices for Blichmann products like the Cornical and free shipping!

Click Here For More Details Or To Purchase A Cornical Fermenter

Homebrewing Product Information Found At:

HomebrewingDeal.com

#homebrew #homebrewing #homebrewer #beer #brewing #home #brewing #brewer #deal #more #beer #morebeer.com #Blichmann #Cornical #Fermenter #Fermentor #Keg

BrewVision Home Brewing Monitor By Blichmann Engineering

Blichmann BrewVision

BrewVision

New HomeBrewing Product: 3-15-2017
Promotion Details: Blichmann BrewVision $99
New Home Brewing Product Description:

Digital home brewing is the way of the future and Blichmann is making their way in to the marketplace with yet another fantastic home brewing item. Introducing the Blichmann BrewVison! The Blichmann BrewVision wireless home brewing monitoring system is the new brewing assistant from Blichmann Engineering. The BrewVision allows you to track up to 7 sensors in your home brewing setup right from your iphone or ipad. Brew Vision lets you can set alarms and timers based on temperatures and the BrewVision app records all of your data so you can review to see how well you really hit those mash temps. The BrewVision homebrew monitoring system even integrates with BeerSmith home brewing software which allows you to download your recipes straight from the cloud. The intuitive BrewVision Home Brewing Monitoring app helps you focus on your brewing! Some of the functions of BrewVision include monitoring thermometers on a kettle, running timers, viewing recipe information.  Blichmann’s BrewVision puts temperature information, timers, and recipe information into the palm of your hand and provides a fully interactive digital home brew session. The Blichmann Brew Vision home brewing monitoring systems uses bluetooth technology to help you do more and and put the power of BrewVision in the palms of your hands!

 

The BrewVison has an indoor range of about  25 feet and up to 100 feet line of sight range. It is also super accurate with a +/- 0.5F accuracy  range, so you cab be confident your mash and sparge are on target! Blichmann has thought about everything with the BrewVision digital home brewing system. The battery life on this device is 100+ hours using 2 AAA batteries. That means that you can brew about 20 all grain home brewing batches and about 40 extract batches on just one set of batteries.

 

Blichmann’s patent pending BrewVision transmitter and sensor features an exclusive sanitary nut that is easy to clean without removal.  Installation is simple and secure. for brew day status to ensure you’re at your target temps. With the Brew Vision app based monitoring system, you will never miss target temps or hop additions again! The BrewVison Home Brewing App lets you monitor current temperatures and adjust targets. The in app alarm notifies you before reaching target, when out of range, and for boil additions.  You even have all your recipe information at your fingertips with the BrewVision App! You can download recipes directly from BeerSmith cloud or manually enter them to sync with your brew day.  Here are some of the features on Blichmann’s Brew Vision digital home brewing system.

  • Beersmith recipe integration
  • Record your results
  • Can pair up to 7 Brewing Sensors
  • 120 hour battery life
  • 25 foot indoor range and 100 foot outdoor range
  • Reads both Fahrenheit and Celsius
  • Made in the USA

Click the link for additional information or to purchase a Blichmann BrewVision! This item ships free!

Blichamnn Brew Vision Wireless Home Brewing Device