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Experience with the SD Bain-Marie Boilers?

edited January 2014 in Usage

Anyone using one of these? I'm considering the 1000L with agitator topped with an 8" bubble plate Dash.

  • Is the agitator heavy duty enough to do thick mashes, i.e. all corn or all rye?
  • What has been your average boil up time with the 5 elements?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

mtn

Comments

  • 1000L???

    I have a 380L with agitator in route to me right now. It has 5 element holes and i plan on putting 5500 watts in each one. I've heard a good rule of thumb is to have ~300 watts per gallon to have around a 1 hour heat up time. So i'll be a hair under that guideline but it should still be very manageable.

    I can't vouch for the agitator yet but i am curious about that as well. hopefully it has some good power for that purpose but for reason i seem to remember in the dozens of emails between @Lloyd and @Smaug and i, i remember a rating of .5KW output at 220v.... So around a half a horse? it has a gear reduction so plenty of torque i would think.

    As far as the 8" column goes @RedDoorDistillery could shed some light on that at least with perf plate information.

  • edited January 2014

    1000L BM A?
    Here is a 500L BM A and it should be about half way to @Smaug by now.

    image

    The first two on the left are 1000L S A (steam jacketed with agitator).

    image

    500L BM A.JPG
    800 x 450 - 64K
    1000L S A.JPG
    800 x 450 - 62K
  • Rumor has it SD will offer a 1000L BM. I hope i'm not letting anything out of the bag. For the price/volume, it is a good buy. I plan to use elements at first, once we have some cash flow I can easily move over to LP steam with the same setup. My current concern is the agitator. Spec's on others i've seen have been in the multiple horse power, but those might have been direct drive. Gearing can do wonders. I'd be interested to hear about your experience once it shows.

    mtn

  • Sure hope 12" bubble plates are in the works too! :)

  • That is top secret.

  • And 20" plates is VERY top secret!

  • I love the idea of larger column sizes coming down the pipeline. Makes it easier to pull the trigger as a startup knowing upgrades are around the corner.

  • ^^^^^ Agreed, 12" and 16" columns are very enticing to me for sure!

  • They certainly are fantastic looking boilers!

    What does the "BM" stand for?

    Big Mutha...........?

  • Sorry, that's SD (StillDragon) shorthand or code for:
    BM = bain marie
    A = agitator
    S = steam jacketed

    Three 40' containers in the last 2 months or so were sent to USA and it was mostly boilers, we started using shorthand to describe them.

  • Hey @Lloyd, from the pictures above, the 1000L BM doesn't seem to have any element ports. Is that how they come?

  • edited January 2014

    @Mtnmann said: Hey Lloyd, from the pictures above, the 1000L BM doesn't seem to have any element ports. Is that how they come?

    The 1000L jobbies are steam jacketed, not BM. The 500L jobbies are BM and come with element ports :ar!

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • how happy are users of BM when changing them to LP Steam? Would they do it again or suggest going straight to steam even if it means waiting... of course if you are using direct electric, corn mash would be a bit tough...

    anyone thought of a steam with electric ports so you could start with electric until you get a boiler set up?

  • That's my understanding of how these things work. I believe they are just steam jacketed pots with element ports fitted to them? Blank off the ports and you're back to steam only. Rough quotes i'm getting for a steam boiler are around $30k installed for 500,000 btu. I'd love to be able to push that cost down the road if i could. I'm a bit sad that the 1000L doesn't come with element ports...

  • Talk to your rep mate, i'm sure he can accomodate you.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • "I'm a bit sad that the 1000L doesn't come with element ports..."

    Sorry I don't understand. We certainly have element ports installed. Am I not understanding?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited January 2014

    @punkin said: The 1000L jobbies are steam jacketed, not BM. The 500L jobbies are BM and come with element ports

    I took this to mean the 1000L aren't set up for dual use (BM/steam).

  • edited January 2014

    Sorry mate, i just meant the ones in the picture. You can see the steam jacket ones have a thinner jacket. The bain marie type ones have a sump. Larry will get em however you want em.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • You bet, if you want a 1000L BM we can do that.
    The 1000L steam jacketed with agitator shown above was made for a customer's order. The other is a spare and will be available for sale in a couple of weeks when it arrives in USA. Because of the big lag in delivery time due to the holiday here, we tried to load up on boilers before the holiday.

    Bain Marie style is more expensive to produce than steam jacketed but you are correct in that they can be easily converted to steam.

  • can you do steam with ports for direct electric?

  • Looks like the BM element ports are horizontal. Do they extend under the inner tank or up to the inner tank? I thought on a previous iteration the ports were vertical? Do I remember wrong? What are the advantages/disadvantages of vertical/horizontal element ports?

  • @jbierling said: Looks like the BM element ports are horizontal. Do they extend under the inner tank or up to the inner tank? I thought on a previous iteration the ports were vertical? Do I remember wrong? What are the advantages/disadvantages of vertical/horizontal element ports?

    With this new layout, more of the element surface will be exposed to the heating medium surface.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • @Mtnmann - I have an acquaintance that got 40k, 24, 18k as quotes for his boiler for his brewery, ajax natural gas, about 700k btu/20HP.. then he found a guy that did it for $9k... obviously that is the guy I am going to be using... so shop around..

  • edited February 2014

    @CothermanDistilling said: Mtnmann - I have an acquaintance that got 40k, 24, 18k as quotes for his boiler for his brewery, ajax natural gas, about 700k btu/20HP.. then he found a guy that did it for $9k... obviously that is the guy I am going to be using... so shop around..

    Are you saying the boiler was 9k or the installation?

  • new boiler for 9k installed...

  • @CothermanDistilling said: new boiler for 9k installed...

    Wow. That's awesome.

    I'm working at a 20HP boiler installation right now and I'd be happy to get one installed for less than $30k.

    Does the $9k include piping, feedwater/condensate return unit, blowdown tank, water treatment, condensate return pumps, relief valves, valves, etc.?

  • That seems like a screaming deal, $9K for 20HP installed? Spread that guy's contact details around. I'd use him and even pay for his flight out here.

  • I am waiting for the guy to call me, I am assuming it did not include piping to his brew system, but he did get the high estimates too... most boiler guys think 20hp is tiny, they are used to 200HP... I was ignoring steam until I heard how cheap this new brewery got their setup...

    Pair O' Dice Brewing - Photos @ Facebook

    down a ways there is one of the burners going, and down a bit further there is one of it getting installed..

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