Blichmann Top Tier: Reviews, Pics, Tips, etc.

[bobbytuck]

In the first photo, you see the arrangement of my eHERMS: HLT on top, MLT middle, BK low.

I put one utility shelf up high (beside the HLT) and one low (by the pumps) for my hopback and for the control panel for my pumps and heating elements. You can't see it very well, but the second and third photo includes the two mounted march pumps to the right.

Overall, the Top Tier is *very* substantial. It's big and rock steady. I'll need a step stool to fill the HLT, but I can see into the MLT and BK without a problem.

The shelves and utility shelves slide neatly into the slots and the march pump brackets come with mounting pieces to mount the pumps but also came with metal covers for the open grills in the back of the pumps -- a nice touch.

Overall, it took me about 1.5 hours to assemble the base and legs and then another 2.5 to 3 hours to assemble the shelves, pump brackets, and utility shelves. The trick was fitting everything together in an arrangement that made sense for my workflow and that kept one pump beneath the HLT and MLT and the second pump beneath the BK.

Moving the unit is easier than I thought. I wrapped the two sets of pump cords around the util shelves, removed the kettles, and tipped the whole structure back on its wheels. It moves very easily. It's big and heavy -- but it rolls fine. Just a bit noisy. As I said above, it's more "mobile" than "portable." It can be moved -- and it can be moved by one person -- but I'm thinking about getting some sort of cover to leave it out on the weekends (minus the kettles) just to make it easier to make Saturday and Sunday batches back to back.

Next weekend, I'm going to recut a couple of the hoses and figure out how to attach my Ranco controllers and control panel. Then I'll make sure the pumps work okay -- adjust things if necessary -- and give everything a test run and a good clean. The utility shelves can support up to 50 pounds. The main shelves can support up to 30 gallon kettles. I'm using 15 gallon kettles in the photos above.

I bought a Therminator bracket, too, but I realized it's probably best to simply leave it on the ground -- pump from the BK (or BK+hopback) into the chiller and fermenter.

Plus, I can gravity from the BK into the hopback if I set the Hopback on the lower util shelf and then pump out of the hopback into the Therminator.

What's nice is that the whole thing can be assembled by one person -- shelves, brackets, legs, the whole deal. It's a little tricky to slot the shelving into the tier slots, but it can be done fairly quickly. It took inserting and un-inserting the shelving several times to figure out the arrangement for everything -- probably 45 mins or so of fiddling to figure out what needs to be where based on my workflow.

[elsinore]

My Top Tier was just delivered, and it's true; this thing is massive. Now I get to spend the rest of the day trying to put the damn thing together!

[bobbytuck]

For those of you who have a top tier, how easy would this be to break down for transport in a Honda to take to club brew outs? It seems that you could easily unbolt the shelves and base, fold down the back seat of the car and squeeze everything in. I'm considering one of these (with 20 gallon Boilermakers) and any insights on this possibility would be much appreciated.

If you take off the shelves and/or burners -- and leave the legs on the tier itself -- you can stick the tier and attached legs in the back of a pickup truck. Lifting it up to the truckbed might require another set of hands, but it's do-able.

One issue you'll want to watch out for is losing any of the parts during transport. The way this thing works is that you leave bolts lose until you slide the component on the twin (or single, in the case of the pump bracket) wells in any of the four sides of the tier. Then you tighten everything up when the shelf is where you want it.

The result of this, however, is that it's relatively easy for the screws/washers/bolts to pop out if you're not careful.

A better alternative might be to not detach anything and simply plop the thing horizontally in a pick-up truck bed. It'd be a heavy, heavy lift (especially with burners) -- but this is probably the way I'd do it (knowing how much of a pain it is to slide the shelves out and rearrange things.)

I've got a '03 Ford Ranger with a 6' bed, and this thing would fit right in there -- not elegantly, but it'd fit. (Not sure if I could close the tailgate -- but I might be able to if I fiddled with it a bit.)

BTW -- one positive thing about this "non-portable portability" is that this thing (as has been said many times above) remarkably rigid. It sits hard on the ground -- and stays there. I did some initial hose re-cutting last night -- and had my HLT filled w/15 gallons of water for a test of the heating element and the cord -- and there's absolutely no flexibility in anything. If you assemble it correctly (legs 1.5" inches up from the bottom of the tier) then most of the weight is carried by the tier itself and not the legs -- so as long as the bottom of the tier is flat against your concrete/wood surface -- and you bolted the shelves in properly -- this thing stands incredibly firm.

Obviously, for folks on a single-tier structure this is not a concern -- but with a 3-tier structure you want to know that even with 15 gallon kettles (or 30 gallon max) kettles, the system is not in danger of toppling. This is not -- especially if you keep the center of gravity low by staggering all three tiers and using all four sides of the tier. The pictures (even mine above) probably don't give the proper sense of stability (and massive-ness). I'm guessing that with Keggles the TopTier would look even more massive (and be that much more stable).

[andy77]

Just pulled the trigger. I'll follow with my own Review, Pic, Tip, Etc.

[Kbar]

I imagine kettles and a control panel and pump attached to the t-slots.

I imagine saving a couple hundred bucks and building my own that's customized to my brewing style.

Just sayin'

Yes you can. My company makes similar equipment. I am in a dilemma now. I quoted out the Blichmann system with my division and found myself at MUCH lower a cost than BM for all the goods even after I paid the transfer cost to my division. I am wondering if I should be a competitor to them or not. I can also offer casters vs. fixed legs, and you can use your own burners not buy their $134 burner. More to come!

[Kbar]

For those of you who have a top tier, how easy would this be to break down for transport in a Honda to take to club brew outs? It seems that you could easily unbolt the shelves and base, fold down the back seat of the car and squeeze everything in. I'm considering one of these (with 20 gallon Boilermakers) and any insights on this possibility would be much appreciated.

EWW, that is very doable. Can run 2 30" columns vs, one 72" and asten them with the standard brackets. Break down is easy and makes it mobile.

[elsinore]

[quote="ninetoedbrewing"]Couldn't take a picture during today's brew session, but here is a shot from a previous brew:

Have you had any problems keeping your burners lit? It doesn't matter what I try, the flame goes out. I'm not even trying to run it through a gas manifold yet, just straight from the regulator to the burner. At first I thought it was because they sent me the Natural Gas needle valve by mistake, but yours is the first picture I could find where it also included a needle valve. So frustrating.

[bobbytuck]

Couldn't take a picture during today's brew session, but here is a shot from a previous brew:

Have you had any problems keeping your burners lit? It doesn't matter what I try, the flame goes out. I'm not even trying to run it through a gas manifold yet, just straight from the regulator to the burner. At first I thought it was because they sent me the Natural Gas needle valve by mistake, but yours is the first picture I could find where it also included a needle valve. So frustrating.

Write to John Blichmann (via the comment form on his site) ASAP. He'll make sure you've got what you need to keep the burner lit (especially if it's a defect on the burner itself.) John provides fantastic customer service.