Pump is really good but not without issues. I am working through them with Blichmann. Overall a powerful quiet pump.
In my humble setup, I need to pump hot liquid up to a 10 gallon Cooler (gravity fed), my Steel head was struggling. Not a problem with this pump.
Issues:
1.) Small rust spot inside outer SS part (Blichmann is sending me a new part)
2.) Assembly/Disassembly is very easy but O Ring is slightly smaller than where it needs to go
and does not always seat right. Can cut the O-Ring during re-assembly if not careful. Once assembled properly, it runs really smooth and quiet.
I have faith in this pump however.
The flow control device is awesome.
You need to pay for that on the other pumps.
Blichmann Rocks.
They sent me the replacement part free of charge and it it is perfect.
Love my new RipTide pump.
Very easy to disassemble and clean and runs quiet and strong.
I had an open weekend so I decided to clean both pumps. See attached pic.
The steel head has about 8 screws needed to dissemble.
I did need to clean it inside, running water through it is not good enough when pumping wort.
Steelhead has a good pump but the RipTide is better.
When comparing costs, include the cost of the added parts that you need to purchase for the Steelhead pump.
I’m attempting a Dark Swan like brew.
My recipe came out to be 1.076 OG after adding a Cabernet concentrate. The 22ish IBUs come mostly from a 3oz hop stand. I will am staggering my yeast with some lambic seconds and champagne yeast
I’ve had my chugger pump apart twice in about 5 years to replace the teflon washer. It was pretty much spotless inside. If i had to take my pump apart to clean it I’d toss it in the garbage.
What I’ve been doing is when I get the grains and scale out I measure up for three beers this way I don’t have to think about what to brew. Trying to brew a lager every other brew. I’ll measure out today. Plum Gose, doppelbock, and Long Trail Ale. Tomorrow I’ll rack the maibock and brew the Pils
I was just transcribing the Long Trail Ale from the BYO magazine and adjusting for my profile and it looked familiar. Basically it’s my Red ESB recipe. For years we drank that stuff when in VT I never knew it was an ESB as far as I know it’s not labeled as such but they call out a London ale yeast in the recipe. They use 2-row and wheat where as I use MO and a touch of flaked oats. We shall see .
I reread the BYO article on Long Trail and they call it an altbier. I guess you can call your beer whatever you want. But doesn’t an altbier use a special cold fermenting ale yeast. The recipe calls for a London ale yeast fermented colder under 8psi. Now im confused
What you don’t know won’t hurt you then right? lol.
Guess it depends if you pump water or wort (sugar) through it.
I would be concerned if your pump is being used for chilling/whirl-pooling just before fermentation.
But if you pump boiling wort through right before then you are ok.
I agree, cleaning the pump should not need to be done after every session.
My steel head had some black build up on the propellers. I used to just run water through it to clean it.
The Rip Tide had rust from some very small metal imperfections in the SS part. I call them and had it replaced under warranty. The replacement part is perfect. The Riptide is so easy to take apart so if pumping wort, I will probably clean it more frequently as I am now making NEIPAs and use it for whirl-pooling hop additions and chilling.
But this is a What’s Brewing channel so
Beer Frig:
Tap Left - Mosaic Promise Clone
Center Tap - Stout - Nice and Chewy recipe that I got from sneezles61 (Awesome)
Right Tap - Vienna IPA - inspired by Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA
Keezer: (need to dry hop both batches this weekend, then they enter the Keezer)
Ryecoe IPA Clone
Rye DIPA - 2nd half of 10 gallon batch where I added more Corn Sugar and a ton of hops (my evil beer, >100 IBU)
Sneezles61