Customer Reviews

Wow! Review by Jason

Rating

This took wort at 210 deg to 62 at full flow(gravity fed). Very nicely put together. I'm very pleased. (Posted on 5/5/13)

Coolest thing ever Review by beaufort

Rating

This thing is amazing. I watched the wort go through flawlessly from 208f to 72f in about five minutes.

No copper coil immersion instrument can accomplish that rate of cooling. And the risk of bacterial contamination is drastically reduced as you aren't fiddling with a coil at low temps. Just standing over semi-cool wort holding a coil gives me the creeps that something will contaminate the wort.

The Therminator eliminates that to a very large degree.

Love it! 10 stars! (Posted on 2/22/13)

Amazing Product Review by zerbrewer

Rating

This is an incredible product. Wort goes in boiling hot and comes out cold. You could touch the front of the plate and it would burn your hand, while the back was cold. It chilled the wort to about 50 degrees in under ten minutes. Easy to clean and simple to use. Amazing product. (Posted on 3/19/12)

Absolutely Awesome Review by Rick in Atlanta

Rating

After spending an evening with my son in law stirring ice water around a pot of hot wort a few months back, I decided to find a better way. Saw the ad for the Therminator and took a chance. Just tested it in conjunction with a leak test on the electric brewing system. Fed 11 gallons of boliing water into it as fast as I could and the output was at a solid 68 degrees! Never seen anything like it. I can go directly to the dermenter, aerate, pitch and close it up. No stirring in a tub of ice water, no pouring from the pot into a funnel to the fermenter, far less chance of infection and a quicker turn-around. Worth at least twice what I paid for it. (Posted on 2/28/12)

WOW that's a quick cool-down Review by Chuck

Rating

Ok can I just sing the praises of the Therminator. I took my Wort from boil - 69 degrees in a wide open gravity pour from my boilermaker I cannot say enough good things about it.
All the time I wasted before swirling ice around a bathtub. (Posted on 2/21/12)

extraordinarily effective but not flawless Review by schematix

Rating

I use this chiller to bring my 10 gallon batches down to 65F in around 10 minutes using ice cold water. I fill a cooler with 20-30lbs of ice (depending on tap water temp; varies seasonally) and about 10 gallons of water. I then use a standard utility pump to push the water through the water side of the Blichmann.

As long as I use ice water I have had very rapid and successful chilling. I have experimented using 60F hose water directly from the tap and wasn't unable to get anything below 90F. I don't doubt it could happen but I bought this unit so I don't have to wait half an hour to chill 10 gallons of wort.

There are 2 main drawbacks I find with this unit that I find to be minor, but you should be aware of:
1. If you use pellet hops and don't whirlpool/settle/filter the trub, you will have a good chance of clogging this unit. The only way to unclog it is to back flush the unit.
2. This thing is nothing short of a hassle to keep sanitary. It is absolutely impossible to dry the unit out. Even weeks after the last brew it still drips water when tilted back and forth. After getting a few twangy batches of beer I now boil the unit for 15 minutes the night before. When I do this there is a pile of hops that come out (and I do back flush several times after every single use.) This has solved the twangy beer problem though.

I would highly recommend this for 10 gallon batches but I have heard a lot of people having success with a Jamil whirlpool immersion chiller as well.

(Posted on 1/24/12)

Exceeded my High Expectations Review by XPLSV

Rating

I had high expectations for this chiller when I finished my research and decided to make the purchase. The results exceeded my expectations! First use was in the fall months in Colorado, so my water supply was pretty cold...but even on my first try, the wort was going into the fermentor at 62 degrees F. I used a Blichmann Thrumometer in my setup and a generic pinch clamp to control the flow of the wort. I had also purchased Blichmann quick-connects. I did thoroughly clean the Therminator following my brewing session, using the instructions provided by Blichmann and the optional backflush hose assembly (yes, you could build this yourself from parts readily at Home Depot...but the savings versus the convenience is probably a wash). Cleaned up nicely and I have no doubt this product will last a long time and continue to give great results when given the proper care. (Posted on 12/22/11)

6 Stars if I could! Review by Don

Rating

Wort 200 F. I opened the cooling water (58 F) valve and then the wort valve (half way) using a March Pump and then checked the thrumometer and saw the temp was....58 F. Wait, I wanted to ferment at 70 F (Carabou Slobber)....I quickly opened the wort valve full open and recheck the thrumometer...63 F...yikes....The fermenter is full shut the wort valve off.......I didn't time it, but I ended up with wort that was around 62 F in what I think was less than 3 minutes. Clean up was not as bad as I had thought (Posted on 12/5/11)

not hard to clean Review by Mike C

Rating

use hop bags and it's no problem to clean. fastest and easiest way to chill period. (Posted on 7/9/11)

Chills boiling wort to pitching temps as fast as you can drain/pump though it Review by Tony

Rating

I am 100% satisfied with the Therminator. I read quite a few mixed reviews and plate/counterflow chiller arguments but decided to go with the Therminator and couldn't be happier. I used it this past weekend and was able to chill wort straight out of the boil kettle and into my fermenter as fast as I could pump the wort through the chiller. I would highly recommend adding a SS Coupling, 1/2 SS 1inch nipple, SS Tee and a 1/2inch thermometer to the Wort out side, this way you can tell the temp of the wort coming out and adjust your water and/or wort flow as needed to get to yeast pitching temp.

Cleaning is a pain but I feel the fact i can pump straight into my fermenter MORE than makes up for the cleaning. Be sure to use the backflush immediately after use to pump any excess wort left in it (there is more than you think in there) and to help clean it out. I also soaked in PBW overnight, backflushed again, then put in the oven for 2hrs at 400 to boil off any water left inside.

Also prior to use, make sure you have all the connections needed to hook up to this. Luckily I had a garden hose disconnect handy when I went to use it because most garden hoses have a male connector on the end, where as the therminator needs a female connector to hook up to it. You can easily find these disconnects at home depot/hardware store. (Posted on 4/26/11)

Not gelling but Chilling Review by kitemanks

Rating

The therminator was a welcome addition to my brewery. The wort temperature was lowered quickly and efficiently by this compact item. Quick disconnects on every connection are definately needed. I bought some garden hose quick disconnects at Lowe's. You will also find that you need a pre-filter. After going through filter bags for a pre-filter, I bought the hop blocker, and then the hop infuser. If you don't have a hop blocker with a blinchmann don't sweat it, but you will want the hop infuser to use as a pre-filter. It works a milllion times better than anything else I've tried. Either make your own or buy one. Pack it with hops or torn up coffee filters. (Posted on 1/30/11)

Super Coooool Review by D-Rock

Rating

I used this for the first time w/ the hop rocket as a prefilter. Everything worked great. Had one problem though. My chill water was too cold and wort was chilled down to 38 deg. whoops. Had to let it warm UP to pitching temps. Cleaning is easy, just follow the directions to a T and you'll be just fine. My only legit gripe is that for the high cost of the unit it should come w/ the fittings of your choice. (Posted on 1/7/11)

Huge Time Saver! Review by Matthew

Rating

This and a Blichmann Boilermaker were the first specialized pieces of equipment I bought after upgrading from starter kits. Not having any specialized equipment to chill your wort is a major pain! Now, with the added time for AG brewing and 10 gallon batches using this in conjunction with a pump to save time and a lot of heavy lifting, I would not consider brewing without a Therminator.

I wash (and back wash) with PBW, rinse and sanitize with Iodophor and drain. I’ve always just let it air dry, probably not the best thing. But, I have used it for about 55-60 batches and never had a bad batch.
(Posted on 11/10/10)

Awesome, but requires some preventative mnx Review by HMC

Rating

Easily the best chiller I've ever used. So glad I have it versus the standard immersion type. I use mine in conjunction with a pump, and with moderately cold water, I can easily get 5 gallons of 200+ degree wort to ale-pitching temps (65-75 degrees) in as little as 5 minutes. During one cold winter brew, I actually got the wort to lager-pitching temps in the same time. Amazing.

On blockage...I don't doubt it, but I use whole hops exclusively, and with a false bottom at that, so it's never clogged on me. I would be hesitant to use this thing with pellet hops, and if you did, make sure to use some type of filtering device to keep them out.

Bottom line with this thing, you MUST keep be vigilant in keeping it clean.

Even when using whole hops and a false bottom, I still have some particle exit the chiller when back flushing.

Here's my recommend cleaning procedure. I've been used this thing for over 30 brews now and I've never had an infection. Use the same procedure before and after each use.

1. Soak in hot PBW (or a similar solution) for a couple of hours or overnight.

2. Use back flush assembly (see my review to make your own) to clean further/rinse out PBW solution. I usually let it run for about 5 minutes, each side.

3. Sanitize by baking (yes you read that right), in an oven at 350 degrees for 90 minutes. Don't worry, it will not hurt it, and the oven will dry it out thoroughly and kill any potential baddies living in it in the process. Just make sure to have the holes upright (as written on the unit).

I guess you could sanitize by soaking in a Star-San solution, but I find baking works very well and there's no need to worry about getting all of the liquid out.
(Posted on 11/2/10)