Buffalo 40L water boiler

[RichardG]

I've been getting the kit together to go AG, and had been looking atboiler options. My birthday was yesterday, and unbeknownest to me, my beloved has got me one of these boilers to use. That's really sweet of her, and I'm desperately hoping it'll work. It's a 2.6Kw version; so, does wnyone have experience of using one of these, and if so, are there any issues I need to be aware of? Alternatively, do I need to bite the bullet and tell her that it won't work? Please not the latter, I don't think I could do it!

[Graham]

It will be fine. You may experience the same issues that people have with Burcos, but they are solvable. 40 litres is a nice size too.

The biggest issue is if it will maintain a rolling boil without cycling on and off, which modern Burcos do not. The Burco thermostat tops out at 95°C, but a bypass switch, or permanently bypassing the thermostat, will solve that.

[RichardG]

Many thanks Graham. I'd heard about the cutting-out issue. I note with interest that the Buffalo I've been bought has a temp dial that goes to 110c, so that may avoid the issue. I'll give a test boil and see what happens. If it cuts out below a rolling boil, I get the impression that it's fairly straight forward to correct this?

[kevron]

hi RichardG,

I have used a buffalo boiler in the past, it had a hidden element so I'm assuming that yours is the same, it works great for boiling the wort but you have to keep the element clean because if you don't you will get a build up of burnt wort on it and it makes the boiler cut out after a few minutes into a rolling boil, thats the only problem that I had with mine. I use mine now for hot water for the mash tun as I use gas and a beer keg as a boiler these days.
good luck with it

[haZe]

I'm just getting all my kit together and managed to reclaim a 20l version of one of these.

Got the element working again but during a quick test it failed to maintain a rolling boil, you'll probably need to by-pass the thermostat as mentioned before.

It did however, get 12l up to 80c in just under 20mins, so my intention is to use it as a HLT as Kevron is.

[RichardG]

Well, it seems the first thing is to fill it with water, set the temp control to max, and see what happens. If comes to a rolling boil, then great. If not, fiddle about and by-pass the thermostat. Now, can anyone point me to a thread about how you do this?

[RichardG]

Well chaps, joyous news! I filled the boiler last night (about half full, so some 15-20 Ltrs), set the temp control to 110c and switched on. The result? A lovely continuous rolling boil. Oh the delight!

[garwatts]

Well done

[RichardG]

Cheers! All I need now is to fashion a hop/grain stopper and an immersion chiller, and I'll be AG! Woo-hoo!!

[danielsan]

Hi all, my first post here.

I'm also looking for a water boiler to use as a copper.

Richard: Is it still rolling boiling well?
There's a 35 litre 3kw Buffalo boiler, anyone tried this one?

Thanks in advance.

[RichardG]

Hi danielsan, sorry for delay in response. Yes, the Buffalo is performing fine so far. Gets to a boil in a decnt time and holds it there no problem. As I think I may have mentioned previously, the temp controller goes up to 110c, which is probably why it works.

[danielsan]

Thanx for the answer Richard!

I'm think this boiler'll be the next upgrade to my equipment.
Here in Spain most of the brewers use a gas burner, but I can't imagine that in my small flat, then I'll go for an electric boiler.. Hope it works better than my Electrim-

Greetings

[jabeoo1]

Thanks to this info on this thread I have grabbed myself one of these boilers today. Bargain £150 for a 40L. Can't wait to start. They sound good! Thanks all for posting about the product. Will repost back anything +ve and -ve !

[jabeoo1]

Is it true the warranty is voided for boiling wort in a water boiler? lol what else are you going to want it for

[jabeoo1]

I just finished a boil session with this buffalo 40L boiler. This thing was well worth the money. It maintained a rolling boil non stop, took around half hour to kick in! The internal exit hole for the tap is very low so only about 1 cm left at bottom when flow stops. It was only £150 quid w/free next day delivery!

I guess saying where it came from would be advertising and a bit naughty but I live in the UK and the price ranged between 150 to 200 plus depending on where you went. A search engine will get you there no problem.

Things to consider. The tap is slow and splashy, so I am going to try and work out how to cool the wort on exit from the tank/tap. (any affordable ideas anyone?). It also has no hop filter, Looks easily adaptable, but may just use a hop bag instead as I guess you risk a leaky seal.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO YOU ALL!!