Gas steam boiler manufacturer recommendations?

[Gary Gulley]

Greetings all,

I have a 20 bbl brewhouse on the way early next year and am looking for a gas powered low pressure steam boiler. I've looked through all the posts I could find on steam boilers here. I've talked to Columbia, Ajax and about to talk to Rite.

I've heard mixed reviews on Rite including time to boil and reliability. Columbia seems to be very high quality and $$$ to match. Any experiences with these are other manufacturers? Like most of you I'm looking for a good steam boiler without breaking the bank.

Thanks a bunch in advance,

Gary Gulley
Panic Brewing
Chicago, IL

gary.gulley@panicbrewing.com

http://panicbrewing.com

[TGTimm]

We're on our second Columbia WL 90 15 PSI boiler. Ours has a 1.25 MBtu burner set up for propane. We're very happy with it--fast boils and good consistent temps. The boiler heats a 20 bbl kettle equipped with a calandria and jacket.

The fist one was purchased used from a brewer in a coastal city and died from corrosion after only ten years in use by us. Hopefully our new one will last much longer with good water treatment.

One lesson we learned: don't build the boiler room around the boiler! Fortunately, our boiler room had one non-bearing wall large enough to cut out and allow us to replace the boiler. RPITA.

[Starcat]

Boilers

If you are going for long term I would have nothing less than a Scotch Marine style modulating fire boiler.
The right unit put in correctly will be indestructable and last forever.
They are a lot more tolerant of water hardness and so forth. You still need the right water chemistry additions.
I avoid the Cleaver Brooks brand.
There are many other good ones.

[beerguy1]

We use a lattner 25 HP boiler its low pressure. We use a valve to slow down the steamon the side jackets its works great to control the rate of boil. Just tore it down for a state inspection after 2.5 years and no sediment in it at all. We use an automatic blow system so that helps.

[gcbeer]

Skid Mounted Boiler

We use a Hurst 15hp and had it designed so all the components are on the same skid - blow-down system, et al and it has worked tirelessly for the past 4 years with no interruptions. Having all the components mounted as a complete system really helped on the installation - just hooked up the water, gas, electric and stack and it was ready to go.