Burner

Buying, building and using brewing equipment and apparatus. Product reviews and questions.

Moderator: slothrob

Post Reply
User avatar
bfabre
Double IPA
Double IPA
Posts: 139
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:05 pm
Location: Tenino, WA

Burner

Post by bfabre »

Will be moving up to all grain soon and I do not think a 8 gallon pot will fit on the cook top. I have seen bruners range from 15,000 btu to 200,000 btu. What would be a good size?
"B"
User avatar
billvelek
Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout
Posts: 801
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2004 9:44 am
Location: Arkansas, USA
Contact:

I'd probably shoot for a 100K to 120K BTU burner.

Post by billvelek »

IIRC, most turkey fryers have at least about 50 or 60K, and I definitely would not go any lower than that; if you live in a colder climate, I'd think you'd need at least 75K. And while you might not be giving serious thought to boiling a larger pot, like a converted keg for 10 gallon batches, once you do 5 gallons for awhile, you will most likely start thinking of that ... in which case you would probably want at least 100K. Keep in mind that even if a burner has a lot of capacity, it isn't necessary to use all of that capacity during a boil; you can turn the burner down. If it were me buying a burner, I'd spend a few extra bucks to try to get one rated at about 100K or maybe even 120K. Spending extra for anything beyond that seems unnecessary.

Cheers.

Bill Velek
Visit www.tinyurl.com/bvelek - portal to my brewing sites: 3,100+ members on 'Grow-Hops', and 1,350+ brewers on my 'BrewingEquip' group.
Running BTP v1.5.3 on WinXP 2005 SP3 w/AMD Athlon 64@3800+, 1GigRam, Res 1024x768
User avatar
jawbox
Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout
Posts: 528
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:43 pm
Location: W. Dundee

Post by jawbox »

you might be able to pick up a turkey fryer cheap right now. I know I saw them at Target for about $30, not bad for the burner and a brew pot if your just starting out with all grain.
iMac 27", 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 8GB Ram, Mac OSX 10.12.6
iPhone 7+
iPad Pro 10.5
I like macs ;)
dasein668
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 67
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 4:45 pm

Post by dasein668 »

I just received a Bijou Classic SQ-14 low pressure 150K btu cooker as a gift. This is a major upgrade over the standard turkey cooker burner I was using which was probably 60K.

It used to take me 40 minutes to bring 6.5 gallons to a boil. Today: 15 minutes!

That said, a standard turkey cooker will do you much better than your stove top.
Nathan

v1.5.2

1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook | 2.0 gig DDR2 RAM | Boot ROM MB21.00A5.B07 | SMC Version 1.13f3 | 1280x800 | OSX 10.4.11
User avatar
bfabre
Double IPA
Double IPA
Posts: 139
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:05 pm
Location: Tenino, WA

more power

Post by bfabre »

A turkey cooker would be an upgrade for sure. My cook top only has a max of 15,000btu. Doing some homework I found a 160,000btu high presure burner and matched it up with a 0-20 lb variable rate regulator and a 10' hose.
Your thoughts?
"B"
User avatar
billvelek
Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout
Posts: 801
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2004 9:44 am
Location: Arkansas, USA
Contact:

Efficiency of higher BTU burners

Post by billvelek »

dasein668 wrote:I just received a Bijou Classic SQ-14 low pressure 150K btu cooker ... It used to take me 40 minutes to bring 6.5 gallons to a boil. Today: 15 minutes!
I've never been all that concerned about how long it takes to come to a boil; I usually have something else to do while it's heating, and it's just a matter of checking on it periodically. But I guess speed is nice if it's not costing you too much in fuel efficiency; I don't even turn my little 60K up to max because whenever I do I see too much flame extending out from under the pot -- which I think is just a waste of propane because the heat from that part of the flame isn't going into the pot. But the center of the burner is obviously hotter, which is where you get the faster heating. Any idea how fast that baby is sucking up the propane? Now you know, don't you, that in order to justify that big burner, it is MANDATORY for you to get a larger kettle; tell your 'boss' that I said so. ;-)

Cheers.

Bill Velek
Visit www.tinyurl.com/bvelek - portal to my brewing sites: 3,100+ members on 'Grow-Hops', and 1,350+ brewers on my 'BrewingEquip' group.
Running BTP v1.5.3 on WinXP 2005 SP3 w/AMD Athlon 64@3800+, 1GigRam, Res 1024x768
User avatar
slothrob
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1831
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 1:36 pm
Location: Greater Boston

Re: Efficiency of higher BTU burners

Post by slothrob »

billvelek wrote:But I guess speed is nice if it's not costing you too much in fuel efficiency; I don't even turn my little 60K up to max because whenever I do I see too much flame extending out from under the pot -- which I think is just a waste of propane because the heat from that part of the flame isn't going into the pot.
Yeah, fuel use is a lot more important to me than a little extra time to boil. I still never seem to be spending much time standing around waiting for the boil as I have plenty of other things to do, as Bill says. I have one of those chepo "blow-torch" style burners and it doesn't seem terribly efficient, but I get around 5 5-gallon batches per 20# propane tank, which seems decent... maybe $2.50/batch.

If anything, I'd consider a better burner for less noise. The roar drives me a little crazy, so I tend to keep it turned a little lower to just below the point where it really starts to howl. It doesn't hurt once the boil gets going, but it must cost me a little time getting to boil.
BTP v2.0.* Windows XP
dasein668
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 67
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 4:45 pm

Re: Efficiency of higher BTU burners

Post by dasein668 »

billvelek wrote:
dasein668 wrote:I just received a Bijou Classic SQ-14 low pressure 150K btu cooker ... It used to take me 40 minutes to bring 6.5 gallons to a boil. Today: 15 minutes!
I've never been all that concerned about how long it takes to come to a boil; I usually have something else to do while it's heating, and it's just a matter of checking on it periodically. But I guess speed is nice if it's not costing you too much in fuel efficiency; I don't even turn my little 60K up to max because whenever I do I see too much flame extending out from under the pot -- which I think is just a waste of propane because the heat from that part of the flame isn't going into the pot. But the center of the burner is obviously hotter, which is where you get the faster heating. Any idea how fast that baby is sucking up the propane? Now you know, don't you, that in order to justify that big burner, it is MANDATORY for you to get a larger kettle; tell your 'boss' that I said so. ;-)

Cheers.

Bill Velek
I've got a 16gallon kettle so that I can brew 10 gallon batches of house ales, 5 gallon for specialty/new recipes.

For me the time to reach a boil is of some concern since I'd like to be able to brew on a weekday: I get up in the morning and heat my strike water and start the mash. Then I take my son to kindergarten. While he's at school for 3 hours I need to runoff, boil, cool and pitch before going to pick him up. That just wasn't possible when I had the old burner and when I still did fly sparging. Yesterday with my new batch sparging setup and the new burner it would have been a piece of cake.

Yesterday was the first time I'd tried the new burner so I don't have a great handle on it yet, but based on the frost line on my tank it looks like I actually used less fuel than I was with my turkey fryer: maybe an inch or two vs 3 or 4 with the old burner. The new burner has a better regulator, burns much more cleanly, and appears to be substantially more efficient. I think those jet-style burners are really inefficient.

I crank it up to get to a boil, then lower it to just enough to keep a rolling boil. With my 17inch diameter kettle I can assure you that no flame is wrapping around the bottom! :mrgreen:
Nathan

v1.5.2

1.83 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook | 2.0 gig DDR2 RAM | Boot ROM MB21.00A5.B07 | SMC Version 1.13f3 | 1280x800 | OSX 10.4.11
User avatar
billvelek
Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout
Posts: 801
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2004 9:44 am
Location: Arkansas, USA
Contact:

Nice big pot

Post by billvelek »

Yep, 17" diameter is much better than my 12" diameter turkey fryer which easily allows inefficiency. I've been wanting to do a keg conversion, but then along with that I feel that I'll need to build _some_ sort of a setup -- at least a tiered system if not RIMS or HERMS. I just can't see how 10 gallons at a time can be moved around ... at least by me. I've always dreamed of a nice setup, but don't know where I'd put it.

Cheers.

Bill Velek
Visit www.tinyurl.com/bvelek - portal to my brewing sites: 3,100+ members on 'Grow-Hops', and 1,350+ brewers on my 'BrewingEquip' group.
Running BTP v1.5.3 on WinXP 2005 SP3 w/AMD Athlon 64@3800+, 1GigRam, Res 1024x768
User avatar
jawbox
Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout
Posts: 528
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:43 pm
Location: W. Dundee

Post by jawbox »

I think I'm going to get one of these and upgrade one of my old turkey fryer burners. Maybe this is the year I start on my herms setup.

http://www.bayouclassicdepot.com/bg14_c ... burner.htm

Although I can't complain about my other east revolution burner.
iMac 27", 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 8GB Ram, Mac OSX 10.12.6
iPhone 7+
iPad Pro 10.5
I like macs ;)
User avatar
jawbox
Imperial Stout
Imperial Stout
Posts: 528
Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:43 pm
Location: W. Dundee

Post by jawbox »

if you have a lowes close by, nice deal.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... lpage=none

That one has the eastman revoltion burner 65k output but its very fuel efficient, use the same one to get my strike water ready while my keggle is on another customized fryer (changed the stand to fit my keggle).
iMac 27", 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 8GB Ram, Mac OSX 10.12.6
iPhone 7+
iPad Pro 10.5
I like macs ;)
donshizzles
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2008 4:53 pm

Post by donshizzles »

deleted
seanshankus
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2008 3:02 pm

Post by seanshankus »

Santa, or my wife who also wants me out of the kitchen, just brought me the small propane jet burner. I figure for $40 why not go to 165K. Now I have to build a stand around it. Anybody have plans on that??

Sean

PS here's the link ...
http://www.bbqguys.com/item_name_Multi- ... _7312.html
Post Reply