Burner?

I like the BG-14 Bayou Classic Burners. 100,000 btu's and 10" diameter so it spreads the heat out limiting the potential for scorching. You can pick them up for about $33 a piece from agrisupply.com

Of course you could go with similar 72,000 btu burners from Blichmann (which are awesome and don't use as much propane) but they will set you back about $139 each.

 

Keep in mind you really only have to "boil" with one burner.
On my three tier gravity system I went with two "regular" turkey fryer burners for the HLT and mash tun and added a higher btu/quality one for the actual boil.

 

I use about the same for my boils. Not too much, but you will find that you can turn it way down once you are at a steady boil. I really love being able to wick it up hard for strike or sparge water.

And I make my wife very happy with her canning, too. Nothing beats getting a lot of water to boil fast.

 

I have a typical 20-pound propane tank that refills for $18. I only have the one right now, and last time I filled and emptied it I had brewed 4 batches of beer, canned 2 batches of strawberries, and had run my propane smoker for about 24 continuous hours of cooking time.

If I were brewing exclusively, say 60 minute boils + mash and sparge water, I would expect about 6-8 brew days before the tank kicked.

 

I gotta come on here and pimp Tejas Smokers (I don't work for them...). I just bought a natural gas burner from them (they have propane burners too), and I had several questions. When I got my burner, I had a couple issues with the orifice size, and was e-mailing daily with Cheyenne in customer service to figure out the problem. She was awesome. She sent out a different-sized orifice when we found out my gas pressure was different than what the original orifice was sized for; she did this at no charge and without me even asking to, and then helped me trouble-shoot with detailed instructions. Mind you, none of the issues were with the product, just adjusting to co-operate with my house's natural gas. Anyway, wanted to share my experience and recommend these guys based on my customer service experience alone. They advertise as bbq and smoker pit specialists, but they are very familiar with homebrewing setups. Anyone looking for a burner should check them out.

http://www.tejassmokers.com/

 

Heh. You said "orifice".

Great thread, by the way. I've been wondering about what kind of burner to get myself, and saw in another recent thread that a Bayou Classic SQ 14 is also a good one. Lots of great info in here guys, thanks a lot!

 

Yeah, I still giggle to myself when I say "orifice" too. Yeah, I'm 12.

 

not sure what your set-up is like, but a basic banjo burner like this is definitely my recommendation:
http://www.homebrewing.org/High-Pressure-Cast-Iron-BANJO-Burner-_p_1746.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...rners/cast-iron-banjo-burner-burner-only.html
Quiet & efficient...what more could you ask for.

 

also, if you can...get a 40# propane tank. I pay $16 for a 20# fill and $20 for a 40# fill. Tank paid for itself in no time.

 

I pay about $1 for the equivalent of a 20# fill (sorry, I see 'what kind of burner should I buy?" and I feel compelled to throw in the Natural Gas recommendation)

 

I have a turkey fryer burner and I've brewed 3 extract and 6 AG batches with one 20# tank. It still feels and sounds like it is about 1/4 full.

 

I had 2 different turkey fryer burners (one was a bayou classic - don't remember which) and have since gone to a Blichman. LOVE the Blichman. QUIET. Wish I would have done it from day 1.

 

So is this what Blichmann uses? I really like my Blichmann.

 

No Blichmann uses a 72,000 btu 10" burner that they claim to have developed and manufactured themselves.

 

Thanks, this would seem to make sense.

According to Blichmann the BTU rating isn't really determined by heat output. It's formulated from the quantity of fuel used and how much heat that amout of fuel could potentially produce. Not how well it burns the fuel. He claims that his burner is the most efficient one on the market.

If you're a brewer that's in it for the long haul I, again I suggest that you spend the extra $$ and get this burner. While it may be years, there will be a point where you get that back in fuel saved. Second suggestion would be to get the Banjo and later on when you need a second burner, get the Blichmann and relegate the Banjo to the HLT.

And for the record I have the Blichmann burner, beer gun, hop rocket, his quick disconnect's (among others). I have a BK from Stout Tanks and my new MT will be either from Stout Tanks or Brewers Hardware.

 

i'm not positive where people are getting the sense that John is not using a basic banjo burner. As his website says, it's not the output of energy, but the energy that is transferred into the pot. To me what he has engineered was the most efficient platform to employ a banjo burner. He also decked it out with top of the line components. That TO ME is the top tier burner....i could be wrong though.
So if the OP will be using the entire top tier burner on his system, then yes, it would probably be worth it. If he is just removing the burner to install on his stand, then he should just get the burner and components piecemeal.

edit: i love my blichmann burner!

 

I love my 2 blichmann burners as well and am looking forward to comparing them to the 3xBG 14 burners going into my brew stand that will be built next month.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting the Blichmann website which states...

http://www.blichmannengineering.com/brew_stand/brewstand_modular.html

"We weren't satisfied with selecting just any burner for the TopTier™, so we developed and tuned our own! While many manufacturers claim an impressive BTU capability, all they're talking about is the input energy -NOT- the actual energy entering the pot! Isn't the whole point to heat wort not the atmosphere?
Our requirements?

• High efficiency
• Fast heating
• Non rusting fume free stainless frame
• Excellent outdoor flame stability
• Quiet operation
• Great low setting performance without yellow flame ( blackens bottom of pot)

Our Result:
A 72,000 BTU/hr burner that is a great blend of heating power and efficiency - and does so whisper quietly! In addition, low flame combustion is clean, wind performance is outstanding, and the heavy stainless construction is built to last a lifetime! For operation on natural gas expect 15% less power and 15% longer heating times due to the lower BTU contelt of natural gas vs. propane.

We also documented that the published BTU of competitive burners varied wildly from actual measured results. And measuring the performance is straightforward: simply run the burner for an hour at full power and measure the weight of the propane used in lb. Then multiply the weight in lb X 21,000 to get the burner rating in BTU/hr. For example. the Bayou Classic has a published rating of 180 KBTU/hr but only measured at 68 KBTU/hr!"