Help with burner selection

I stepped down from a KAB4 220,000 BTU because I was only getting 3 batches out of a 20# propane tank. That's the middle Bayou burner. 30PSI. Regulator freeze ups were common for me too because you're moving so much fuel through the line. You have to dunk your propane tank in a warm bath during boils. You really need to tweak it to throttle it down on a 5 gal batch. Very sensitive adjustments will make a big difference.

Stepping down seemed like the right call for me. I get like 6 brews out of a tank now. Do the math over a year, and decide if you're willing to pay the coin before you invest. I usually run my 3rd batch sparge into a separate pot while I throw the main kettle on my burner, (SP 10), and I think it adds like 5 minutes to brew day.

I use my stove for heating strike/sparge water. I grind my grains while the strike water is heating. Both take about the same amount of time if you use 2 elements on the stove. I get my sparge water ready during my 60 minute mash. What else ya` gonna do?

It's your call and your money. I'd steer clear of a high pressure 30 PSI burner for the reasons above. If you're going for a 40 gal boil, this is probably a must have. Otherwise, something a little more middle-of-the-road is a very good call.

 

I got the 10PSI (low pressure?) It's probably rated at ~60-70,000 BTU. It's nothing special at all, but it's efficient.

 

I have a low pressure 10" and love it. It uses less propane than my bayou classic jet burner style and heats way faster.

 

Since you're getting a new burner, now would be an excellent time to consider natural gas if that's an option for you. 'Batches per tank' doesn't apply. And you'll never run out. Price varies, but in this part of the country, I pay about $1.50-$2.00 for the BTU equivalent of a 20 lb propane fill - that's a savings of 80-85% over propane. And I'll never run out.

I bought a 23-tip wok burner for $23, IIRC, a year or so ago. It's a jet burner. It looks like the 32-tip burner in your photo. I'm told it's 100K BTU, but it wasn't labeled, so I don't know if that's accurate. I'm planning to lower it a bit on the stand because it's a PITA to control boilovers with a ten gallon batch. I may also plug a few of the jets. I can't stand within two feet of it with the valve wide open. Did I mention that you'll never run out?

 

FYI, here's the 23-tip natural gas burner in action

 

My burner hellfire is two out of four standart stove top kitchen burner, 25 minutes to boil 3.5 gallon of water.

 

This burner: http://www.bayouclassicdepot.com/bg10_cast_iron_burner.htm with an adjustable regulator is what I use for 10gal batches. That burner works best at about 20psi if I recall, but the trick is to add a needle valve http://www.bayouclassicdepot.com/637-fnpt-needle-valve-brass-fitting.htm to control the flame. That way you can crank it up when heating and then turn the flame down during the boil to save propane and prevent boil overs.

 

I looked into getting a lower pressure yadda yadda, or a better needle valve for my KAB4. I emailed the guys at Bayou twice and called them twice. They gave NO insight on how I could change this burner or make it more efficient and that I could eek out a 4th boil on this burner. I'll take time to reiterate that I am SOO GLAD that I have a slightly modified turkey fryer for my burner. I can do 10 gal boils, and 5 gal boils cost me an extra 5 minutes or so. I get about 5 or 6 batches per 20# tank and I don't feel like I'm waiting on my burner to produce a boil.

Nick, not that there's anything wrong with a little penis waving, and I'm all for scaring the neighbors!

Mike, I hope your NG burner sounds like the one you posted. If I didn't brew, I'd walk my dog on the other side of the street.

 

My setup is this, x2. I use 4 gas burners to bring two pots to boil simultaneously. I'm usually boiling 8 gallons total and it takes about 30-40 min to get there. It's not very time efficient. I also have a burner like Naugled showed in his second post. When I used it, I was also using the propane tank for grilling, so I can't speak to how many batches of beer I would get out of it. I will say that the indoor brewing has several advantages that, for me, more than compensate for the time it adds to my brew day: (1) no bad weather, (2) no trips to get more propane, (3) the operation is coveniently located next to my sink for chilling (chilling was sort of pain outside because of the spatial layout), and (4) no hornets -- those suckers would swarm the wort every time I tried to brew.

 

I purchased a KAB4 when I moved to 10 gallon batches and I've been less than thrilled with its performance.

 

Blichmann's burner has a natural gas option, which I would consider if I ever went NG.

 

Nice "Stovetop Stuffing" ad...seriously though, a lot of people don't know how far natural gas stoves have come lately...especially the newer ones with "quick boil" ~20,000 btu burners.

 

Bummer! It's surprising that so few people who have the option consider NG when shopping for a burner. I suspect it's simply because mass-market gas grills in this country use propane by default, so we've become conditioned to think of propane first. FYI, my grill is also NG.

It's about 3" from the tips of the jets to the closest point on the bottom of the keggle -- the bottom is rounded, so it varies.

 

I thought my four 15K burners were killer when I bought it only eight years ago. Even at 15K, they do a fine job of indoor brewing. (though nothing like the 15 minute 13 gal boil time for my outdoor burner )

 

Hmm... I'm in the market for a new gas stove. I didn't realize they came with this much power. I'll have to look around.

 

You'll need a beefy exhaust fan (vented) if you plan to fire them all up at once, and an over the range combo microwave/hood is probably out of the question.

 

OK. Sounds like something I'm not going to get. I'll stick to the 14000 BTU power burners.