Cost of Propane

If one were to buy a outdoor turkey fryer type rig...how much could one expect to pay for propane?

I'm considering going all grain (only a matter of time most likely) and the electric stove top I'm using for extract brews barely cuts it at a 3 gal. boil...

Propane typically costs a few cents more per gallon than regular gasoline at a gas station. Funny because the refineries used to burn it off as waste until they gained the RV and rural gas market. If you have a 200 gallon or better tank it is cheaper and delivered to you, around here at least.

Propane should be more economical that heating by electric stove.

PFlint said:

If one were to buy a outdoor turkey fryer type rig...how much could one expect to pay for propane?

Click to expand...

I shell out up to $23 at a Circle K (with exchange) or somewhere between $12-$14 per tank at my local Home Depot (with exchange).

Wild

It's around $18 per 20# tank here with exchange. You can get one filled for a buck or two cheaper. Prices seem to vary wildly with region, but apparently the cost of heating gas does, as well, so I suppose it's not unexpected.

A standard gas grill propane tank is 4.6 gallons. Here in Knoxville, I'm paying $3.60 per gallon at the local U-Haul (why U-Haul sells propane I'll never know, but it's close and it's handy) which costs about $16 per tank. I brew all grain and use the same tank to heat strike/sparge water and boil and I get about 3-4 brew sessions per tank (6 gallon batches). I think if I brewed 12 gallon batches, it would be a little more efficient.

Compare that to electricity. In Knoxville, I'm paying about 8 cents per kW-hr. It's hard to compare apples to apples here because electricty is a little more efficient (less heat loss). For this example, let's say electricity is 30% more efficient. Propane has about 84kBtu/gallon and I use about 1.3 gallons per session which is a total of 109.2kBtu's. A similar amount of electricity would be 76.4kBtu which equates to 22.4 kW-hrs. Do the math and you get the following costs:

Propane: $4.68/session
Electric: $1.79/session

This tells you that electricity is a MUCH better buy, plus, I think the 30% more efficient number is pretty conservative which further tilts the scales towards electricity. However, when you take into account the actual output of both sources - propane has a huge advantage. My burners are about 150kBTU/hr which equates to about 43,000 Watts. Even if electricity is twice as efficient, that's still over 20,000 watts of electricty needed to keep up with propane. Even with 220 VAC, that's a huge current draw for most households. That means you have to live with a reduced power output which means the brew day is longer.

Personally, I like speed. Speed is important to me, that's why I use propane. If speed isn't important and you'd rather save a couple bucks, maybe electricty is more suited for you. Some people brew in basements with little or no ventillation and can't use propane. In general, if you are brewing outside and don't mind a couple extra bucks per batch, it's hard to beat propane.

Natural gas on the other hand............forget it, that's another thread.

Prosit!

I'm shooting from the hip here but I think these figures are right.

My HWT is 3kw so at 5p per KWH then it'll cost me around 15p to heat my sparge water with vat and a margine for error lets call it 20p.

My burner is 5.3kw 18000 BTU
My regulators rated at 1kg/hour my bottles 13kg @ £18 so a 90 boil will cost 18/13*1.5

So my brew session cost me

20p in elecricity
£2 in gas.

If I went all electric it would cost 40p tops compared to £2.20 now.

mmmmmmm. I think I may have to try an electric brew kettle on for size.


(Is my logic correct)

I guess my major concern is that there is no way my electric range could boil 6 gallons of wort. In response to tnlandsailor, are there other electric burner available that could approch the power of gas burners and about how much could one expect to shell out on one of those?

All I know is that it is much cheaper to take the tank in and get it filled than getting it exchanged. The convenience has quite a cost in this case.

PFlint said:

I guess my major concern is that there is no way my electric range could boil 6 gallons of wort. In response to tnlandsailor, are there other electric burner available that could approch the power of gas burners and about how much could one expect to shell out on one of those?

Click to expand...

Sure there are heaters with big electic power numbers, the problem is, unless you have an industrial sized power supply, you can't pump enough amps through them. We are talking about stuff you can do at home. Even on 220 VAC, I think you will be limited to about 6000 watts (approx 30 amps).

There was an article in the recent BYO about a homebrewer who had two elements in his brewpot, each on a separate 220V controller, who was able to boil 10g IIRC. He got it going with both, and then maintained it with one. I can't remember the kW, but it was somewhere around 4-4.5kW for each.

My boiler element is 3kw @ 240v 12.5 amp (Our domestic outlet is 15a) and takes 5 gallon of cold water to boil in 30 minutes.

The propane isn't much - maybe $2 or $3 per session at most. I just refilled my little tank for about $12 here in Tallahassee at UHaul. The dang thing was at least half full but I'm paranoid and didn't wan't to run out in the middle of the process. I'd brewed 3 batches with it and I think I could've done three more before it would've been empty. The real expense of propane, to me at least, is the up front cost of the tank. I'd really like to have a backup just in case too.. that amounts to probably $80 invested in the tanks alone.

If you're thinking propane is going to break the bank then think of it this way - you'll save some money by using grain instead of extract BUT those savings will be offset by the upfront costs of ag equipment (cooler, kettle, wort chiller, burner & tank). If you can keep from constantly upgrading then the savings from the grain will eventually pay for the equipment and cover whatever you spend on propane.

Bottome line: propane burners just plain work and work well. You might be able to come up with an electric alternative if you're creative but I bet it'll be more work to put together, not as effective/fast as gas, and have a higher up front cost. To me that's not worth saving a dollar, at most, per brew session - heck, just cut out a lb of grain somewhere and you've got your dollar.

I have 8 gallon tanks. I fill them at the gas station for between $14 and $16, depending on price fluctuation. If you have one available, Bi-Mart has the cheapest tanks for sale at about $34 each. That's what I paid a few months ago.

billybrew said:

All I know is that it is much cheaper to take the tank in and get it filled than getting it exchanged. The convenience has quite a cost in this case.

Click to expand...

Here in Illinois, they don't fill it; you have to exchange it. I pay ~us$15/refill at the local grocery store.

You could probably get a 8KW 220 volt pot, but don't forget this will require a dedicated circuit (unless you unplug your dryer while brewing). I had a heat pump installed last year and put a 20 amp 120v circuit in for my spa at the same time: $748 US just for the wiring. I'm getting a 288 gallon propane tank installed for my addition: $645. That includes the tank, a slab, 200 ft of line, regulators and the first fillup!