Natural Gas or Propane for Brew Stand?

**cdematteis** · 01-25-2012, 07:54 PM

My buddy and I are building a single tier brewing stand and are debating whether we should use natural gas or propane burners. We want to tee off of the existing gas pipe that feeds the boiler and the hot water heater in my garage. The burners would be hard plumbed on the stand and ideally we would like to use a flexible line off the tee that is long enough to wheel the stand outside the garage (about 30 feet). Is it even possible to run a flexible line that long and if so, would we run into pressure issues due to the distance and the boiler and furnace pulling off the line?

tulsabrewdaddy · 03-21-2012, 07:13 PM

I just did this in my garage with the natural gas and am using 25 feet of SS flex hose. I have only done a test run but I don't see any issues with it. I had all three lit and they will running low but I found in the test run I will never have more than 2 on at once and even then the MLT is just barely on. I'm using the 23 tip burners. My times were great, for 10 gallons 66 to 170 in 31 minutes and 13 gallons of around 170 to boil in 13.

Monster Mash · 03-21-2012, 07:32 PM

I'm running a 23 tip burner off of a 16' flex line on my back patio. I have 50' of 1/2" gas line from the front of my house going through my attic to feed it.

I brew 25 gallon batches and it is too many BTU's to run on full without boil overs. The draw back is I have to turn it waaaay down which gives me some soot but it's not too bad.

**motobrewer** · 03-21-2012, 07:34 PM

for natural gas, do you need a gas regulator?

Brew-ta-sauraus · 03-21-2012, 07:41 PM

I ran a flex gas line from my basement to my garage using 3/4". I then run a flexable line from the wall to my brewstand ( bought it at home depot used for natrual gas BBQ's). I run 3 23 tip burners. Running one at a time my burners roar. If I turn on two burners i get a drop in pressure to the point that it no longer roars just a decent flame but nothing you would wantt o boil water with. Your pressure will depend on your house regulator. My house is 8 years old and my pressure could be just a bit higher. I know a guy with the same age home in a differnt aprt of town his natural gass pressure is off the charts and he has trouble adjusting his burners becasue of it. It's hit and miss. I only use the regulator that is built into my gas meter i don't use a 2nd regulator. I will say having natural gas in the garage is a great way to go, it's easy, cheap and no propane refills.

pinback · 03-21-2012, 08:26 PM

i use an 18 tip NG burner. took 4 off because it was just too much. actually screwed the extra 4 into some copper and made my own burner.

but i use an old water hose to move my brew stand outside...yep. just a rubber hose to feed the line outdoors. works great. but i don't keep pressure on the hose all the time. i can't imagine that would be wise. this was the only way i could afford to move the brew stand outside. 40' of water hose cost me little of nothing. black iron pipe on the other hand was going to be something like $50 or so..

**BBL_Brewer** · 03-21-2012, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by motobrewer

for natural gas, do you need a gas regulator?

Just a ball valve. Nothing fancy.