Propane burner to natural gas

jtd_1 · 06-18-2008, 09:30 PM

Hi everyone,

I am very new to homebrewing and i have seen people's setup using natural gas. I have a propane turkey fryer and was wondering how to convert it to natural gas for convience? Also, my waterheater is in my garage and i wanted to hookup to the gas there. what type of equipment would i need to make a quick connect (is it the same as pneumatic)?

Thanks

Joe

jds · 06-18-2008, 10:23 PM

Why not use a regular propane bottle with the turkey fryer?

jtd_1 · 06-18-2008, 10:30 PM

simply because of the cost benefit (i believe that natural gas is about a quarter of the cost of propane) as well as convience...ie: never running out.

Brewsmith · 06-18-2008, 10:56 PM

You need a different burner. The pressure is different between propane and natural gas. Natural gas is at a higher pressure and the holes in which the gas flows through are larger.

edit - I got the pressures backwards, but here are some resources

http://morebeer.com/search/102341///Burners

http://morebeer.com/view_product/17248/102341/Low_Pressure_Burner_58000_BTUs_Natural_Gas
http://morebeer.com/view_product/17249/102341/Burner_-_90000_BTU_for_Low_Pressure_Natural_Gas
http://morebeer.com/view_product/17253/102341/Low_Pressure_Burner_116000_BTUs_Natural_Gas.__

monty73741 · 06-19-2008, 07:13 PM

you arent supposed to use turkey fryers in the garage.
at least put in a hood system. You can also look for quick disconnects.

camiller · 06-19-2008, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monty73741

you arent supposed to use turkey fryers in the garage.
at least put in a hood system. You can also look for quick disconnects.

Well, I wouldn't recommend using it in the garage it if your boiling flammable cooking oil like the manufacture intended. That is how houses get burned down, hence the warning from the manufacture to not use in a garage. If the garage door is open your very likely getting enough ventilation, or use a box fan if you are really paranoid.

Displaced MassHole · 06-20-2008, 02:18 AM

You dont need ventilation

Here's what you doo.........insure the place for atleast double what its worth, then when it burns to the ground take the insurance check and buy a brewery...........Problem solved!!!

**BlindLemonLars** · 06-20-2008, 02:35 AM

I don't know about your turkey fryer, but I bought one of these cheap little cast-iron propane burners, drilled out the orifice, and it seems to work nicely with natural gas. The nice thing about it is the control valve, which gives you a lot of latitude for controlling the flame. At first many of the jets would self-extinguish when I turned it up high, so I just kept drilling the orifice larger until I got nice blue flames with barely yellow tips when cranked wide open.

It had no trouble boiling 4 gallons in my MLT, this weekend I'll give it a shot at boiling 7 gallons. Between this and my new NG grill, I hope to be propane free very soon!

PROPANE COOKER WITH ONE BUNER (sic)

jtd_1 · 06-20-2008, 08:43 AM

Thanks for all the responses.

My intentions are to run a hose outside to use as a boil kettle. I do not intend on running the burner in the garage. Where i plan to "hook up" the natural gas is about 20 ft from the garage door. It would be nice if i could run a hose outside and hook up to the burner. Conveinence!

Thanks guys!

Joe

**conpewter** · 06-20-2008, 01:49 PM

Could you give us more info on how you drilled this out? IT would be a very cheap and good way for me to go natural gas. Do you know what drill bit size you ended up with?