Trouble with a rolling boil

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bjzelectric

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Im doing my 5th AG batch right now and realized that my boil doesnt "roll" unless I stir and even then only rolls for a few minutes. I have a 15 gallon keggle with a propane burner setup and I brew outdoors. Am I missing something? My previous AG batches turned out OK, Im just wondering if Im being impatient and not waiting long enough to start my timer.
 
Hmmm. Could be heat output is limited. Could be you need a windscreen. Could be you just need to wait.

Try boiling just water. If you don't get 10 gallons boiling hard within an hour then you aren't getting enough heat to your kettle.
 
Do you not get a rolling boil since switching to the keggle?

If so, I noticed the same thing. In my 7.5 gal aluminum, I got a really active rolling boil with almost no propane. My last batch, (yesterday), was the first in my keggle, and it took probably twice the propane to maintain anything above what could be called a "simmer", and even then didn't have the roiling, turbulent look of my aluminum pot. If I turned up the gas even more...well...it made too much steam and I couldn't see into the frickin kettle.

Edit, after reading Gila's post, I should say that I'm also now considering a wind screen.....it WAS pretty windy yesterday.
 
Do you not get a rolling boil since switching to the keggle?

If so, I noticed the same thing. In my 7.5 gal aluminum, I got a really active rolling boil with almost no propane. My last batch, (yesterday), was the first in my keggle, and it took probably twice the propane to maintain anything above what could be called a "simmer", and even then didn't have the roiling, turbulent look of my aluminum pot. If I turned up the gas even more...well...it made too much steam and I couldn't see into the frickin kettle.

Edit, after reading Gila's post, I should say that I'm also now considering a wind screen.....it WAS pretty windy yesterday.

Also, stainless doesn't conduct heat as well as aluminum.
 
that's strange. i have two turkey fryer burners on my setup (two keggles), one regulator is 10PSI for my HLT, the other 5PSI for my BK, which i was worried about, but I can get all 7 gal or so that i start with to a boil in no time and i usually have to turn the regulator WAY down to keep it from foaming like crazy and boiling over... is your flame nice and blue?
 
I have had the same problem. I do get a rolling boil but no where near the hot break that I got with my Aluminum pot. The other factor, though, is that I switched burners too. I think the burner is a little farther away. I may find someone to modify the burner.
 
My flame is blue, but the burner is about 3-4 inches farther away from the keggle as it was from the aluminum pot, (due to how the keggle sits...)....that could be it too...
 
When my brewbud and I made the transition to 10 gal batches and the keggle, we worried about gas consumption and available heat. That was a wasted worry. I have to admit we both work where we have access to experts in propane gas and recreational uses. We use standard burners but have moved to an adjustable 0 to 30 psi regulator. We are running at about 12 psi and have fine control needle valves to seperately adjust the flames on our boil keggle and MLT keggle. The burner is about 4 inches down from the bottom of the keggle. We get quick and vigorous boils, but more importantly we use less gas. I attribute this to less heat loss up around the side of our keggle as compared to the smaller kettles. We did modify our keggle by adding about 15 holes around the bottom rim to allow combustion gases to escape and promote a good flame under the keggle, but the majority of the heat is spent into the keggle itself.
 
I'd try something as simple as some homewrap around the top 2/3 of the kettle as a starting point just to see if the outside winds and temp are the problem.
 
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