Burner size for 55 gal kettle

So, my friend and I want to build a 55gal brewery using 3 blichmann boilermakers, but I was wandering how large of a burner we were going to need to be able to boil. I dont want it soo hot that it scorches wort at the bottom, but i dont want to wait 3 hours to heat up water either.

topfoodservice.com has a natural gas burner 240,000 BTU.. would that be sufficient?

If we decided to go electric is 1 4500 Watt element enough?

that is a sh#$ load of brew, I have no idea, good luck

I started with a 44 jet propane burner, but it was actually a bit much and it sucked the propane so fast we had to immerse the tank in warm water just to keep it vaporizing.

Went with a 32 tip NG burner for all the right reasons and never turned back.

50 gal boils (fermcap rules):

Now that is some beer porn....

is that a trash can??

55 gal SS drum that held coke syrup in a past life then used as a wine fermenter.

brewpal said:

55 gal SS drum that held coke syrup in a past life then used as a wine fermenter.

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Do I dare ask how many pounds of grain were used?

Mirilis said:

So, my friend and I want to build a 55gal brewery using 3 blichmann boilermakers, but I was wandering how large of a burner we were going to need to be able to boil. I dont want it soo hot that it scorches wort at the bottom, but i dont want to wait 3 hours to heat up water either.

topfoodservice.com has a natural gas burner 240,000 BTU.. would that be sufficient?

If we decided to go electric is 1 4500 Watt element enough?

Click to expand...

240,000 BTU is GOBS plenty if not OVERKILL (Yuri would be so proud)
as far as 1x4500 watt element.... Uhhh NO!!!! that will not do it.... EVER!!!!
maybe 4x4500 watt elements and I think that will be pushing it, at best.
Good luck!
Cheers
JJ

What is your grain bill? Maybe 130 pounds with a group buy in?
Like the movie Jaws, "I think we need a bigger boat".

And i'm worried about 11KW for starting a boil with 19.5 gallons of a insulated keggle.
Your electric meter will need a tach to keep track of the rpm's to heat 55 gallons with electricity only.

Check the calculators at; http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml Green Bay Rackers--Mash Calculators

This should give you some numbers to work off or get shocked with.

4500W and 55gallons starting at 150F to boil takes 1hour and 57minutes. I'd say that's too long. 35kW knocks it down to 15min, more of what I would be accustomed to with my propane burner.

Grain bill is 100 - 125 lbs. Mash tun could hold up to 150 lbs, but a 50 gal boil is about as far as we go comfortably.

This thread just shrank my manhood.

I use two SQ-14 burners mounted in one stand.


I also have my kettle insolated so it holds the heat well.
If I fire up the two burners when I start my last sparge (batch sparge) it will be to a boil by the time I'm done draining. Maybe 15 minutes.



Be ready to use 40+ pounds of grain.

Cool, those 240k btu burners are 48 bucks a pop and the boilermakers are 620 a pop.. anyone got a couple grand they want to get rid of?

I think Nat gas is the option were going to go with

I can't believe you guys with your 50 gallon systems....really, WTF? I mean it's awesome, but how much does it cost to do one batch of beer? I think you just broke my brain a little with those pics...

Do you split you batches with friends? Who would want 50 gallons of beer all at once?

wildwest450 said:

Do you split you batches with friends? Who would want 50 gallons of beer all at once?

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Maybe that's the only way there's enough left for ageing/conditioning?
Drink some now - save some for later.


-OCD

Legally, you can only use that setup 4 times a year for your personal consumption

Mirilis said:

So, my friend and I want to build a 55gal brewery using 3 blichmann boilermakers, but I was wandering how large of a burner we were going to need to be able to boil. I dont want it soo hot that it scorches wort at the bottom, but i dont want to wait 3 hours to heat up water either.

topfoodservice.com has a natural gas burner 240,000 BTU.. would that be sufficient?

If we decided to go electric is 1 4500 Watt element enough?

Click to expand...

I just went to that site and I couldn't find that 240,000 btu burner. Can you post it here in this thread so I can see it.
Cheers
JJ

TwoHeadsBrewing said:

I can't believe you guys with your 50 gallon systems....really, WTF? I mean it's awesome, but how much does it cost to do one batch of beer? I think you just broke my brain a little with those pics...

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It cost less then what you guys that are buying the "kits" to brew with because we buy the grain by the sack. I get a sack of grain for what most 5 gallon beer kits cost. My last big brew cost me $75 + LP.

To answer another question, no I don't drink all that. I split it with other guys. It's just nice to make that much in 9 hours time. If done 5 gal at a time it would be a hell of a lot longer.

Jaybird said:

I just went to that site and I couldn't find that 240,000 btu burner. Can you post it here in this thread so I can see it.
Cheers
JJ

Click to expand...

10 inch Nat Gas jet burner240k

Do you have recipes that you like well enough to drink 50 gallons of?

I can see the appeal of you did, and you wanted to make up a ton at once. For me, I like the process (triple batched once and was at it for over 18 hours straight), and am actually torn with my 10g batches now (was doing 5g). But I give away about 75% of my beer, so making lots of different things is what I like from the hobby. Everyone is different. I'm glad there are dudes out there who are brewing 50gallons at once!

FSR402 said:

It cost less then what you guys that are buying the "kits" to brew with because we buy the grain by the sack. I get a sack of grain for what most 5 gallon beer kits cost. My last big brew cost me $75 + LP.

To answer another question, no I don't drink all that. I split it with other guys. It's just nice to make that much in 9 hours time. If done 5 gal at a time it would be a hell of a lot longer.

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Yeah I also buy bulk grain, and hops for cheap...but even at that a 10g batch runs about $20-30. Do you ever get worried about blowing $100 on a batch if there is a mistake made?

I have this 32 jet nat gas burner:



I split the batch among my brew crew who do all the mash dump, kettle cleaning, etc. Every brew day is "big brew" day at my house. :rockin:

Often we will use several different yeasts in separate fermenters just to create some variety in the production. The true yeast experiment.

There is always the chance that we might come up with a dud, but several years of brewing 5 and 10 gal batches gives us enough experience to dial in a good recipe most every time.

TwoHeadsBrewing said:

Yeah I also buy bulk grain, and hops for cheap...but even at that a 10g batch runs about $20-30. Do you ever get worried about blowing $100 on a batch if there is a mistake made?

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Nope, it's just money and I make it every day. Really I can blow thru $100 without even thinking about it, take the wife out for dinner and drinks and there you go $100+ gone and I got nothing to show for it.

Here is the link to the burner I saw.

Awesome rig. How much air space are you leaving b/w the 55 gal drum and the burners?

Actually we got 80gallon steam kettles and a generator

Godly, I love it... I dream of making such a system