Birthday coming - bayou classic or blichmann?

My birthday is coming up and I would like to take this opportunity to obtain some equipment upgrades. I am currently using a bass pro shop "fish fryer" as my burner and it seems to take a fairly long time to boil water (my boils = 6-7 gals @ start). I have a friend that uses the blichmann burner and it seems to take half of the time or even less.

From what I can tell in pictures, the bayou classic and blichmann burners appear to be much more efficient than what I have.

My problem is, money is a bit of an issue (My mother-in-law has offered to buy me something for brewing and I plan to offer to pay half which was the wife's idea). So, I need to know if the cheaper ones are just as good or is the blichmann so incredible that I simply must choose to go that route?

I am using a 42qt (10.5 gals) economy SS kettle. IIRC maybe 16 inches in diameter.

I say go all out and just (save) for the Blichmann. Ive had mine for about 2 years now, wont ever look at another burner again. Ive been nothing less than impressed..Well worth the extra cash...go for it!!

same burner... save your money and go with the Bayou

Another vote for the Bayou Classic KAB4. At Amazon for $87.43 and free shipping!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009JXYQY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

1KD1 said:

My problem is, money is a bit of an issue .....

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Ok, sorry if I am outside the box here, but how about sticking an electric element in your kettle and saving money on propane? Perhaps a bare bones E-kettle can be done for the price a burner???

Go with the bayou.

I fail to see how switching to electric would save on money once all the parts required to go electric are purchased.

I get my burners from Agri-Supply. They are about $8 plus shipping, and they put out 174,000 BTUs. You might be able to use your existing regulator and hose, plus the stand. We use two of them on our 55 gallon system, and they will bring up 40 gallons of water to about 140 or 150 degrees in under an hour, depending on the ambient temperature. When they are cranked up all the way, it sounds like a jet.

luhrks said:

I fail to see how switching to electric would save on money once all the parts required to go electric are purchased.

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wilserbrewer said:

saving money on propane

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There it is. At 15 bucks a fill it's not hard to see where the cost savings come in. Having said that, I have a KAB4 and love it. However there is nothing efficient about it. It absolutely tears through propane. It is the Hummer of propane burners.

poislb said:

I say go all out and just (save) for the Blichmann. Ive had mine for about 2 years now, wont ever look at another burner again. Ive been nothing less than impressed..Well worth the extra cash...go for it!!

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Second this. And it doesn't seem to kill propane quite as quickly as the banjo from my experience.

Starderup said:

I get my burners from Agri-Supply. They are about $8 plus shipping, and they put out 174,000 BTUs. You might be able to use your existing regulator and hose, plus the stand. We use two of them on our 55 gallon system, and they will bring up 40 gallons of water to about 140 or 150 degrees in under an hour, depending on the ambient temperature. When they are cranked up all the way, it sounds like a jet.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip on the cheap burner parts. I will look into this further.

wilserbrewer said:

Ok, sorry if I am outside the box here, but how about sticking an electric element in your kettle and saving money on propane? Perhaps a bare bones E-kettle can be done for the price a burner???

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Ok, I have seen people talk about this but I have done NO research on electric brewing. How much for an element? Would it be 110v or 220v? (I have 220v plug in garage so not a big deal) could I install element in existing kettle easily/cheaply?

Love my 60,000 BTU Camp Chef burners. I get about four 7.5 gal batches out of a tank.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000ASCU9/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I have the Blichmann. It was an xmas gift. But love it and couldn't see using anything else. Nothing against the Banjo, just haven't used it.

I just had a birthday and was given the Blichmann burner, I showed my family the Bayou SQ14, the hurricane burner, and the blichmann. They didn't want to deal with shipping and found the Blichmann at the LHBS. Excited to brew on this, possibly this week.

Another vote for the KAB4. Its a beast.

Update on this:

I was given the Blichmann burner for my birthday, mainly because it was the only decent burner my family could find. I have already done 2 batches with it and it's awesome. Seems to be be burning very efficient, I can turn it way down and still maintain a good boil with a clean light blue flame.

Can anyone tell me why I shouldn't just keep the oxygen valve wide open on the burner?

If your referring to the small flap that spins (where the hose connects to the burner), I believe it just gives you the ability to fine tune your output. If I open mine all the way, my flame goes out...

1KD1 said:

If your referring to the small flap that spins (where the hose connects to the burner), I believe it just gives you the ability to fine tune your output. If I open mine all the way, my flame goes out...

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Yes, it's not really a valve, the slide that regulates air flow into the burner

So have you tried it yet? I don't have a blichmann, just the bass pro shops fish fryer with a 6" burner conversion from agri-supply. It boils faster than the OEM burner but if I open the slide too much , it will blow the flame out.

I am curious to hear how it works with your burner setup...