Today I was testing out my equipment before I do my first brewday with this equipment next week. I use the 10 gal megapot and a turkey fryer burner. It took 1hr and 45 min to get 6.5 gallons to boil. Is that normal? I want to do full boils and figured 6.5 would be enough to cover my boil loss.
Norhtern Brewer Megapot boil time?
- Thread starter joshbhs04
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sidepart
Well-Known Member
That's a long time. Is the pot stainless steel or aluminum? Is the turkey fryer burner meant for a specific sized pot? Maybe the flame isn't close enough to the bottom of your pot?
It was very hard for me to get a rolling boil with a 7 gallon stainless steel pot on my stove. It would probably take 1.5hrs and barely get up to a rolling boil. My aluminum pot which is 8 gallons does a TON better (maybe 1 hour on the stove?). Supplement that with a heat stick and I get up to a rolling boil within 30 minutes usually.
It was very hard for me to get a rolling boil with a 7 gallon stainless steel pot on my stove. It would probably take 1.5hrs and barely get up to a rolling boil. My aluminum pot which is 8 gallons does a TON better (maybe 1 hour on the stove?). Supplement that with a heat stick and I get up to a rolling boil within 30 minutes usually.
Its stainless, the burner is meant for a smaller turkey fryer im guessing, it works fine when I use it to fry up turkeys. May need to upgrade my burner.
That's quite a while to take getting up to boil. I can get 12 gallons up to boiling in a sanke kettle using a turkey fryer in about 45 minutes. It takes roughly 30 to get a 6.5 gallon batch up and running. Measure the distance from burner to bottom of kettle, should be around 3-4 inches. Also, what type of burner is it? There are the Jet engine sounding types and there are the multiple flame types. The jet engine burners hit around 55,000 btu and the multi flame types top out at about 35,000 on the small ones. The big Blickman however is a multi flame type, but it covers the whole kettle and rocks the heat, like 100,000 btu. Anyways, double check the operating pressure too, if its regulated for cng or lng. Good luck. New jet type burners are $15.00, and a bayou classic braided line hose and regulator will run you about $30.
I kind of had a similar problem with my turkey fryer and my 10 gallon pot, the pot diameter was blocking airflow so the heat couldn't get too the pot real well.
I took a grate out of my smoker and put on top of the fryer to allow the heat to rise up around the pot, that fixed the problem.
I took a grate out of my smoker and put on top of the fryer to allow the heat to rise up around the pot, that fixed the problem.
The burner is definatley too far from the pot, maybe I will try to mod it! If not, ill try and find a new one that has a wider seat for the pot. It is a jet sounding one and the flame is concentrated in the middle of the pot, I figured that was a major cause for this isssue.
So, tonight I found a way to possibly fix this. I took off the burner peice and flipped it over on the bracket. The frame for the burner has more than enough support to turn it over. Now, instead of 8-9 in from the pot it will be 2-3 in. Ill do a test tomorrow to see if I get an improvement, if not new burner time!
Good deal. Just a couple of comments in safety. Your pot is now much closer to the flame, therefore at full blast, the oxygen is getting sucked out of the room and the flame is spread across the bottom of your pot and it may get RED hot on you, this could also scorch things inside and out, so throw a thermometer in there and monitor your progress. 2) the burner is closer to the metal frame holding everything up. If that metal, particularly the legs get too hot, you'll have a massive dump of hot wort and steel coming at you or at the very least get exciting when your not looking.
This sounds a little worrysome I know. What you are doing is essentially keeping yourself in homebrew until you can upgrade the burner. Just be mindful of the burner making contact with the metal around it when its blazing away.
This of course is a first hand account of how to lose your favorite beer, dent the car, melt your shoe and lose your ability to boil all at once. It was a Thanksgiving nite for me and it was horrible. The very next weekend I picked up some scrap metal, took my burners and built a very sturdy tower around them. Never looked back. But I'll never forget the carnage of that night and how lucky I really was. Did I mentio that when it tipped over the flame was still roaring and pointed directly at my wood storage rack! It could have been the brew that brought the house down!
This sounds a little worrysome I know. What you are doing is essentially keeping yourself in homebrew until you can upgrade the burner. Just be mindful of the burner making contact with the metal around it when its blazing away.
This of course is a first hand account of how to lose your favorite beer, dent the car, melt your shoe and lose your ability to boil all at once. It was a Thanksgiving nite for me and it was horrible. The very next weekend I picked up some scrap metal, took my burners and built a very sturdy tower around them. Never looked back. But I'll never forget the carnage of that night and how lucky I really was. Did I mentio that when it tipped over the flame was still roaring and pointed directly at my wood storage rack! It could have been the brew that brought the house down!
Wow, Thankfully after some reconsideration last night I had already decided to wait and get a new burner. Just had a bad feeling about it. Thanks for the insight though and im gald to hear you made it out ok!
milesvdustin
Well-Known Member
Get a bayou classic sp2 burner. I have one and its insane in its heating ability. Sounds like my boil kettle is about to fly to the moon.
Just ordered the bayou kab4! I think that should get the job done haha.
SDVmnt
Active Member
If you have any type of fab skills, this 2-3" from the bottom of the pot, makes for about a very efficient and quick boil.
http://www.agrisupply.com/Bg-High-Pressure-Cast-Iron-Burner/p/64494/&sid=&eid=/
Is also very quiet.
http://www.agrisupply.com/Bg-High-Pressure-Cast-Iron-Burner/p/64494/&sid=&eid=/
Is also very quiet.
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