Blichmann vs Bubba burner

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jaylaforte

Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2012
Messages
18
Reaction score
0
I'm looking to buy a new burner for 10 gallon batches and was pretty much set to go Blichmann until a friend introduced me to Bubba's Barrels burner (http://www.bubbasbarrels.com/55-gallon-single-burner-stand-pre-order).

I can't find much information on Bubba's burner other than the blog and video posted on the site so I was wondering if anyone here had any good info about it. I'm not sure if it's overkill for my needs currently but it would also be nice to know that I can go to a 55 gallon boil in the future.

Thanks for any input!
 
I like my blichman burner. Low pressure is the way to go. High pressure will make u waste propane
 
Just looking at the BTU's and the fact it states its designed for 42-55 gallon batches, i def think it'd be overkill. I have a Blichmann and it sips fuel and does a great job of bringing my stuff to a boil very quickly. Blichmann's site says it will get a full ten gallon batch from 68 to boiling in around 40 minutes but mine def does it faster then that, especially if i keep the lid on my keggle.

Im sure the Bubba would prob get ur stuff rolling a bit faster but i don't think it'll make a big enough difference to be beneficial with regards to how much fuel u will use per batch.
 
Thanks for the great (and quick) feedback! Considering I don't plan on doing 55 gallon boils for quite some time I'm going to go with Blichmann.

Thanks again!!
 
My boils take longer..I try to control the heat escaping from the sides. .. but the low pressure burners saves a lot of fuel. You will call BS on how long one of my tanks last. Its unbelievable.

My ten and under gallon burner uses five inch diameter low pressure one I bought from a sporting goods store for ten bucks and replaced the turkey burner on the stand. Its rated 55k btu and my Blich is 75ish. I love the stand on the blich, worth the extra money.
 
First, the Blichmann burners as sold are configured for high-pressure gas (0-10 psi - way above "low pressure", which is around .4 psi).

Second, high pressure or low pressure is not what "wastes gas". What wastes gas is poor combustion, a mis-match between burner and kettle, or user error.

Third, the Bubba Burner appears to use the same BG-14 "banjo burner" element as the Blichmann.

Finally, the Bubba stand looks like it's optimized for full barrels. Not sure how well that will work with a 15 to 20 gallon kettle or keggle. But for sure a lot of that black paint is going to burn off in short order, while the Blichmann is all stainless steel...

Cheers!
 
I was looking at the capacity and the price of the Bubba Burner. The burner looks like it is designed for way more capacity than I would ever need. Secondly, it's price makes the Blichmann look inexpensive. This is interesting given that many people complain that the Blichmann is too expensive.

Finally I really do like the two Blichmanns that I have

Mark
 
I will hopefully be getting the Blichmann as a birthday gift today. I brewed 15 gallons yesterday and it took about two hours on my current burner to get the strike water from 58 up to 178 (I mash with a 70qt cooler and the 178 drops to 150 when added to cooler and grain).

If Blichmann's website information is correct it looks like I could've accomplished the same task in a little over 20 minutes with their burner... Can't wait to report back on its performance. I also can't wait to shave some serious time off my brew day!

Thanks again for everyone's feedback - I appreciate it!
 
Just got a nice birthday surprise in the mail! I'm blown away by the build quality of the Blichmann burner... If you're curious - I took a picture of the burner I was using (a friend's turkey fryer burner) as well as the Blichmann. The beer behind the Blichmann burner is Yooper's 60 min randallized with whole leaf Simcoe hops to celebrate the new beer gear!

before.jpg


after.jpg
 
I posted a video about Bubba's Burners at my website (the one in my signature). It's pretty much the same banjo burner, but the regulator makes all the difference. The Blichmann regulators are garbage. You can get a better one at Wal-mart. The regulator I got from Bubba changed my brewing life. Full rolling boils in a fraction of the time of Blichmann's regulator.
Anyway Bubba has great equipment. I'm lucky enough to be only a few miles away from him, and he's building me a custom prototype modular brew stand. I can't wait!
 
I posted a video about Bubba's Burners at my website (the one in my signature). It's pretty much the same banjo burner, but the regulator makes all the difference. The Blichmann regulators are garbage. You can get a better one at Wal-mart. The regulator I got from Bubba changed my brewing life. Full rolling boils in a fraction of the time of Blichmann's regulator.
Anyway Bubba has great equipment. I'm lucky enough to be only a few miles away from him, and he's building me a custom prototype modular brew stand. I can't wait!

Just curious, but why don't u like the regulators from Blichmann? When u say u get the full rolling boils with the Bubba regulator, do u mean its a bubba burner and regulator or is a it a blichmann burner with bubba reg? Also how much fuel are u going thru?
 
Bubba's regulator, Blichmann's banjo burner. I do big batches between 20 and 40 gallons at a time with my 55 gallon brew pot. That little blichmann regulator is only 10 psi. It doesn't provide enough power to bring to boil in a timely manner. With Bubba's regulator at 20-25 psi, I can get 20 gallons of 45 degree water up to mash temps within 10 minutes. I got through almost a whole regular size hardware store propane bottle per brew day.
 
Bubba's regulator, Blichmann's banjo burner. I do big batches between 20 and 40 gallons at a time with my 55 gallon brew pot. That little blichmann regulator is only 10 psi. It doesn't provide enough power to bring to boil in a timely manner. With Bubba's regulator at 20-25 psi, I can get 20 gallons of 45 degree water up to mash temps within 10 minutes. I got through almost a whole regular size hardware store propane bottle per brew day.

Gotcha. Ur the first person ive heard say anything negative about a blichmann product (except cost) so I was curious what u meant. Im still only doing 5-10 gallon batches so im fine with the times im seeing but if I ever upgrade to bigger batches, i'll remember what u said about that regulator. Thanks!
 
"Bubba" uses the same BG-14 burner but with a 0-30psi regulator. Makes sense, considering that stand of his is built for really big batches. He uses a POL type (good - no ACME valve to trigger) but it's priced at twice the market (bad).

That much capacity is way overkill for 10 gallon batches - just like Bubba's Burner (which specifically was designed for 40+ gallon kettles)...

Cheers!

[edit for accuracy]
 
Bubba's regulator, Blichmann's banjo burner. I do big batches between 20 and 40 gallons at a time with my 55 gallon brew pot. That little blichmann regulator is only 10 psi. It doesn't provide enough power to bring to boil in a timely manner. With Bubba's regulator at 20-25 psi, I can get 20 gallons of 45 degree water up to mash temps within 10 minutes. I got through almost a whole regular size hardware store propane bottle per brew day.

So you use almost 20# of propane per brew day?!? Yikes! I'm moving up to 20 gal batches soon... might need a bigger tank.
 
So you use almost 20# of propane per brew day?!? Yikes! I'm moving up to 20 gal batches soon... might need a bigger tank.

With a ten psi burner... you will get a few brews out of one tank if you keep the burner in the proper settings.
 
Back
Top