Newbie burner question

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wskee

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I just converted from partial mash to all grain and in the process purchased a 10 gallon polar brew kettle to replace the 5 gal I had. I have a Bayou Classic SP50 propane burner that could get 5 gallons raging in my old pot but with 7 gallons in the polar, the burner could not keep the boil going more than a weak simmer.
I was in the garage and it was a cold day but the garage was 40 or so. I had no idea that my burner would not be able to do the job.
What does everyone like for burners? I am using a normal 20 gallon grill tank and a tall SP50 Bayou burner but I would like to convert to something else.
http://www.bayouclassicdepot.com/sp50_propane_burner.htm thanks for any advice!
 
I absolutely love my blichmann. Bought one 4 batches ago and have not looked back. The thing is worth the investment.
 
I brew with 3 friends. We have 1 turkey burner:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000BXHL0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 (this one works fine for 15 gallon batches)
1 fish fry burner, go it from bass pro shop. It only has 5 psi but can get the 15 gallons going.

1 actual brewing burner (I think), it's a nice bayou. IMHO I'm not sold on the bigger expensive burners. What we did is get a heat stick. Toss that in there with the burner, boom, it's on. Plus one of the guys sometimes makes extract on his stove and this is his way to get it to boil for 5 gallons.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
wskee said:
I just converted from partial mash to all grain and in the process purchased a 10 gallon polar brew kettle to replace the 5 gal I had. I have a Bayou Classic SP50 propane burner that could get 5 gallons raging in my old pot but with 7 gallons in the polar, the burner could not keep the boil going more than a weak simmer.
I was in the garage and it was a cold day but the garage was 40 or so. I had no idea that my burner would not be able to do the job.
What does everyone like for burners? I am using a normal 20 gallon grill tank and a tall SP50 Bayou burner but I would like to convert to something else.
http://www.bayouclassicdepot.com/sp50_propane_burner.htm thanks for any advice!
Click to expand...

I went to the green Acme nut and to a 0-20psi regulator and my turkey fryer cast iron burner is a monster now.
 
I got a Bayou Classic KAB6 and couldn't be happier. A bit more money than the average burner, but is constructed well and has zero problems with pumping out the heat. I brewed in 24 degrees yesterday and I reached boil in about average time.

I might also suggest a tube-style propane heater for your garage. Makes brewing on those cold days quite a pleasant experience and will help keep the ambient temps around the kettle reasonable. If you experience cold winters, it will find many uses.
 
helibrewer said:
I went to the green Acme nut and to a 0-20psi regulator and my turkey fryer cast iron burner is a monster now.
Click to expand...

This. Change out your regulator, no need to buy a new burner. This thing will scream. I routinely do 8 gallon boils on mine, I have to turn it down to avoid excess boil-off.

I got an adjustable 0-30 psi regulator and a rubber type propane hose at Menards. I needed to get a orifice to match the thread on the hose. You can get orifi (orifices?) and all the other parts here at tejassmokers.com, or even buy a fully assembled adjustable regulator there. I can vouch for them, I have ordered from them multiple times.
 
I have the SP10 (short version) and I couldn't be happier with it through 5 AG batches. Make sure your hose it screwed tightly onto the propane tank. I had a few instances where I was getting a very low flame and thought I was running out of fuel, but it turned out that the connector just needed to be tightened.
 
I agree with the rest.
Check your regulator - 55k BTU should be plenty to get that amount boiling.
I have this hunk a junk and I can get 6.5 gallons in a 10 gal SS kettle from mash temp to boil in about 30-45 minutes on full blast.
Comes with an aluminum pot as an added bonus.
I drilled a hole in the pot and threw in a valve and use it as an HLT.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone! I am going to try and switch the regulator out and go from there. I did check all hoses and hookups and everything seems fine. Hopefully a few upgrades will do the trick.
 
wskee said:
Thanks for the advice everyone! I am going to try and switch the regulator out and go from there. I did check all hoses and hookups and everything seems fine. Hopefully a few upgrades will do the trick.
Click to expand...

Tejas Smokers is a great site and they have everything. They will assemble for you if you make a note on your order.
 
One other thing, did you adjust your air/flame mixture so that the tips of the flame were blue? That will get you more heat from the regulator you have. You might try that before swapping it out.

If you decide to swap it out, something like this will work (assuming you just want to hook the regulator right up to the burner and not to a manifold):

Regulator #COM2 on this page
orifice #ATW-61 on this page

It took me a while to figure these parts out. Hope it helps.
 

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