How many BTU for a full boil?

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jldc

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I have a side burner on my outside gas grill that's rated at 17,000 BTU. This 1/3 or less of the ratings of most of the propane burners I've seen.

Is is possible/practical to do a full boil with a burner like this, given outside temps in the 50's?

I may just pick up a turkey fryer after Thanksgiving, but maybe not if the burner I have will work.

Thanks
 
Is it even practical to have over 60-70lbs of boiling wort resting on the edge of your grill (not including the weight of the kettle)? I doubt the grill burner will be able to get the job done anyway.
 
I have the same burner on the side of my grill. I used it for my first every batch.

I did a partial boil (3 gallons boiled) and it was a bit of a disaster. It took over and hour to get the water up to a very light bubble, never got the rolling boil that you want. Second I couldn't fit my pot all the way down onto the grate because of the width of my pot.

Lastly I used an obscene amount of gas because it took so long to boil. I figure if I had this much trouble with the 3 gallon batch I might never get a 5 to boil at all.

I borrowed a turkey fryer for my 2nd batch and was much happier with the speed and aggressiveness of the boil, but still would like something bigger as I brew my first full boil next week (nut brown from northern brewer). I suppose I'll get by with the turkey fryer burner but in the spring I'll probably splurge on a banjo or hurricane or something similar.
 
Turkey fryer FTW!!!

Not only because they are relatively cheap and you can use them for other things, like actually frying turkeys, but I would hate to hear "So my brew kettle fell off my grill and I was bathed in hot wort...."

My $.02

I think my t.f. is somewhere around 55k BTU's (Old King Kooker purchased years ago) and I got 6 gallons boiling in a decent time...

:mug:
 
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