First AG this weekend!

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D2T

Brew Monkey
Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
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Location
Morristown, NJ
Woohoo! Finally got my KAB4 Banjo Cooker and new stock pot. I must say, that burner is pretty awe-inspiring and after testing it out I'm sure it'll be worth the $$. Got everything I can think of ready for Sunday, so hopefully it all goes smoothly...the real question is why I'm not brewing today :drunk:


I'll post my progress and maybe a few pics (if i can get my stupid camera battery to charge). Wish me luck!
 
Good luck, and welcome to the final stage of the addiction. Just plan ahead and stay relaxed, the beer will be great!

:rockin:
 
D2T said:
Woohoo! Finally got my KAB4 Banjo Cooker and new stock pot. I must say, that burner is pretty awe-inspiring and after testing it out I'm sure it'll be worth the $$. Got everything I can think of ready for Sunday, so hopefully it all goes smoothly...the real question is why I'm not brewing today :drunk:


I'll post my progress and maybe a few pics (if i can get my stupid camera battery to charge). Wish me luck!

Cool! Welcome to the Club, the All Grain Club! Post some pics of that cooker! I ordered one last week from Amazon so hopefully I'll be brewing a hefe with it next weekend.
 
Here ya go Ed. I've read a few posts about the regulator on this beast being touchy, but so far I haven't noticed anything like that. Seems very controllable and it stays where I set it.

4083-0331071345.jpg


4083-0331071346.jpg
 
I need one of those...the burner I use is a center burner..I get a lot of hot spots and boiling/splashing around the center..some scorching as well but not too bad. It does bring it up to boil fairly quick though...probably 30 minutes to boil. How fast does this one bring it up?



Dan
 
Whoa, nice! Can I ask how much that set you back?? I've been thinking of raplacing my blowtorch burner from a turkey fryer........
 
I bought it from the same place I got my stockpot, but you can find it cheaper at homedepot.com or amazon.com. It'll run somewhere between $60-$70.

As far as boil time, I'll let you know tomorrow when I get to try it out :rockin:

I bought mine from lacrawfish.com and got it in a week. A few bucks more though.
 
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That's sexy. I need to upgrade my POS turkey fryer burner sometime soon too. That might be a good option.

-D
 
Yeah, I figured it was worth the $$ just to have an even dispersal of heat.

I've been running water through my mash tun all day just to make it doesn't leak and my SS braid is all cleaned out......I'm half tempted to start tonight but SWMBO has me in the bathroom with joint compound fixing the walls so she can paint....bah.
 
D2T said:
Yeah, I figured it was worth the $$ just to have an even dispersal of heat.

I've been running water through my mash tun all day just to make it doesn't leak and my SS braid is all cleaned out......I'm half tempted to start tonight but SWMBO has me in the bathroom with joint compound fixing the walls so she can paint....bah.

You can joint compound while you're mashing! =)

-D (Enabler)
 
I'm working on my first all grain right now... but I'm doing it on the kitchen stove. No propane burner sexyness for me... :p
 
Buford said:
I'm working on my first all grain right now... but I'm doing it on the kitchen stove. No propane burner sexyness for me... :p

Good luck and let us know how it goes!
 
D2T said:
Here ya go Ed. I've read a few posts about the regulator on this beast being touchy, but so far I haven't noticed anything like that. Seems very controllable and it stays where I set it.

Sweet! Mine arrived from Amazon today. Whoo Hoo! I made a YouTube video of it. I'll post it as soon as it's done processing. That puppy rocks!

Update: Here's my video

Give it a while to process. Youtube takes an hour some times.
 
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Don said:
I like that burner.. What size is it?
I think it is a 10" burner. Here's what the Bayou Class folks say

The Kick A Banjo Outdoor Propane Stove is one of the hottest high pressure propane stoves on the market. This high pressure propane stove includes a 30 PSI regulator kit. This propane stove, with the 30 PSI regulator and the large round stove element, kicks out the minimum of 210,000 BTUs. This stove will boil a 120 quart stock pot full of water in no time! (Perfect for those Cajuns that want to play with the big boys!) It has a 17" x 17" cooking surface which helps maximize its strong stable design. Perfect for large batch cooking, backyards, camps, RVs, tailgating, scouting and more.

They forgot to add Brewing Beer to the list :D
 
Well, I just did my mash-in and everything went super-smoothly (except for my beagle constantly wanting to know what was in the cooler) :rockin: Hit my target of 154F on the nose. Now the hardest part. The waiting...
 
roughly 15-20 min on the boil. I start my burner while Im sparging so it's pretty fast. the best piece of equip I own, besides the wort chiller.
 
Yeah, it took 10-20 mins for me to get a full boil going. Much faster than before. In my book it's already paid for itself.
 
Well, brew day is over and I'm satisfied with the results...given the number of unknowns I had to deal with:

1. new burner
2. new, larger stockpot
3. 1st all grain

Apparently I miscalculated how much I'd lose to evaporation during the boiling (maybe the burner was on too high?) so I came up about 2/3 of a gallon short of my target. Not too bad though since after topping it off I still managed to hit my target OG. Actually I overshot it by about .02....but it's a learning experience and I definitely have a few lessons learned to go over for next time.

Which is going to be in two weeks I'd say. I got that itch :D
 
That happened to me my first few brews. Was hitting my target dead on after topping off, but was seeing much much higher evaporation than I wanted.

Just run off more wort into the kettle and you're golden. =) I tend to collect around 8G of wort for a 90 minute boil now.

-D
 
Yeah, I'm also going to make a measuring "stick" so I can tell how much liquid I have in my brewpot as the boil progresses. I can always throw the lid on when I get close to my target. The stockpot is 63qt, so I have almost no chance of boilover with/without the lid.
 
D2T said:
Yeah, I'm also going to make a measuring "stick" so I can tell how much liquid I have in my brewpot as the boil progresses. I can always throw the lid on when I get close to my target. The stockpot is 63qt, so I have almost no chance of boilover with/without the lid.

Just make sure you account for the space your chiller takes up when you put it in for the last 15 minutes. I did not think about that when I make my little etchings in the pot with my dremel.
 
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