Banjo Cooker boil time

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AleHole

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Today I just did a test boil on my new Banjo Cooker and Keggle. It took me approximately 1/2 hour to achieve a full boil with 6.5 gallons of water. How long does it take for others out there. Also what do you find to be the most efficient flame adjustment when trying to achieve a full boil before you turn the heat down?
 
I just got a 210K BTU Banjo cooker for Christmas (best girlfriend ever). The brews I've done with it take very little time to get 6 gallons boiling in my keggle. I didn't time it, but I'd say it's under 30 minutes... maybe 15?

What temp. is the water you're starting with?

I actually managed to almost boilover my keggle with this thing. I had the lid on to aid in coming up to boil. Foamed up to the very top of the keggle.
 
It's been maybe fifteen minutes, tops, from mash temps to boiling. Probably more like ten or twelve, and that's without having it run full-bore. I've never started with cold water, though (I've been doing my mash water on the stove still).
 
OK, all those numbers seem about right. My water was approx 55* F. So I guess 30 minutes is pretty good for 6.5 gallons. That Banjo Burner rocks. Its so quiet and my keggle fits on there perfect and stable. The price is right too. I will probably get another one so I don't have to keep moving my HLT and boil kettle.
 
Is that the big nasty from Amazon for $60? I love mine.

My 10-15 min boil time was from mash temps, too, BTW.
 
AleHole said:
Also what do you find to be the most efficient flame adjustment when trying to achieve a full boil before you turn the heat down?


You should rotate your air intake plate until you get nothing but nice blue flames. You shouldn't need to turn the heat down. You want as vigorous a boil as possible for the entire boil period.
 
My burner can bring about 10 gallons of 65 deg. water to a boil in roughly 20 minutes.

I'm still doing 10 gallon extract batches, so the grains in a 3 gallon pot and the "sparge" water in a 2 gallon pot on the stove at approx. 160 deg. by the time I dump the extract and grain liquor in the keggle. A few more minutes of flame and I'm rolling a mad boil.

My propane regulator is rated at 30 p.s.i. (adjustable), and most I've seen are only 10. I use a needle valve to fine tune the flame during the boil, and I think the burner is rated at 200K b.t.u. @ 30 p.s.i.

I didn't get mine here, but this place has some seriously high ratings on regs & burners: http://www.tejassmokers.com/
 
erbiumyag said:
You want as vigorous a boil as possible for the entire boil period.

Not necessarily. It is possible to boil off too vigorously, and unless you have a reason to want a huge evaporation rate (like making a huge beer), your hops will get beaten up plenty with a normal, moderately-aggressive boil. I don't see the need to put the thing on full-bore; in fact, once it is up to boil, the gas only needs to be barely on to maintain a pretty vigorous boil.
 
Yeah, my burner ("The Burninator"), runs full blast until I get the full boil... then I just turn it down a bit, and it maintains a good rolling boil. I almost expected it to burn through an entire propane tank in one brewday.... but so far it's done pretty good.
 
bobbyc said:
Yeah, my burner ("The Burninator"), runs full blast until I get the full boil... then I just turn it down a bit, and it maintains a good rolling boil. I almost expected it to burn through an entire propane tank in one brewday.... but so far it's done pretty good.

I went through about half a tank on my first batch, when I was way more aggressive than I needed to be. Since, I've dialed it back to *just enough* for a roiling boil, and I seem to be on pace for at least four, maybe 60-minute boils per tank.
 
the_bird said:
I went through about half a tank on my first batch, when I was way more aggressive than I needed to be. Since, I've dialed it back to *just enough* for a roiling boil, and I seem to be on pace for at least four, maybe 60-minute boils per tank.
That seems on par with what I get with my Camp Chef cooker - I usually get 3 batches out of a tank, and then move the tank over to the grill to be finished up. I also pre-heat my sparge water and mash water on the cooker - I think you might have said you use your stove for that, though - I could be wrong. I just find I'm always changing out the grill tank because it is never a full tank - drive my wife nuts! What I really need to do is buy another tank, so I'll always have an extra.
 
I bought an extra tank at Costco there other day for about $19. I figured it was cheap insurance. I would hate to run out of gas in the middle of a brew session. Also yesterday when brewing it was pretty windy here and it took me almost an hour to get 8 gallons to boil from 56*F water temp. That wind really effects the performance of the burner by blowing the flame all over the place. No more brewing in the wind for me.
 
With 2 gal. in one pot and 4.5 in another, I'm going from mashout to boil in about half an hour on an ELECTRIC RANGE! Granted I never get that roaring boil I imagine you could get with the Banjo, I'm kind of dissapointed hearing about the performance of the Banjo.
 
UTDoug said:
I'm kind of dissapointed hearing about the performance of the Banjo.

Don't misunderstand me about the Banjo Burner. This burner really rocks. I can get 8 gallons of 50*F water to a vigorous boil in 30-35 minutes. The wind will have an effect on any propane burner especially as hard as it was blowing the other day, and I did not set anything up to shield the burner from it thats why it took so long.
 
I bought a keggle and burner from my LHBS and was assured that I could reach a boil in 15-20 minutes. I did a test run with ground water (fairly cold--70* outside temp.) and took almost an hour to reach boil for 7 gallons. My burner is rated at 64k BTU's. I probably would not have purchased this if I knew there was a burner out there that had 210k BTU's.

FWIW I paid too much money for equipment that I have yet to use.
 
I boil 15-20 gallons in less than 20 minutes with the "Mega Burner" in my signature. I can bring it down to about 50% once boiling has begun and still maintain a pretty vigorous boil. That thing kicks ass!
 
has anyone modified their bayou classic burner from costco so that a keg can be a bit more stable on top of it?
 
I'm able to find a stable spot for it. I have shake the top of the keg and it doesn't move. It would just be nice to have a little extra room just in case it gets bumped.
 
My keggle just barely fits on the banjo cooker. It might have 1/2" of extra room on each side. I'm considering welding some extra metal up the sides a couple inches to prevent any problems if something was to bump into it.
 
The stand for my burner is plenty stable, if I could change the burner part to upgrade to 210k BTU's then mine would be perfect.
 
Metal shrouds around the bottom of the kettle can help with the wind, and a roll of 6" steel flashing and a couple rivets is a few bucks at Home Depot.

I think most everyone who feels they got chiseled on their 35K btu burners should look into a higher psi regulator first. Most of the super -high btu burners I've seen all look identical; it's the pressure rating that kicks out the gas to get the heat.

Read this burner description:
http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=15766

(especially this part)
Camp Chef recently (1-2 years ago) changed the regulator to 10PSI max causing them to de-rate this burner to 60K BTUs (it used to be rated at 125,000 btu's). We tested one of the new burner and regulator combinations and were able to boil 10 gallons of water from 66F in 35 minutes.

These are the highest rated regulators I've seen on-line, and their adjustable (get at least the 20 psi)
http://www.tejassmokers.com/gasregulators.htm

...and if you still think it's a problem with the burner it's self...
http://www.tejassmokers.com/castironburners.htm

Oh yeah, I also keep 2 bbq size tanks on hand just in case one poops out during a boil. I usually get about 5 or 6 10 gallon batches out of 1 tank. 5lb. or 5 cu. ft. I think(?)
 
the_bird said:
Not necessarily. It is possible to boil off too vigorously, and unless you have a reason to want a huge evaporation rate (like making a huge beer), your hops will get beaten up plenty with a normal, moderately-aggressive boil. I don't see the need to put the thing on full-bore; in fact, once it is up to boil, the gas only needs to be barely on to maintain a pretty vigorous boil.

I don't necessarily buy into this. You want as vigorous of a boil as possible to drive off DMS production.


todd_k said:
has anyone modified their bayou classic burner from costco so that a keg can be a bit more stable on top of it?

Put a circular grill grate over the burner stand and set your kettle on it. I did that for months before I had the rig.
 
Dude said:
I don't necessarily buy into this. You want as vigorous of a boil as possible to drive off DMS production.

Pretty sure it was your buddy Kai who I learned that from. Honestly, I don;t go any more hardcore than I do because I don't want to waste fuel. Once I get my sight glass installed, I'll be able to figure out my actual evaporation rate and then have a better sense of exactly how vigorous my boil really is. "Plenty," I'm confident the answer is.
 
the_bird said:
Pretty sure it was your buddy Kai who I learned that from.

I'd like to read this. Do you remember where it is/was?

I don't know much about Kai--but I know he is ANAL about DMS. I'm sure if anyone knows about a hard boil it is him....
 
I can't find it, and I'm not positive it was Kai - but it was something that stuck with me, because it was one of the brewers here whose information I internalize. Malliard reactions, IIRC. I'll look more later.
 
the_bird said:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=18787&highlight=%22evaporation+rate%22

Starting at post #6.

Does my memory friggin' rock, or what? ;)

EDIT: Post #12 has some good information to remember, as well....
EDIT 2: I'm taking Post 12 for my sig... :D

:D

Thanks for finding the post(s).

Ok...let's discuss this now.

Nowhere in that post does it say a vigorous boil is not good. He is stating too much heat too fast can scorch the wort. That is 100% true.

BUT...

You want a very strong boil to drive off DMS porduction--which means you should be boiling off 1-1.5 gallons/hour. If you aren't doing that--your beer will suffer.

Trust me, chill fast, and boil hard, and you won't get DMS. And even though you don't taste it in your beer, a trained judge may. I know a judge that can not only taste and smell diacetyl, but the ****er can see it too!!!!!

Just a hint from old uncle dude.
 
.... and I never said that vigorous was bad, either... just that it was possible for the boil to be TOO vigorous (which is really the same thing as applying too high a thermal load, as far as I can see). I haven't measured my evaporation rate yet (sight tube is waiting to be installed to better measure kettle volume), but I'm pretty sure I'm right around the 15% level that I want to be at. Any more than that, I'm probably wasting fuel, and too much higher than that, the beer could theoretically suffer.
 
I did.........
grain003.jpg
 
I mounted the burner to a length of 6" 20g flat metal and then attached it to my otherwise unmodified turkey fryer stand. Works great, but if you buy just the burner from Amazon, the hi-pressure reg. is not included.
 
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