I need a new burner! Help me out.

My turkey fryer burner is on its last leg. The timer is starting to malfunction, and I'm stuck restarting the finicky burner several times in a brew day, and I'm just waiting for the day that it won't restart. So, I'm in the market for a new burner.

I only do 5-6 gallon AG batches with about 8 or so gallons of wort in the kettle. I don't want to spend more than $70, so I know the Blichmann burners are the cat's meow and all, but that's outside of my price range, so no need to suggest one.

I've been looking at these three:

Bayou Classic SP2

Bayou Classic SQ14

Bayou Classic SP10

The SP2 sounds like it will save me some time on my brew day with getting the water/wort to temperature much more quickly than my current 55,000 BTU setup. However, the reviewers on Amazon seem to all note that it uses a lot of propane and there is a ton of soot left behind. The SP10 and SQ14 will be similar to what I already have in terms of heating power. The SP10 seems far more popular, but the SQ14 seems to be less sooty and more efficient in terms of propane usage, at least that seems to be what I took away from the users' reviews.

So anyhow, what do you guys say? Anyone have any of these burners and could comment on what they like/dislike about them? Or does anyone have any other suggestions for burners?

I recently picked up the Dark Star burner from Northern Brewer for free during one of their sales(spend $125 and get a free burner). I get a full boil going using the Dark Star burner faster than my Bayou Classic, I highly recommend it and for $49 dollars you can't go wrong!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/the-dark-star-burner.html?gclid=COXNhoOBzLwCFckWMgodx38AKQ

I've got an SP10 and it works fine with the 5 gallon batches I currently brew. However, if I had to do it again...and if I buy a 2nd burner in the future...I'd probably go for a KAB4.

I have an SP10. It is a LOT hotter than my turkey fryer burner. I get about five or six 5 gallon batches per tank of propane using both burners.

I have 0 soot problem from either one.

The Dark Star looks very similar to the SP10 and is about the same price. It started at $39. Then there was at least one sale like mrdauber64 said. Maybe there will be another??

The Darkstar burner uses a BG10 type "cup burner". Most of the turkey fryers also use this same burner. Before you toss yours, remove the center of your burner and see if there is anything blocking the inside of the burner, then take action with the timer. Most just turn the knob way past the end point, and the timer is defeated. I am not advocating this method, this is only what I have heard people say.

mrdauber64 said:

I recently picked up the Dark Star burner from Northern Brewer for free during one of their sales(spend $125 and get a free burner). I get a full boil going using the Dark Star burner faster than my Bayou Classic, I highly recommend it and for $49 dollars you can't go wrong!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/the-dark-star-burner.html?gclid=COXNhoOBzLwCFckWMgodx38AKQ

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Thanks for the suggestion!

jcoxen said:

I've got an SP10 and it works fine with the 5 gallon batches I currently brew. However, if I had to do it again...and if I buy a 2nd burner in the future...I'd probably go for a KAB4.

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This one is only slightly over my price range, and looks really good... But there were a lot of negative reviews due to poor quality control on the KAB4. That has me worried.

kh54s10 said:

I have an SP10. It is a LOT hotter than my turkey fryer burner. I get about five or six 5 gallon batches per tank of propane using both burners.

I have 0 soot problem from either one.

The Dark Star looks very similar to the SP10 and is about the same price. It started at $39. Then there was at least one sale like mrdauber64 said. Maybe there will be another??

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That's pretty good getting that many batches out of one tank of propane. Are these five gallon all grain batches?

MindenMan said:

The Darkstar burner uses a BG10 type "cup burner". Most of the turkey fryers also use this same burner. Before you toss yours, remove the center of your burner and see if there is anything blocking the inside of the burner, then take action with the timer. Most just turn the knob way past the end point, and the timer is defeated. I am not advocating this method, this is only what I have heard people say.

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I did already check to see if anything was blocking the inside of the burner, and there isn't. The problem is with the timer. It will sometimes stop, sometimes it won't turn on, sometimes it will cut out in the middle of burning. I can't turn the knob past the end point unfortunately. I don't trust it enough to do another brew with it. Ruining a batch of beer isn't worth holding out on buying a new burner, which I'll have to do eventually anyhow.

My batches have been 5 gallon brews using the turkey fryer on my HLT to heat the mash water then the sparge water. Then the SP10 for the boil. Most have been 60 minute brews.

You might be able to defeat the timer entirely. My turkey fryer had a pressure switch that the pot depresses. I assume it is a temperature cutoff. I looked online and found that if you disconnect the wires from the switch then join the ends together it will not cut off.

Make an online search. I too will upgrade from my turkey fryer, right now I would go with another SP10 or the Dark Star. If I won the lottery it would probably be a Blichmann or all electric.

for the timer issue I did what you should never do, just turned the knob all the way around and zip tied it so it wouldn't move anymore. Not sure if that would help since yours might be in the actual mechanism.

jcoxen said:

I've got an SP10 and it works fine with the 5 gallon batches I currently brew. However, if I had to do it again...and if I buy a 2nd burner in the future...I'd probably go for a KAB4.

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I was going to buy one of those, and ended up getting a Blichman. 2 things you can say about the Blichman, fast and quiet.

The one thing we really haven't discussed is removing the timer assembly completely, and go right from the tank to the burner like basically everybody else does.
And to the guy who is getting blackened pans from the soot, move the inside of the burner to another spot. Basically, loosen the bolt and reset the inside centering of the gas director. When I got mine it was dirty too, I moved the inside to another spot and no more soot, and a whole lot more flame at the same setting.

I would spend the extra 15 bucks and get the KAB4. You will never look back.....

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009JXYQY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Thanks for the replies everyone. The KAB4 looks pretty enticing, and I've been kinda talking myself into it... But it looks like a lot of wasted space between the burner and the kettle, and I worry this will translate to wasted propane. Here's a picture demonstrating what I mean:




I will try and fix/remove the timer from my turkey fryer at a later time, but I really want a new burner that I can trust. I can keep the turkey fryer as a backup.


LOL. Blichmann fans are pretty fanatical. Even with preemptively stating that I'm not willing to spend the cash on a Blichmann burner and not to suggest that, the Blichmann burner is still mentioned! Haha

What the hell!? I had decided on the SP10, then when I went to buy it, the price had jumped $14 over the course of a day to $62 on Amazon.

I have a SQ14 and couldn't be happier. I get about 5-6 brews (5 gal all grain) out of a tank of propane. It's easy to adjust the flame and not too loud. I love it


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ShadyBrewer said:

I have a SQ14 and couldn't be happier. I get about 5-6 brews (5 gal all grain) out of a tank of propane. It's easy to adjust the flame and not too loud. I love it


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+1 to the SQ14. Best burner for the buck IMHO


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As it turns out, the SP10 is the same price. I must have clicked on an alternate seller, which is why it jumped in price over a day.


However, I am really undecided now. 5-6 brews out of one propane tank on the SQ14 sounds great. With my turkey fryer, I get about 3 brews (5g all grain) out of one tank.

I really have no idea how many batches I've made since I changed tanks. It's been quite a few. The one I'm using was feeling kind of light so I had my other tank filled. Brewed two more batches and it's still going. Probably have to change sometime during he next session, but then again, maybe not!

Cheers!



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Thanks for all the replies everyone. I was really at a tossup between the SP10 and SQ14. Then I noticed this on Amazon:



After the last few posts and finding some more threads on Google searches I was already leaning toward the SQ14, and 4-5 week shipping for the SP10 cemented my decision to go with the SQ14.

max384 said:

What the hell!? I had decided on the SP10, then when I went to buy it, the price had jumped $14 over the course of a day to $62 on Amazon.

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Amazon will do this. It will attach tracking cookies to your computer and change prices upward as you look. I like to remove cookies and clear search history and attack Amazon from different angles to get the better prices. It can be frustrating but rewarding when you find the "golden" price. Be prepared to buy when you find it because you may never see it at that price again.

I don't know if you guys are cranking the burner way up to get to the initial boil. I set my BG10 knockoff (turkey fryer) burner right on the edge of the flames going up the side.
I did a full boil 5 gallon post boil, 75 minute boil and my propane weight was 36.6 pounds. After brewing my propane weighed 33.8 pounds. Just under 3 pounds for that particular batch. I will start keeping an eye on my boil times/propane usage, so I can be better informed on what a batch of beer really costs. $18+$4 =$22.00 for two cases of craft beer, is okay my me.