Hi ! I have all my equipment and I'm ready to brew my first all grain batch maybe next week. I have a propane burner and a stainless steel kettle as mash tun. I have another kettle that I can use for heating my sparge water. My question is : Is there a way I can use the same burner for both step or I really need to buy another burner and another propane tank ? Thank to all of you guys !
Heating sparge water : Need two propane burner ?
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pcollins
Well-Known Member
It depends how you want to sparge. I regularly brew with a set up similar to yours. What I do is once I've mashed in I start heating the sparge water right away to get it to temp. Once there I then transfer it to a second cooler that I have so that it stays at the temp that I need and I draw my sparge water as needed during the course of the lauter.
Alternatively what you could do if you don't have a second cooler is heat your sparge water to temp and maintain that temp on the burner. As soon as you're ready to start lautering switch out the kettles and start sparging right away. Sparge early and sparge often and your water won't lose too much temp. LOL
Alternatively what you could do if you don't have a second cooler is heat your sparge water to temp and maintain that temp on the burner. As soon as you're ready to start lautering switch out the kettles and start sparging right away. Sparge early and sparge often and your water won't lose too much temp. LOL
I never had more than one burner- I heated the sparge water while the mash was going on, and then boiled with the combined runnings on the same burner. I can't imagine why anyone would need a second burner, except if they had a stand and the space for it for convenience.
pcollins
Well-Known Member
Agreed. Not a need but a want. I actually have the added "benefit" of only one kettle which is also why I do it the way I described. 
One kettle, one burner, one MLT, one spare cooler for sparge water, 15 carboys. Woohoo!
One kettle, one burner, one MLT, one spare cooler for sparge water, 15 carboys. Woohoo!
Most people try hard to not heat their mash unless absolutely necessary. If your MLT is insulated, you won't need to heat it anyway. But direct firing a mash is tricky, as the bottom would get hot (too hot) quickly, so it's tricky to do well. Up until recently, I always mashed in a cooler which held heat well.
But I found that even in my stainless keg MLT, it holds heat very well once preheated and I don't add heat once the mash is underway. The burner heats up the sparge water during the mash.
pcollins
Well-Known Member
I didn't read your post as clearly as I should have. I forgot that you're using a SS kettle as MLT.
I would think that if you get your mash to a good temp you have enough time to get the sparge water up to temp on the same burner before your mash loses too much heat. Grab a blanket to insulate it while it's off the burner and you should be fine. A bit of a PITA because you're having to swap out the kettles which can get a bit heavy, I suppose.
I would think that if you get your mash to a good temp you have enough time to get the sparge water up to temp on the same burner before your mash loses too much heat. Grab a blanket to insulate it while it's off the burner and you should be fine. A bit of a PITA because you're having to swap out the kettles which can get a bit heavy, I suppose.
If you end up with a second burner you can buy a splitter for a single tank to feed both.
Also, you could always use a bucket heater to heat your sparge water.
