KAB4 banjo burner

I used my new burner last night for the first time... let me say that thing is awesome. You do have to be careful with adjusting to keep your boil from going out of control.

I am not sure how long it took to bring my 10G of wort to boil (It was a huge beer) but I managed to boil off nearly 4G in just over 2 hours. Any faster and I would have scorched the wort or boiled over. The burner could have taken it there.

The only thing I would be concerned with on a burner this powerful is that you must have a kettle that is fairly heavy duty. I'm using one with a 3 layer bottom and was glad of it.

How much propane did you use on that batch vs your previous burner?

Also, what was your previous burner?



I have considered getting a KAB4 or KAB6, but have heard it uses a ton of propane and, like you just described, hard to keep your boils under control.

My old burner was a bayou classic that came with a turkey fryer (That I actually use to fry turkeys in). Not sure the model but it would take about 45 mins to bring 10G to a boil.

It seemed like the propane usage was about the same though hard to tell. I've used the same gas tank for a few grill sessions and 1 crayfish boil then Fri night's brew session. The brew session is the only time I was using the new burner with it. Still have some propane left. So however much propane it used I'm ok with it. The time it cut off of bringing things to boil was tremendous. I didn't measure - bad me - but I did a 90 min mash, 2 batch sparge and a 130 min boil in 6 hours. It normally takes me that long to do a 60 min boil session. My mash was done at 11:00pm and it took me forever to get through the sparge session.. I didn't light the flame back up till after 11:30.. maybe 11:45. I don't remember how long after though.. and I was boiling 10G vigorously by midnight.. Pretty sure less than 20 mins to bring to boil. (It was a chaotic brew night so my notes suck. I had a friend helping me, we were drinking.. and we did an extract batch in the kitchen at the same time.)

Also, the noise level is WAY lower. I brew in the garage at the edge with the door open. My wife hangs out there too and she usually has the kids monitors on. With the old burner it was almost impossible to hear the kids. With this one it is not a problem at all.

Anyhow.. I'd recommend it. The paint does burn for a while though. I had to scrub my kettle bottom to get most of the carbon off. Still a little marked from it but not in a way that bothers me.