Burner upgrade advice

Have been brewing extract five gallon batches for a couple years now. Electric stove and even induction burner just seem to take so long to get to a boil. Am thinking of upgrading a couple components with my tax refund. Have looked at the Blichmann floor burner and the bayou burner. Is the Blichmann worth the extra $70?
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-equipment/burners-1

Was thinking I could add the legs and then add a valve to my brew kettle and transfer the wort without moving anything. this is the second item I am looking for advice on at this point. Have what I believe is a 4 gallon stainless steel kettle. Would one of these valves work and is there any type in particular I should get. Not sure what the differences are between them. http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-equipment/pumps-and-plumbing/weldless-valve-kits

Do I need to add a false bottom or screen to filter the gunk?

Any advice is appreciated.

the extra money probably goes for the stainless steel. rusty burners work as well as stainless steel burners so it's up to your tastes. i own 3 blichmann burners and i love them. when buying ball valves i would stick with stainless steel.

eastoak said:

the extra money probably goes for the stainless steel. rusty burners work as well as stainless steel burners so it's up to your tastes. i own 3 blichmann burners and i love them. when buying ball valves i would stick with stainless steel.

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For me, I think the option to add the legs to raise the unit up will be the deciding item. For the valve setup, what should I use to strain out the gunk in the wort? I looked at the mash/boil screen, http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...ment/stirring-straining/mash-boil-screen.html but that is 13" long and my kettle is 11".
Would using a false bottom be effective for straining purposes? I see that there are 9" and 10" options for those. Alternatively I could have the drain line off the valve feed into the funnel with screen going into the fermentation bottle.

I just got my blichmann after using a banjo and I love it. About to buy a second one. First, it is whisper quiet, so no more shouting to my friends during the boil. Its got a much bigger surface area for the burners, and its very, very efficient with propane, I get at least 1-2 more boils out of a tank now (you can modify how much oxygen you let in to adjust for the most efficient flame, which I dont have on my banjo).

I have one of their pots and its great, but not sure I'd splurge like that again, but i will on their burners. Plus the fact that they are so upgradable. I can add the legs, or add it to the tier system in the future when I want to.

Got a Blichmann a couple batches ago, plus the kit that allows you to hook it up my house's gas supply (previous occupants ran a line out to the deck for a gas grill... at that point, I don't know why they just didn't cook on the stove, but that's another thread). I love it, but, then, I jumped straight there from stove-top, so, I can't really comment on how it compares to the banjo burner.

those bazooka screens are popular, i've never used it but it seems to work for most people in the mash. as far as the boil kettle screen it depends on what kettle you are using, it took me a few tries to find a system that worked for me.

with valves its all a matter of preference. I use SS on my kettle and prefer it, but still have a bronze one on my igloo cooler. SS will last forever, my bronze one is starting to look past its prime.

I jsut got a bazooka screen but haven't used it yet, from my research it seems to work fine as long as you're batch sparging, if you fly sparge it channels the wort too much and kills your efficiency.

I decided to go with a Blichmann for a couple different reasons. First off, it is a much more efficient burner overall and will eventually start saving me a few bucks on propane. The second reason for me is that keggles fit on it much better and that is what I use for my boil kettle. Keggles don't see to sit well on top of banjo burners because the stand is not very conducive to the rounded bottom on a keg.

Mcbobs said:

I decided to go with a Blichmann for a couple different reasons. First off, it is a much more efficient burner overall and will eventually start saving me a few bucks on propane. The second reason for me is that keggles fit on it much better and that is what I use for my boil kettle. Keggles don't see to sit well on top of banjo burners because the stand is not very conducive to the rounded bottom on a keg.

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I agree. However one thing Ive noticed is the retaining bars when installed were not level, causing my pot to rock back and forth a bit. I had to remove them. That is the one criticism I had. Not a problem for me now, but if I get a tier system and move everything higher up, I'm going to want those bars in place.

For the Bazooka screen, are they rigid or is there some flex in the item? My kettle is only 11" in diameter so I would need to curve up the last couple inches if possible. Note that I am not doing an all grain setup. I do a 5 gallon extract batch, so during the boil I have 2 gallons plus the ingredients.

Just trying to figure out a better way than dumping the wort into the funnel with a screen which can take quite a while and is a pain. Would love to get a setup where once it is cooled down I can just turn the handle and have it drain into the fermenter.

Found one on Amazon that might do the trick. Ironically it is $10 more than the 13" version.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00838V5W8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

They are rigid in order to take on the weight of the grain. They do sell 6 inch boil screens for people like you with smaller kettles.

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/6-boil-screen.html

the Midwest one is half that price.

Eddiebosox said:

the Midwest one is half that price.

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Yeah they have a good price. Will have to check on the shipping costs as I get free 2 day shipping thru Amazon.

This is the one I'm getting 100,000 BTU's for $50


http://m.homedepot.com/p/Brinkmann-Outdoor-Gas-Cooker-Stand-815-4005-S/202038918/

Hopper77 said:

This is the one I'm getting 100,000 BTU's for $50


http://m.homedepot.com/p/Brinkmann-Outdoor-Gas-Cooker-Stand-815-4005-S/202038918/

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the only problem i would have with that is efficiency. 100k BTU's and your going to burn through propane (pardon the pun). The blichmann is 72k, but much more efficient. But its just a preference.

tek210 said:

For the Bazooka screen, are they rigid or is there some flex in the item? My kettle is only 11" in diameter so I would need to curve up the last couple inches if possible. Note that I am not doing an all grain setup. I do a 5 gallon extract batch, so during the boil I have 2 gallons plus the ingredients.

Just trying to figure out a better way than dumping the wort into the funnel with a screen which can take quite a while and is a pain. Would love to get a setup where once it is cooled down I can just turn the handle and have it drain into the fermenter.

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I'm guessing your doing it like i used too with the screened funnel ? The funnel plugs up and you scrape it clear to pour again ? Here is the fix. Since using a hop filter i get very little hop trub. As far as normal trub i just pour it in. its going to drop out with Whirlfloc and cold crashing any way.

Eddiebosox said:

the only problem i would have with that is efficiency. 100k BTU's and your going to burn through propane (pardon the pun). The blichmann is 72k, but much more efficient. But its just a preference.

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exactly. 100,000 is great but fewer BTU's are better if you can get them to boil your wort and not just heat up the air around the burner.

Eddiebosox said:

the only problem i would have with that is efficiency. 100k BTU's and your going to burn through propane (pardon the pun). The blichmann is 72k, but much more efficient. But its just a preference.

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72,000 is sufficient to boil 10+ gallons? I haven't stepped up yet but will probably in the next month. I mainly want that one for the price and reviews on it. I don't mind burning more propane if it keeps my time down. The way I see it I will be using more propane no matter what when I go from 6 gallon boils to 11. I think the burner I use now is 30,000 BTU's and it does ok for smaller batches but I wouldn't want to try it on anything bigger

I have the 50,000 BTU Bayou burner that I got on sale for $50 and have no regrets. It boils 13 gallons just fine for my 11 gallon batches and saved me $100 over a blichmann. My bayou burner has an inlet air adjuster and if you get it just right it's very efficient. I usually am able to brew 4-5 double batches (44-55 gallons!) of All-Grain brews including heating mash and sparge water on every 20 lb cylinder! I don't think you can get much more efficiency out of propane than that.

Hopper77 said:

72,000 is sufficient to boil 10+ gallons? I haven't stepped up yet but will probably in the next month. I mainly want that one for the price and reviews on it. I don't mind burning more propane if it keeps my time down. The way I see it I will be using more propane no matter what when I go from 6 gallon boils to 11. I think the burner I use now is 30,000 BTU's and it does ok for smaller batches but I wouldn't want to try it on anything bigger

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Absolutely. the Blichmann is designed for 10 gallon batches. Its not about BTU's so much as how efficiently they're used.

BxBrewer said:

I'm guessing your doing it like i used too with the screened funnel ? The funnel plugs up and you scrape it clear to pour again ? Here is the fix. Since using a hop filter i get very little hop trub. As far as normal trub i just pour it in. its going to drop out with Whirlfloc and cold crashing any way.

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hows your hop efficiency with that? Does it take forever to drain when you take it out (which is why Ive avoided the large suspended paint strainer bag method).

Eddiebosox said:

hows your hop efficiency with that? Does it take forever to drain when you take it out (which is why Ive avoided the large suspended paint strainer bag method).

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Eddie, i just tapped a APA "American Pale Ale" that used 5oz of hops. It came out wonderfull. Efficiency was spot on although 5oz was a little much for a smaller filter. 3oz is the norm for most of my brews. The APA was 1056og, three weeks in the primary and one week in the keg. Its clear as a bell. Mind you im doing 5gal extract batches on a gas stove with a power burner.

The hop filter plus late addition on the extract,adding a Whirlfloc tab and cold crashing. Ive been thinking out moving my setup out side but i see some draw backs on doing so. Cost, getting propane filled, wind and weather, more chance of contamination "out side elements" etc.

It drains just fine by the way. I set the filter in the middle of my chiller while chilling. It stands just fine. Right before i pull the chiller out i will pull the filter and rest it on top of the chiller to drain. Total drain time is about 60 seconds or less. When stirring the wort you can see wort moving though the filter.

Interesting. I like to do big, hoppy beers with more than 5 ounces, so this may be an option Right now I've got small nylon bags floating in there.