Scrap Wood Wort Burner

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BuffaloSabresBrewer

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What Im in the process of building is how Im going to brew outdoors. Im stacking cinder blocks(that Im getting cheap from a local farmer) and building a sort of BBQ pit. Three sides so its easy to add more wood, cinder block bottom so I can just sweep out the ash. Ill could make it small enough that my pot will just sit on the sides. But I think if I put a grill grate across the top and put the pot on the grate so I get more surface area over the flames. Hopefully some pics tomorrow. Im not 100% sure at this point if I will be able to get this hot enough to boil 5 gallons of wort but only time will tell. If it seems like it needs more heat I might try putting a box fan near the fire to add more oxygen. Any thoughts from anyone of if this will work or any suggestions? Ill be using scrap pallets and whatever kind of free wood I can get.
 
Dude...

It warms up 10 degrees and you're already trudging around outside building pits and stuff? It's still only 20 degrees outside!! :cross:

Good game tonight, wasn't it?
 
I don't think you will have any trouble keeping your wort at a roling boil, but, dependiing on the size of the fire, it may take ages for you to get it to a boil.
 
SeaMonster said:
Dude...

It warms up 10 degrees and you're already trudging around outside building pits and stuff? It's still only 20 degrees outside!! :cross:

Good game tonight, wasn't it?
A beauty of a game. Cold? Balls to that there is beer at stake here!!!!!!!!!!
Sea said:
I don't think you will have any trouble keeping your wort at a roling boil, but, dependiing on the size of the fire, it may take ages for you to get it to a boil.

Well Im planning on heating mash and sparge water on the stove top still so after sparge Im thinking Ill have to heat from around 160ish taking some cooling into account up to 220. So not a huge amount of heat up but its not going to be quick.
 
Maybe build some walls to the pit that go most of the way up the kettle. A lot of heat is lost around the sides of the kettle. If you can keep that air higher than ambient, it will increase the speed at which you reach a boil.

It's the same theory as wrapping insulation around your kettle. Just, instead of insulation, you use air.
 
I'd think you'd need some form of chimney or smoke stack like a real BBQ pit to draw the smoke, ashes and soot away from the wort.

Sounds like a worthwhile experiment, best wishes.:mug:
 
abracadabra said:
I'd think you'd need some form of chimney or smoke stack like a real BBQ pit to draw the smoke, ashes and soot away from the wort.

Sounds like a worthwhile experiment, best wishes.:mug:
Well it doesnt seem like it much matter about the smoke and such. The smoke would just rise up and out. Yes the pot will be uncovered but the smoke should just lick the sides of the pot and rise up and away. My hopes at least.
 
Sir Humpsalot said:
Maybe build some walls to the pit that go most of the way up the kettle. A lot of heat is lost around the sides of the kettle. If you can keep that air higher than ambient, it will increase the speed at which you reach a boil.

It's the same theory as wrapping insulation around your kettle. Just, instead of insulation, you use air.
I wasnt planning on making the wall quite that high but its something Ill keep in mind if I run into problems. I could make the walls high enough to contain the flame, lay my grate across the top, then build the wall up to the height of the kettle. Good idea. If done like I described Id be worried about the stability but a $3 bag of Sakrete and I can level every thing out.
 
Your going to want a pot that is wider rather than taller for this sort of application. I tried to use a turkey frier pot on an open fame pit like this once to boil some seafood and it was very frustrating, needed a hair dryer to get enough heat to get the water to boil, and the clean up off all the soot off the bottom of the pot sucked.

That said plenty of the locals here cook and boil water etc using only wood, and they use a short stocky put without too much trouble.
 
Seems like it should be very doable given that this is how they used to do it in an iron kettle.
I think the ideal design would have a size just slightly larger than the pot. A grate over the fire and side walls most of the way up the pot. This will allow the hot smoke to heat the sides of the pot in addition to the bottom.
Leave a couple air channels near the bottom of the fire chamber to allow air flow.
Make sure you have a big enough fire chamber to allow for plenty of wood.
And consider partly closing down the front wall to cause the fire to heat up faster. Just leave enough of an opening to feed in more wood. This may require having a removable grate to allow allow for starting the fire.

Basically you want as much of your heat as possible to remain near the pot and have a controlled amount of air flow to the flames.

Craig
 
Sounds like you are really looking to make a forge. Check out this.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8g2Q3n_VXI[/YOUTUBE]

 
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