how much propane will I use?

I have a Bayou Classic SQ14 burner and am doing my first boil with it tomorrow. Starting with a 6 gal boil for 60 min. Anyone else with this setup know about how much gas I'll go through? Pulled the tank off my grill and there seems to be about a quarter tank or so. It's one of those tanks sitting outside of nearly every gas station, walmart, etc.... appreciate the help

Get it filled....

Are you a extract with no steeping? If so, are you just bringing to a boil, adding fermentables and boiling for a hour? If so I think you will be fine this time around.

I wouldn't start a all grain brew session with that tank though to be on the safe side.

Guess I should have been more descriptive. I'm doing my first all grain batch tomorrow and also my first full boil with my new set up. I'll get the tank filled. Appreciate it.

1lb of propane will give you about 22K BTUs...

1 BTU will raise 1 lb of water 1F in an hour

A 20lb propane tank holds about 15LB of propane

You will utilize about 40% of your BTUs from your burner to your kettle

You need to fill it, yip

100K burner will burn for about 4 hours full open

Plan to use about 30K BTUs from the burner to support the boil once it is going (1.5lbs per hour)

And so on.

The Pol said:

1lb of propane will give you about 22K BTUs...

1 BTU will raise 1 lb of water 1F in an hour

A 20lb propane tank holds about 15LB of propane

You will utilize about 40% of your BTUs from your burner to your kettle

You need to fill it, yip

100K burner will burn for about 4 hours full open

Plan to use about 30K BTUs from the burner to support the boil once it is going (1.5lbs per hour)

And so on.

Click to expand...

Wow have you thought about this much?

humann_brewing said:

Wow have you thought about this much?

Click to expand...

I know, what the heck, I havent used propane on my system in 18 months.

why can't there be a standard? i have 200 gallons of liquid propane in my yard, yet the bbq is rated in #'s.

this is why you need two tanks. where I live its a $9.00 hook up fee. so its the same price to fill a tank that is half full than it is to fill one that is bone dry. maybe a dollor more depending on who is working that day.

A search on the topic of propane use with the SQ14 burner (or other 55k btu burner) will show you most people do about 5 or 6 brew days per full 20# propane tank.

Larger burners (185k +) will only give you 2 or 3 brew days.

Get a second tank for backup and rotate when the first one runs out.

I always have two tanks. One is connected to my grill, and the other to my burner. That way I have a backup if one runs out while brewing or grilling. I cycle them so that one is usually much more full than the other (to avoid armegeddon when both run out during a brew).

Thanks guys. I'll go ahead and just by a second one this evening. I feel so antsy about brewing tomorrow. I've brewed 20+ partial mash batches now but with all this new equipment and the new process makes me feel like a brewing virgin again. I just want my first time to be perfect.......

Check CL for used propane tanks. People will sell outdated ones very cheaply thinking they're suckering people into buying useless pieces of metal. You can easily exchange these at a grocery store/hardware store. Heck, one chain of hardware stores here in the midwest called Menards is actually a self-serve propane exchange center where you just swipe a credit card. No way for the machine to verify the date stamp on the tank. Then you'll always have an extra on hand. Have a great brewday. Weather is downright balmy compared to what it was last weekend.

Another reason to have more tanks around is that with some higher BTU burners, the tanks will freeze up when the levels get too low. I have 3 tanks. 1 on the bbq for a backup, 1 for the HLT and 1 for the Kettle. I've also started to weigh them before and after use to see the amount of propane I'm using. It's easier than the fill up after every brew, especially since some guys will over or under fill. That way I know exactly how much I used and have left.