Propane burner options, how to choose.

Hi All,

I know there are tons of burner threads but none of them are really telling me what I'm looking for. Currently I'm doing full 5 gallon boils so about 7 gallons to start. I'm looking for something to get a boil fast, then back it off to maintain the boil without just wasting gas.

I'd also like as efficient design as possible.

Does anyone have any info on consumption related to BTU? Also how much BTU is actually needed to keep 7 gallons at a boil? How about to get it there fast?

I've been looking at the low pressure style with all the little jets, also there are some that hit about 170k btu, just too many choices and I feel very uninformed of what I'm actually looking at.

In the near future I want to build a sculpture so it should be something that will work with that.

Can anyone chip in some insite?

Todd

I do 6.5 gallon boils, I use a 65k BTU burner that gets things boiling in 10 minutes, then, back it off to absolute idle for a rolling boil.... pretty efficient!

Brewpilot

Brewpilot said:

I do 6.5 gallon boils, I use a 65k BTU burner that gets things boiling in 10 minutes, then, back it off to absolute idle for a rolling boil.... pretty efficient!

Brewpilot

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What style are you using?

I got mine free of charge from my bro, and it is older, but I estimate that it is probably in the 50K-70K range. I only do partial boils right now as I am not done building my keggle, so I cannot use the burner on high-my pot is too small and most of the flame is wasted. at 50% or so, it boils 3.5 Gallons in about 10 minutes.

When choosing, make sure also that the stand is sturdy and square. Make sure that it is steel plate/angle iron welded construction, and not thin, stamped metal. also, make sure that it does not "rock" on a flat surface. Before I got my free one, I was looking at a fryer kit from HD, and the cooker rocked like a cradle as the legs were not equal.

I also bought a couple 170KBTU high pressure burner heads from Agrisupply for when I build out my AG system. 7 bucks a piece, or something like that.

Mine is a turkey fryer... got it at Lowes with the pot and all that for 29.95, works swell!!!

I haven't see much on consumption or efficiency, other than the observation by many people that the blow-torch style (high pressure) burner is a fuel hog. 50-100,000 seems to be fine for 5-10 gallon batches.

I'm sure there is a mathimatical formula to figure out how many pounds of LP per minute it takes to generate x BTU. The question of how much BTU it takes to boil y gallons is not as easy. I think the shape of your pot, the dispersion of the flame, altitute, and whether the wind is blowing has a lot to do with it.

Best I can help is to say that a tall/skinny 30qt pot with 6.5 gallons took an hour and 15 minutes to get water from 130 to 205 dF on a 12KBTU burner. After giving up this route, I moved the pot onto my grill straddling TWO 13.5KBTU burners where the the orifices where mostly covered and the boil rolled almost immediately. If fact, I had to reduce both to medium and it stayed boiling.

I use a standard 32qt turkey fryer pot, on a standard 65k BTU propane burner and it boils fast, like I said, and will keep a rolling boil even at idle, I mean, turned down to all but off. I boil in the middle of my garage, no wind and a little more controlled, no leaves flying around!

Brewpilot