How many brews out of 1 propane tank?

I have a Bayou Classic burner, 55,000 btu. How many brews could I expect to get out of a single propane tank? I am finally doing all-grain, full boils outside instead of splitting everything inside on my electric stove. This will be the 2nd time I'm using this burner and don't want to run out of propane.

The first time I used it, it took about 35 minutes to get up to boil, and then I boiled for an hour. I know it's near impossible to know for sure; I'm just asking from your experiences... an estimate of what I could expect.

Thanks as always.

Do a simple search, you will find a million answers, I think someone just started a new post about this yesterday.

I do full boils outside using a camp chef with similar btu rating. 3 brews and its pretty much drained, and I always keep a spare tank on standby

When I had a burner like that I would usually get between 4-5 brewdays off a tank. However, many factors play into this such as temperature, wind, and length of brew day... so I would say 3 is a fair bet for this time of year. The only way for you to know for sure is to weigh the tank before and after your brewing to see how many lbs of propane you used. Average that out over 5 or so brew days and you'll have a pretty good idea of how much gas you burn.

also I bought one of those propain level guages at the hardware store. I wouldn't say its 100% accurate but it gives you a pretty good idea of whats in the tank

Sweet. I was really just making sure I can get through today and it sounds like I will get at least 2 out of this one. Thanks for the responses.

I would get a spare just in case

I have tested this by weighing my tank before a 5 gallon brew session and after I'm done. I currently use the SQ 14 burner/stand
After 3 batches i find that I use on average 2.5# of propane per batch. I've used as much as 3# on a single batch.
As for how many batches out of a tank? I could get around 8 batches, but I also use the same tank for my grill. I just weigh my tank with my hanging grain scale and if it is low I switch to my spare.
I've mentioned this before but the tanks of propane you get at the gas station in the wire cages are not a full 20#.
Amerigas tanks are 17# when full, and I believe that the Blue Rhino are 15# (I have never weighed one so I'm only going by what I was told.) Get your tanks filled at the propane place and weigh your tank before and after and you should the difference in the number of brews per tank.

I always have a spare propane tank. That way when one goes empty I just swap over to the new one and then trade the empty one for another full one later in the week.

I am sure I get more than 8, but I heat my sparge water on the stove and only use the propane for the boil. I also don't crank it up that much and usually have to wait about 15 to 20 minutes to get up to boil.

Im new to this forum, but I recently found out some info about propane tanks. if you use new tanks from grocery strores/gas stations then the tanks are not filled completely (do some google searches, youll be surprised). If you get them refilled then you more then likely will have a full tank.

the extra 1-1/2 pound or so may make a difference in how long they last.

Awesome, thanks again for all the replies.

I go by the weight of my tank. My tank weighs 15-pounds when empty. When full it weighs 30-something pounds. I use 2-3 pounds of propane per brew session.

This means I should get at least 4 to 6 brews out of each propane tank.

I might get 4 full boils per tank. I have propane brew kettles, grills, smokers, fryers, heaters, everything. Get an extra tank and then buy one more. Never let the sun set on your household without at least one full tank nobody knows about except you.

Nothing uglier than discovering your 4 tanks are all running empty at once, on the 4th of July, and all these people in your yard are going nowhere until you get more propane.

That "extra" tank begins to look pretty cheap when the chips are down. And running out mid-brew would suck real bad as well.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6016488_calculate-propane-usage.html

I think my burner is a 55,000 BTU and the formula would equate to 7.82 hours at 100%. I assume I am not running at 100% because I feel like I get anywhere from 2-4 brews per full tank. My last 2 batches were 90 minute all-grain boils so I don't expect to get to 3 w/o using my standby tank.