How much gas does your Blichmann use?

My friend and I purchased a Blichmann TopTier burner last week after the hose on our turkey fryer caught on fire. We purchased the turkey fryer at Lowes back in December for $60, pot and all. It served us well through at least 15 brews. We averaged about 5-6 brews per tank of propane. However, after brewing 2 beers with the Blichmann we ran out of gas. We read the directions and understand how the Blichmann differs from a traditional turkey fryer and what the optimal flame settings should be. We do 6.5 gallon boils which usually results in 5 gallons in the fermenter. How many beers are you able to brew on your Blichmann on a tank of gas? I thought this burner would be more efficient. Is there a problems with our burner? I was smelling a lot of pure propane while burning, more than when using the old turkey fryer.

Mine lasts for 3 to 5 brew sessions, depending on the length of the boil. I don't smell propane when I'm using it so it sounds as if you may have a leak. Better check those connections and/or contact the dealer if something doesn't seem right.

I've gotten two out of mine so far, and the tank doesn't feel empty - hoping to get 1-2 more. I don't smell propane either - only right when I turn the valve on to light it, but never afterwards.

I can safely get 2, 13 gallon batches out of a tank with my blichmann. That's starting with 125 degree tap-water, and doing 1 hour boils. The tank feels pretty light at that point, and it's easier for me to just swap the tank then, instead of trying to do it in the middle of a brew session.

I have never smelt propane while using the burner. I'd get that fixed before looking anywhere else.

When I got my burner, I made the mistake of setting the flame too low. It was an efficient flame, but took so long to heat water/boil that I was wasting fuel.
Do you have any trouble keeping a boil going? Or does it take a long time to bring water up to temp? If so, you may have the same problem as I did early on.

I don't seem to get anymore batches out of it then the other burner I was using (an Eastman). I do get to temperature much quicker though so the power was the advantage to me. Also love the extension legs and draining right info the fermenter saves my back some struggles on brew day. I think 2 brews is a little low, I was smelling propane too when I was using it and tightened the crap out of everything and that went away so yeah you might have a leak.

My Blichmann seems to have the problem of putting my flame out and freezing my propane tank up. Seems to only do it when its cold out, so maybe the combo of cold weather and low tank is causing it.. Its certainly annoying.

Well it seems like the propane smell means that there's something wrong, as most of you reported that doesn't occur for you. I'm surprised at the number of brews that most of you get on the Blichmann. I thought I would easily get 5-6, my old turkey fryer usually made it through 5 easily. I'm going to brew two batches later today. I plan on re-tightening the fittings and checking for leaks. I really hope there is gas left in my tank by the end of the night. If I can't get more than 4 brews out of the Blichmann I might have to switch back to the $60 turkey fryer. I just need a new $20 gas hose for it. I really hope I didn't through $140 away on the Blichmann. The price of propane has been killing me and restricts the number of beers I can brew. I guess the Blichmann will at least be useful once I kick the rest of my keg.

How much do you guys usually pay to have your propane tank filled and where at? Is it cheaper to get one of the large tall tanks filled, or is propane just sold at a flat rate price?

y2jrock60 said:

Well it seems like the propane smell means that there's something wrong, as most of you reported that doesn't occur for you. I'm surprised at the number of brews that most of you get on the Blichmann. I thought I would easily get 5-6, my old turkey fryer usually made it through 5 easily. I'm going to brew two batches later today. I plan on re-tightening the fittings and checking for leaks. I really hope there is gas left in my tank by the end of the night. If I can't get more than 4 brews out of the Blichmann I might have to switch back to the $60 turkey fryer. I just need a new $20 gas hose for it. I really hope I didn't through $140 away on the Blichmann. The price of propane has been killing me and restricts the number of beers I can brew. I guess the Blichmann will at least be useful once I kick the rest of my keg.

How much do you guys usually pay to have your propane tank filled and where at? Is it cheaper to get one of the large tall tanks filled, or is propane just sold at a flat rate price?

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I go to Uhaul and have my tanks refilled. Cheaper per/lb and doesnt require swapping out a tank that might still have gas in it... and if it does have gas in it, then its even cheaper since I dont ahve to pay for an entire refill

Sounds like a plan y2jrock. Don't give up on the Blichmann though, it's worth it.

I was the one above who said I get 2 brews out of my a tank, but keep in mind that those are 13 gallon, all-grain brews.
So I have to heat strike water, sparge water, and do a one hour boil. And boiling 14.5 gallons down to 13 takes a LOT of energy. Couldn't do it without the blichmann.

I get 5-6 brews on one blue rhino tank(it's convenient).
I have heard of a few bad castings from Blichmann, so look at your burner really good.

Yeah don't count it as a loss quite yet. Keep in mind I just got mine and since then have only brewed those two batches - so I really don't know how many I'll get out of a typical tank. I was brewing with a buddy last time too and I'm not even sure if I was the one that carried the propane tank back out to the garage - aka I'm not even sure how light/heavy it felt after my last brew.

I really, really like my burner so far! Agreed on the leg extensions too - those help a lot! I think they actually bring my kettle up to a better level for cleaning, instead of being hunched over with a scrubby.

I do 5 gallon batches with mine and always get 5 brews on a tank. Where do you have your ranks filled? I used to get blue rhino tanks and found that they were always way lighter than if I went and got them filled at the service station about 10 min from my house. I also crank mine up to bring the wort to a boil fast, then dial it way Down do its just at a light rolling boil. Seems to work for me.

Thanks for the responses guys, I really appreciate it. I rechecked all the gas connections and tested for leaks. It turns out that I was able to unscrew the gas line from the burner with little force. Gas was most likely leaking out of the connection. I guess that's what you get when you let your mechanically declined buddy put together the burner. We just got done brewing with a fresh tank of propane and it still feels pretty heavy. I imagine I'll be able to get at least 3, if not 4, more brews out of the tank.

Since the burner worked out perfectly something else had to go wrong as always. Don't give your drunk buddy permission to brew his first batch alone. It seems that he lost the washer for my coleman mashtun. I had to spend 2 hours trying to make an IGloo cooler washer work and left my valve FUBAR. Apparently Coleman washers differ significantly from IGloo washers. Of course I have to order the entire drain assembly for $5 with $4 shipping, when I only need a 30 cent washer. Plus I need to spend another $6 for a new valve. On another note, I hate when people don't respect my direction when using my equipment. I kept telling my other friend not to leave the tun lid open without support for a long period of time. The screws are starting to strip out from the hinges. Guess what? I'm probably going to need bigger screws which have already been replaced once. Oh, and I have one more thing to vent about. I had the wort chiller ready to roll with 10 minutes left in the boil. My brew partner decided he needed to move everything around and close the garage door because it was slightly windy outside. That lead to him burning a hole right through the vinyl drain line of the wort chiller. The duct tap repair held up nicely, but it was still irritating. I guess if you want the brew day to go smooth you have to do everything yourself. I'm getting tired doing all the work, but I'm getting more tired of all my incompetent brew partners. It would would nice if they chipped in for the repairs which I always find myself pocketing alone.

I feel a lot better getting that off the chest. It looks like I strayed completely from the topic which I apologize for. Does anyone else have similar experiences to share? I should probably start a new thread titled Brew Day Grievances. Back to the original post, the Blichmann Burnder worked wonderfully.

Sounds like you need a new drunk buddy!!

Glad you got the burner worked out! I just love mine. I def know how you feel about having horrible brewing buddies. I tend to brew alone these days. well with exception of my australian cattle dog.