Brewing with propane

I just did my first all grain batch last night and it took a looong time for the 6+ gallons to get to a boil. I know a lot of you use propane, just wanted a bit more info on that. Is that something you must do outside? I live in a suburb of Cleveland, so we have some pretty mean winters. I do have a garage, however. If I do have to brew out there, is the cold air going to be fighting with the propane burner to get me to a boil? Using something like that inside seems like it's probably a no-no, but just checking!

Takes me about 15-20 min to go to boil with 6 gallons with keggle. Did you reset your regulator?
If you had the regulator on when you turned the valve for the tank open it will run at a very low speed.
crank everything shut and then open the tank first. that will reset.

also, Never noticed that much of a difference brewing outside here in the winter

I wouldn't chance brewing with propane in a garage not only because of carbon monoxide danger but also because of the fire danger, but that's just me...and NC has some very soft winter weather compared to northern Ohio's.

How many BTU's does your burner have? It used to take my turkey fryer a long time to achieve a boil, but now that I have 120K BTU burners, it's like lighting the Space Shuttle Main Engine below that brew.

Also, if you are an AG brewer, when you drop your first runnings into the boil pot are you using the flame to go ahead and start heating it up to a near boil? I do that to ensure that any enzyme activity is halted and also so that my brew day is shorter. Even with the strong burner setup I have, it takes 10-15 minutes off of the time to achieve boiling.

Outside is a must!!! There is an episode of Basic Brewing Radio that gets the local fire expert on, and he even recommends being totaly outside. I have done several batches in the garage, and am still here, so that is what I am going to keep doing.

I would think that the amount of time that it takes to boil would be more dependant on your burner rather than the temperature. I have a turkey fryer, and the problem I have is too much boiling, I have to move the pot off so there is not as much heat, or else there is non stop boilovers with too much of a vigorous boil.

I brew in Illinois in the winter. I use a ten gallon pot on a turkey fryer burner. It doesn't take too long to get to a boil. i have to crank it up a little more but it's not noticeably longer than brewing in the summer. I might use a little more propane but I still get a full two all grain brews out of a propane tank.

I also brew in the garage. I wouldn't call it a fire hazardy any more than using your grill on a wood deck lol. If it makes you feel better have a fire exstinguisher in your garage lol. Leave the garage door open so you don't get fumed out. I actually just leave mine half way open and turn a fan on to get some air moving. You might have to rig up some kind of wind barrier around your burner depending on how windy it is that day and depending on how your garage faces.

At the end of the day. I would rather brew when it's 0-10 degrees out with my burner cranking away in the garage than when it's 90-100 with the burner going in the garage. Grab some gloves, a hat, a big beer, and pull up a chair and you're set.

I'm betting your regulator only goes to 5psi. I bought a turkey fryer kit, only to find that the regulator was very weak.

As for brewing in the cold, I don't think the problem will be with the boil - it'll be maintaining mash temps (if you're mashing in a kettle). You may want to wrap the mash tun in a towel.

Finally, I brew in my garage and like it a lot. Especially for keeping leaves out of the BK. When it's really cold, I just crack the garage door a foot or two for some gas exchange, and huddle up real close to the kettle!

lurker18 said:

Outside is a must!!! There is an episode of Basic Brewing Radio that gets the local fire expert on, and he even recommends being totaly outside. .

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It was the first think I ever posted that was stickified...it's at the top of the equipment section. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/propane-safety-tips-basic-brewing-podcast-97069/

I've brewed in my garage quite a few times in the winter and I'm practically down the street. The brewing itself is pretty straight forward, it's the clean-up that is more of a pain for me in the winter.

I don't actually have a propane burner yet, I brewed on a stove and am looking to brew with a burner, just looking for advice. You guys are very helpful!

There's something you need to be aware of if you are buying new. I posted it in another thread.

But of greater concern for you is that that burner stand advertised has the newer safety feature that requires you to push a button every 5-15 minutes in order to keep the gas flowing.

They're a pain to use for home brewing, and noone's come up with a good way to bypass that feature.

This one doesn't have it, it is a straght un-inerrupted hose from tank to burner'

But if you look at your picture you will see a little grey box a little larger than an AA battery with a red button on it, located after the red-knobbed regulator. It uses different sized fittings so you can't even easily cut it out of the line and straight pipe the hose.

If all you can find at stores are the ones with the safety feature, than look at Cl or Garage sales.

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Following up on the safety features, my turkey fryer comes with a timer, crank it over and it ticks away for 20 minutes or so. Also it is integrated into the hose/burner, so it can't be removed. I have to turn the timer on and then get something to hold it open. vice grips clamped on and wedged against a burner leg has worked great so far.

Oh wow, I didn't even realize that existed. So I can just hold the timer in place with a clamp and it will continue to burn?

I have "altered" 2 fryers at work by removing the low psi regulators and lines and replacing them with higher output regulators w/ no timers.

The local propane company ordered them for me. Well worth the cash in eliminated frustration.

Moody_Copperpot said:

Oh wow, I didn't even realize that existed. So I can just hold the timer in place with a clamp and it will continue to burn?

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No eventually the clamp is going to slip and it will go out. Inevitably at a crucial time in the boil, same with gaffer's tape and any other jury rig, Noone's been 100% successful with by passing it. I would just try to avoid buying one to begin with, even if you have to search around for awhile.

In the picture Revvy posted i have the top fryer in the picture and you can see in the picture it has no timmer button at all. I bought one this past July so there still are around out there.

maxamuus said:

In the picture Revvy posted i have the top fryer in the picture and you can see in the picture it has no timmer button at all. I bought one this past July so there still are around out there.

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Good to know they are still out there. I thought maybe it was federal mandate or something.

Not to jinx myself, and with under 10 brews, I have not yet had the clamp slip off. But I'm sure it is going to happen now.

I just bought 2 of the Bayou Classic turkey fryers off Amazon a couple weeks ago... neither had any kind of time. Just light it and let it go.

Mine's got the annoying timer on it, in the form of a dial that you have to wind every 20 minutes. However, I can just wedge a brick next to it and it stops the knob from turning. Problem solved!

I have the turkey burner without the safety check and I thought it was taking a while for mine to boil too, 30 minutes for 5gal. I made a cheap heat shield out of cardboard and heavy duty aluminum foil that wraps around the bottom of the pot and top of the burner. I can now get it to boil in under 20.

Hannable1975 said:

I have "altered" 2 fryers at work by removing the low psi regulators and lines and replacing them with higher output regulators w/ no timers.

The local propane company ordered them for me. Well worth the cash in eliminated frustration.

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If you could put together a tutorial, maybe some pictures and provide the parts numbers for what you did, you would be the hero of homebrewers everywhere. Like i said earlier, no one's put together a detailed "fix" for this, and you wouldn't believe how often this turns up.

There's inevitably 3 or 4 people who show up to Learn to Homebrew day (coming up of Nov 6) with turkey fryers fresh out of the box, who get stuck in this situation. And the bad thing is that were all out in a public space, and not in anyone's yard or garage, so we're lucky if maybe there's a roll of duct tape handy to tape the button down for brew day.

It would be great to refer folks right to a fix that they could do when they get back. Heck I might even print up a few copies of the post if you do it, and take them with me in 2 weeks.

Plus we have turkey day coming, and a lot of new brewers are going to snag these things up.

I use the Bayou Classic SP-14 burner, bought off Amazon, and it has no d*****t timer on the regulator. It will heat 5 gallons of stone cold ambient water to mash temperature in about 20 min. I think this is realistic. You put more flame to the bottom of a pot, beyond a certain point you're dealing with a thermodynamic law of diminishing returns, and most of your heat is just wasted, going out the sides and up, not heating water / wort.

I brew in my garage....but it is actually a Morton building with open ceiling about 15 feet up, and I have all three overhead doors and the walk door open. During the Summer, this is no problem. However, I think the temptation is to close the doors in Winter to make the space warmer. Don't do it. Carbon monoxide is odorless, and this is a mistake you're unlikely to make twice.