Well, this blows!!!

So i recently constructed two Keggles, a manifold made from CPVC, I have the know how to attempt an AG brew, and then realized....CRAP.....I can not heat my keggle on the stove(was only going to do a 5 gallon AG for first attempt).

The burner will not touch the bottom of the keggle.

So now i will begin my friday afternoon trying to come up with a cost effective way to get a burner and propane tank.

Hey, i gave an old Kenmore gas grill to my brother and he never uses it. That and he is my brew partner so im sure he would be willing to donate to the cause.

Anyway, the grill has one of those side burners on it as well, do you think that will pump out enough BTUs to boil the 6.5 gallons of initial wort?

Im at work so i dont have the model of the grill.

Reverend

I built a 3 tier all grain setup, and started out with 2 burners that were from the side of bbqs. They worked, but it takes awhile to get the wort to boil. I started to do 10 gallons batches, and for that i bought a new burner to heat the wort, but i still use one of the bbq burners to heat the mash and sparage water.

I think that's pretty unlikely. I have never done it before, but I doubt the burner is more than 10,000 BTU (I could be wrong). However, if I were to try boiling with a low BTU burner, you might be able to do it if you wrapped the sides of the keggle in insulation and then put some kind of insulated top on it (with a small-ish vent hole of course). I'm thinking of wrapping some fiberglass around it and taping it to the keggle with aluminum tape, and maybe the same for the lid.

Hmmm.... I might run some numbers to see if that could work. I think I've got some quick-calc type spreadsheets already set up.

Edit: Of course this all depends on conditions exterior to the keggle. Temperature, wind, etc.

i think the average side burner on a bbq is somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 BTU. Not a lot, but it worked for me the few times that i used it.

Conditions are not terrible here right now. will be upper 60s this weekend and no wind in my garage.

you think wrapping keggle with aluminum tape over insulation is the way to go?

Give me a few details on that and i will give it a try.

I bought a gas grill back a while back, using the side burners was something I considered. I decided against it because the majority of side burners are not designed to support much weight. 6 gallons of wort weighs around 50 lbs, a store clerk said the grills I was looking at only supported 25 - 40 lbs. I could have made some supports, but it was easier in the end to pick up a cheap turkey fryer.

If ya do wrap it I would definetly keep an eye on how close you are getting anything to the flame. Insoulation burns and it throws off all sorts of nasty chemicals when it starts to break down (prior to ignition)

I think your best bet would to be start scouring Home Depot, Walmart, K-Mart, Target and such in search of a close out turkey fryer. If you can find a square one I would recomend that over the round ones. I notice with the round bases the kettle tends to rock a bit on them.

how about going old school and build a camp fire in the yard?

How about salvaging a burner from a gas water heater?

I used a burner from a wall heater for 10 5 gal AG batchs. About 24,000 btus? I had to peen the jet down from .100" to about .062 to run it on propane. It worked better than the kitchen stove's 8k btu. But never did burn clean. Then I found a turkey burner at the garage sale, with adjustible regulator. I died and went to helll!

My inclination is that turkey fryer burners are just water heater parts without all the anciliary stuff like tanks and controls. But the themocouple controller would give you a pilot light, something I liked on the wall heater system I used.

Go to Home cheepo, I was there today and saw the shelves with the BBQ stuff. There was all the parts to put together 1 helava burner set up ! Cheap I don't know, but once it's done it's what you will want for the long haul. NO F-N Around.

I would definitely go with the turkey fryer. The one I have works great, plus you can, well, fry turkeys.

Where did you get your fryer alemonkey? somewhere locally here?

Sorry it took so long to get back.

I looked at some fairly simple calculations and it does look like there would be a pretty good benefit in wrapping the sides of a keggle with 2 in. fiberglass batting. You would definitely have to be careful to keep it away from the burner. If I were to do it, I would get the smallest amount of the cheapest stuff I could find, and then just tape the edges down with aluminum tape to hold it on the keggle.

I based this on a full size Sankey keg (that is a 1/2 barrel keg). It looks like you will need about 9 ft^2 of insulation to cover the keg.

I think that any insulation would help keep more heat in the keggle which in turn should reduce time to boil.

Reverend JC said:

Where did you get your fryer alemonkey? somewhere locally here?

Click to expand...

I actually got it for Christmas a few years ago, but I know I've seen them at Menard's and Home Depot.