Do you get what you pay for (cheap turkey fryer kit)?

Would anyone buy this?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/30-Quart-Turkey-Fryer-Set/13059419

It seems almost too cheap to be good, but I'm bizarrely tempted by it. I'm moving in April of next year and about getting ready to purchase all my stuff so I can brew right away. I brew on average 10 gallons/month.

I started out on the Walmart deal you got there. I still use the burner, I brew in a 15.5 gallon keggle now for 10 gallon batches and I use the lobster pot to heat sparge water. So yea... Definitely got my money's worth!

Mine was 25 bucks on closeout this time of year from Krogers. It's served me well for the last 5 years with no issues. Pretty similar to that one. I used the 7.5 gallon kettle for 4 years, and now use a 15.5 gallon one instead. But the burner is the same.

I also bought this exact same setup. The pot is not going to last long but u can get a replacement for like 20 bucks. I still use the burner also with a keggle and works like a champ. The only thing I hate about this burner is the stupid gas timer that shuts the gas off every 20 mins. But I by passed my timer. Well worth the money

Very similar to what I have. Btw the dial timers are easy to bypass.

If you have an Academy Sports, you can buy the burner for $20 and the pot for $20. I have about 40 5 gal batches on a cheap turkey fryer rig and the rig is as good as new.

Definitely worth it. I got three of those earlier this for $15 each. They work shockingly well for full boil 10 gallon batches with my keggle.

Sent from my FroyoEris using Home Brew Talk

I recently started brewing with an almost identical setup. Mine was a 36 quart version from Sam's club but aside from size and additional accesories it looks the same. I am quite happy with mine.

I started with the same setup as well! You can usually fine them cheap (~$20-25) at Target after Thanksgiving.

Well of course its a great buy...I currently run two similar setups. And you could always upgrade burner and do any modification to get it to fit

Definitely worth it. I picked up a kit a few years back from Target during an after-Thanksgiving sale for $35. Worked great for 5 gallon full boil batches up until it got destroyed while moving. Took 6 gallons of ice cold water to a massively rolling boil in about 20 minutes. That's better than my kitchen stove can do with 3 gallons.

Soon as I get around to cutting the top off of my new keggle, I'll be picking up another turkey fryer. There are definitely better burners, and better pots, but the turkey fryer kits are a great deal for two pieces of brewing gear in one box. Actually, 3. The thermometer has come in handy many times, too.

Just be careful about waiting for them to be on sale. Once those sales hit they run out of them fast. If you're planning to catch a sale price I'd plan to wake up very early on Black Friday. They're already extremely hard to find in stock around my neck of the woods.

Awesome awesome!

I'm ordering this along with a 10gallon cooler (the round style) from Wal-mart. Their prices are about as low as I've seen them.

Heading to Academy Sports tmrw to pick this up. Looks like they have two burner only models for 19.99 and 29.99, one round, the other square.

theveganbrewer said:

Heading to Academy Sports tmrw to pick this up. Looks like they have two burner only models for 19.99 and 29.99, one round, the other square.

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Go for the square one. It's much more stable which comes in handy when you have 7 or 14 gallons of hot wort in a kettle.

I use that exact one w/a keggle. Good boils.

Ya i have it as well. the only problem is it has a weird orface on the burner so you cant just hook it up to the standard system. (for a multiple burner system)

How are you guys dealing with the recesses burner?

You notice how the included pot sits in the frame rather than on it. When I lay my 80qt pot on the burner it is about 1-2 inches further from the burner than the normal pot.

I just bought this used so I haven't used it yet. I'm somewhat worried about the distance from the flame. Also the Venturi (burner orifice) is only 3"-4" in diameter and my pot is 19.5" diameter. Hopefully the aluminum will have no trouble conducting the heat.

EdWort said:

Go for the square one. It's much more stable which comes in handy when you have 7 or 14 gallons of hot wort in a kettle.

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+1. I saw others that had very unstable looking bases and I was like no way. I thank my idol Alton Brown for pointing out that obvious fact on his episode where he fries a turkey.

bmunos said:

Ya i have it as well. the only problem is it has a weird orface on the burner so you cant just hook it up to the standard system. (for a multiple burner system)

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If remove all the safety shutoff crap it's a regular 1/8 npt fitting under there.

Sent from my FroyoEris using Home Brew Talk

If you have an Academy Sports, you can buy the burner for $20 and the pot for $20. I have about 40 5 gal batches on a cheap turkey fryer rig and the rig is as good as new.

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I have the same exact thing. $19.99 pot and $19.99 burner. I also bought the $9 fryer basket which I use for small BIAB batches. I have about 6 batches on mine and I'm not really planning on upgrading. Cheap and simple is good. But if they really have some on sale for $15 I think I'll pick up another one just because.

I just received a sales ad from Bass Pro. They have what appears to be the same turkey fryer with the square stand for $39.97 until Nov 23.

JoeyChopps said:

The pot is not going to last long

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Why is that?

bja said:

Why is that?

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The pot may last long for brewing cuz the temps are lower but for frying turkeys at higher temps maybe caused my pot to have deep indentations and it was about to break through the aluminum on these pots is really thin

GFIE nice i never realized that! haha thanks!

Well, they are made out of very thin aluminum, so I suppose handles would rip off eventually, even though mine are tight, and on mine, the pattern of the burner platform is pressed into the bottom from the weight of sitting on it. You can't expect a $19.99 (regular price) kettle to last forever but I think its certainly a good value.

Unless you abuse it, even a thin pot will last a long time.

GNBrews said:

Unless you abuse it, even a thin pot will last a long time.

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Actually, if you take care of it, it'll last forever.

bja said:

actually, if you take care of it, it'll last forever.

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+1

Are u guys saying it last forever brewing or forever frying turkeys cuz mine didn't last but maybe 12 times for turkeys and I took good care of it

I don't have much to add, other than that I picked up that exact burner (square wally world one) at a yard sale for $3 bucks. Talked him down from $5.

It works great, heated 9 gallons of water from 50 degrees to 160 in 25 minutes. And was stable with 20lbs of grain, 9 gal. of water (~70lbs) and a keggle.

So ya, get it.

Cambone said:

I don't have much to add, other than that I picked up that exact burner (square wally world one) at a yard sale for $3 bucks. Talked him down from $5.

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Okay I know a buck is a buck... but this just made me spit out beer laughing for some reason....

tchuklobrau said:

Very similar to what I have. Btw the dial timers are easy to bypass.

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can you post directionso on how to bypass this silly dial timer?

Cambone said:

I don't have much to add, other than that I picked up that exact burner (square wally world one) at a yard sale for $3 bucks. Talked him down from $5.

It works great, heated 9 gallons of water from 50 degrees to 160 in 25 minutes. And was stable with 20lbs of grain, 9 gal. of water (~70lbs) and a keggle.

So ya, get it.

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I used the square one last night. Took me way too long to get water going. Are you going full speed on the propane, or less? I might need to tinker with the air intake thing.

Ya I had that puppy running full tilt, but I did have to mess around with the air intake. Condensation was forming on the propane tank, which means you're doing it right.

Kronin said:

Okay I know a buck is a buck... but this just made me spit out beer laughing for some reason....

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Ya it made the guy laugh when I lowballed his $5 pricetag too. My haggling skills are "interesting" to say the least

Cambone said:

Ya I had that puppy running full tilt, but I did have to mess around with the air intake. Condensation was forming on the propane tank, which means you're doing it right.

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Thanks, I went all out on my 2nd brew and had it boiling in 15 minutes.

The square one from Academy has no timer on it.

here raptorkeeper89. a pic is worth 1000 words. simply use a fairly thick gauge wire. insatall as seen in the pic. the hook holds the timer in the full on position.

Wait two weeks and buy it after Thanksgiving.

tchuklobrau said:

View attachment 38032

here raptorkeeper89. a pic is worth 1000 words. simply use a fairly thick gauge wire. insatall as seen in the pic. the hook holds the timer in the full on position.

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Thanks for the great idea. This should work much better than the gaffers tape that I had been using to bypass my timer.