Which burner should I buy?

I want to get my brewing out of my kitchen and purchase a burner to do this in my garage. I think I've widdled this down to 2 burners: the Bayou Classic SP-10 or the Bayou Classic SQ14. They are exactly the same price ($43.49) on webstaurantstore.com. The SP-10 has 185,000 BTU vs. the SQ14's 55,000 BTU's. Clearly the SP10 is wayyy more powerful but does it use considerably more propane? The SQ14 has a larger square top for the brewpot.

I'd really appreciate some direction here.

thanks a bunch!

I can't recommend the SQ14 enough. The 55K BTUs are plenty for me with 5 gallon batches in a keggle. I'm on my 6th brew today with the same tank of propane and 2 of those brews were 90 min boils. The square top fits keggles perfectly. I'm not so sure about the SP10's diameter will accommodate kegs without modification so I'm sure someone with one will chime in.

Beavdowg said:

I want to get my brewing out of my kitchen and purchase a burner to do this in my garage. I think I've widdled this down to 2 burners: the Bayou Classic SP-10 or the Bayou Classic SQ14. They are exactly the same price ($43.49) on webstaurantstore.com. The SP-10 has 185,000 BTU vs. the SQ14's 55,000 BTU's. Clearly the SP10 is wayyy more powerful but does it use considerably more propane? The SQ14 has a larger square top for the brewpot.

I'd really appreciate some direction here.

thanks a bunch!

Click to expand...

I'm also looking to buy a burner. I could be wrong but I would go for the SP10. At max burn it will use more propane but you won't need to use max burn for very long. Most of the time it will be throttled down whereas the SQ14 will be wide open throttle to get you the 55k btu's. I'm not sure if they both use the same amount of propane to get that 55k btu's but that fact you have 3X the btu's you'll reach boil faster. Time vs. propane. Interesting thoughts. Sorry I didn't answer your question.

Cellardoor,

How long does it take for the SQ14 to bring your wort to a boil?

BTW, I found the catch on the SQ14 from webstaurant.com. You have to buy at least 2 of them to get that $43.49 price. I was about to pull the trigger on the SQ14 until I saw I'd have to buy 2 of them. The larger top to support bigger pots seems to be important.

thanks

my 55k BTU will do 10 gals boils no problem. but I do light it as soon as I drain the mash, its got hot break forming the entire time the saprge is draining in. once it boils I have to cut it way back.

but to bring cold 10 gals to a boil,it is slow.

Other than the stand, the two big differences are that the SP10 has a 20psi regulator and the SQ14 has a 10psi (Although you could fit a SQ14 with a 20psi and increase the btu.). The other thing is the burner itself. The SP10 has a smaller diameter burner that burns hotter. I would think that this would increase your chance of scorching, but I have no experience with it. My SQ14 has no problem getting 10 gallons of wort to a boil and is pretty efficient.


SP10 Burner


SQ14 Burner

Beavdowg said:

Cellardoor,

How long does it take for the SQ14 to bring your wort to a boil?

thanks

Click to expand...

Since I mash in my kitchen and boil on the patio I can't light up the burner until my second batch sparge starts because I only have 1 pot besides my keggle to hold the runnings. Overall time is about 30 minutes from sparging temps to boiling. I'm sure I could go faster but I haven't really cranked the burner up to full blast and once I put the 3rd runnings in the keggle there is only about a ten minute wait until I'm boiling. I'm happy with it especially now that the weather is nice. I just sit outside drinking and reading a book while the boil is going.

cellardoor said:

I can't recommend the SQ14 enough. The 55K BTUs are plenty for me with 5 gallon batches in a keggle. I'm on my 6th brew today with the same tank of propane and 2 of those brews were 90 min boils. The square top fits keggles perfectly. I'm not so sure about the SP10's diameter will accommodate kegs without modification so I'm sure someone with one will chime in.

Click to expand...

+1 I have the SQ14 and I am more than satisfied with it. There's a limit to how much heat you can transfer through the bottom of a kettle no matter how many btu's the burner can potentially supply. The SP-10 more than likely will get you to a boil faster than the SQ-14, but it will waste a lot of propane in the process and I'm not at all certain that any gain in time savings would be worth the trade off.

I am not sure if you have made up your mind but I have the SP10. I just switched it up to 10 gallon batches and I would like to have a more powerful burner. I would just suggest get more power and BTUs than you think you will need because you might end up wanting it one day.

I was able to do the 10 gallon batch fine but it did take longer than I wanted.

Go big and buy once... Just my 2 cents.

I have the BC SP-10, purchased in June from Amazon for my switch from extract to AG. From my experience, this model is almost ideally suited for 5-gallon batches. It works without a hitch, and will use about 4 lbs. of propane to do a batch (heat the strike water and do the boil, I heat the sparge on the stove). My 30 quart SS brewpot fits almost exactly on the top of the burner, which is high enough off the floor to be easily accessed for lighting, but not so high as to be top-heavy. The regulator valve is a bit touchy, but after a few brews, it's pretty easy to have the flame where you want it by just listening to the sound it makes.

If I were considering going to 10 gallon boils, I would definitely get a bigger (and more heavily constructed) burner. If you're doing a single 10 gallon boil, I'd estimate you're going to start with over 12 gallons of wort, which is about 100 pounds. In fact, I don't think I'd consider boiling an amount that size that had to be moved when hot- I'd go to a stationary "sculpture" or whatnot. Too dangerous.