Propane Burner recommendations?

My brewing buddies and I are building an all graing brew sculpture and are trying to determine what we should use for burners for our boil pot and HLT.

Can anyone recommend burners that work well for them? We live in Canada so we can expect some cold ground water and cold temps for at least some of our brew sessions.

I appreciate any ideas you may be able to share.

Thanks

I visit Halifax... brewing indoors?

55,000 BTU and up will work... personally I think 185,000 BTUs is just an LP waste. Remember, 1lb of LP contains 21,000 BTU of energy, so consider how long you will be running the burner at full throttle.

55,000 BTU is found on most GOOD turkey fryers, so you should not have a problem in that range. Also, you can go to like Bayou Classic.com and they have cast burners there for sale for less than $20 each.

One other recommendation... dont use it indoors (ie garage, kitchen etc...) even with an open door CO levels can climb to harmful levels. If you want to brew "indoors" like a garage, use electric. It is pretty cheap to set up still, and even cheaper to operate. A 5500W ULWD element will run you $18, PID $45 and SSR $40 with a heat sink. Sounds like jibberish, but if you wanted to build it, enough of us here have, that we could walk you through each step.

Good luck with the build, search these threads too, A LOT of information on different builds and A LOT of different opionions.

I'd say be careful with some of the lower BTU Turkey fryers if you're doing 10 or more gallon brews. My turkey fryer was fine for boiling up to seven gallons, but when I moved up to 10 gallon batches, it could not get a consistant boil, so I got me a banjo cooker from Bayou. And I love it!!

I use the standard turkey fryer burner which is a 55K BTU cast iron type. It worked great for 5 gallon batches, and is still working great even with 10 gallon batches. I have to really throttle it back when I'm boiling to avoid boil overs, so it's got plenty of heat output for even big batches. If I were to buy another propane burner I would either go for the Bayou Classic SQ-14, or the Banjo Burner. The SQ-14 is similar in output to my turkey fryer, but has a very wide and sturdy stand which accomodates up to a very large kettle. The Banjo puts out a TON of heat, and also provides a stable cooking surface but is a bit more expensive.

Amazon.com: Bayou Classic SQ14 Single Burner Outdoor Patio Stove: Patio, Lawn & Garden
Single Propane Burners, Kick A Banjo Burner

I've got these burners on my stand. I use a 0-30 psi regulator, but a 0-10 or 0-20 reg should be fine, too, even for 10 gal batches. More than enough heat. I don't ever open the regulator up all the way.

Thanks for the feedback. I have been doing a lot of research for to help with building this AG setup and I have see a lot of conflicting information on burners. Some say 55K work others min 185K......

I just want to be sure that what I get will work but dont want to spend a forturne on it.

I am curious to hear what kind of results people are getting with their sculptures and what kind of time is required to get their wort up to boil etc...

I use the regular old cast iron burners like posted above with a 0-30 psi reg, although a 0-20 would probably be sufficient. I think a 0-10 is not quite enough for a 10 gallon boil. I think these are about the cheapest you can get. I think these are the cheapest at around $12 and can produce plenty of heat with the proper regulator.

When I was testing mine out it took about 30 minutes to get water from 70 degrees to boiling. It doesn't take long at all to get the 170 deg wort from the grains to boiling, maybe 15 minutes if I don't heat while sparging. I usually start heating slowly about half way through sparging though so it's close to boiling when I'm reach my intended initial volume.

HomerJ said:

Thanks for the feedback. I have been doing a lot of research for to help with building this AG setup and I have see a lot of conflicting information on burners. Some say 55K work others min 185K......

I just want to be sure that what I get will work but dont want to spend a forturne on it.

I am curious to hear what kind of results people are getting with their sculptures and what kind of time is required to get their wort up to boil etc...

Click to expand...

The difference in BTUs with those burners is purely a function of the pressure from the regulator. My first 3-tier had the same burners with a 0-10 psi regulator and it worked fine on 10 gal batches. My new stand with the 0-30 psi can definately put out more heat, but I don't ever turn them up that high. The regulator is good quality, though. That's why I went with it. A 0-20 psi reg is probably the best compromise, since it would give you some more BTUs if you felt like you needed them.

BTW - my heating times are similar to Truckmanns. The key to a quicker brew day is starting to heat things (strike and sparge water) so they're ready when you need them, and then start heating the brew kettle while you're still sparging. That way, you're to a boil in no time, and it doesn't take much heat to maintain a good boil, even w/ 13 gals.

I have the Bayou Classic Kick A burner. Their site says it puts out 210000+ BTUs. I would not recommend it. A standard 20lb tank only lasts me about two 5gal AG batches.

It makes AG brewing a lot more expensive. It costs me $20 to exchange the tank for a full one. That means it costs me about an extra $10 for an AG batch... and that sucks.

http://bayouclassicdepot.com/kab4_banjo_burner.htm

I've got the regular turkey fryer, and while it just has a 10psi regulator it gets 13 gallons of wort up to a boil in about 30 minutes. As far as heating sparge water, this weekend I got 12 gallons of water @ 52F up to 166F in about 35 minutes. And it wasn't even cranked up all the way, so I think 55k btu's is just fine for 10 gallons...and of course way more than needed for 5 gallons. If I were to get a propane burner now, I'd go with the SQ-14 or the banjo. If you feel like spending the money the banjo is a great burner, or if not the SQ-14 is a great burner which many people use with great success.

My 135,000 btu burner is much hotter than I need for 5gal batches. It maintains a boil with the regulator less than a quarter open.

I had made the mistake of buying a propane burner from Academy a few months ago. It looked good on the shelf, was made of stainless steel (frame) and was the most expensive burner they had at $59.99. I made one batch of beer with it, and though it was plenty hot, you couldn't adjust away the orange flames. It made one hell of a nasty, sooty mess out of the bottom of my new stainless boil kettle. Needless to say, it went back to Academy.

So months pass, and as hot as it's been here in Texas, I haven't been in a huge hurry to brew another batch. However, my reserves are running low, and I'm once again feeling the itch to make wort happen. I had two gift cards from Cabelas, so I went there hoping to snag a Bayou Classic which they used to sell. Well, they don't sell those there anymore, and what I was left to choose from was all typical Chinese crap quality burners with castings identical to the one I bought from Academy. I decided to give it a go, bought the cheapest one they had (since they all looked to have the same burner castings and regulators) and grabbed one that was marked down from $59.99 to $49.99.

On my way to the checkout, I decided to scan it on one of the sales floor price checkers to make sure that it would read $49.99, and to my surprise, it read $29.99! I went to the checkstand, paid up with my gift cards, and headed to the house. I opened the box which read "Cabela's Fish Cooker" and found documentation for King Kooker. The casting had a bit better finish machine work than the Academy turd I already took back, so I put it together and hoped for the best.

Well, it works as good as I have any right to expect for $30! No excessive yellow/orange flames, was able to make it burn lean, even when cranked up a bit. I'm satisfied, if not outright impressed with this purchase. I checked my boil kettle to make sure it would sit flat. As luck would have it, the tri-layer kickout on the bottom of the kettle fits snugly inside the ring of the burner frame. I can modify this if need be, it's built out of 3/8" steel bar, but I think it'll be fine the way it is. I've got enough money left on my gift card that I can buy another at this price! I highly recommend anyone just getting started or who just wants a spare burner to jump on this! I bought mine at the store in Buda, TX.

Best of luck,
BK