Has anyone ever boiled wort on their gas grill?

...or more specifically on the side burner of their grill?

Summer is coming soon and I'm thinking about doing my boils outside in the back yard. I'd like to try and do full boils and I'm wondering if the side burner will put out enough BTUs to get 5 gallons boiling. It puts out a flame about the same size as a gas stove burner would.

On the other hand, has anyone tried to boil 5 gallons on the grill itself? The burners on mine are a lot bigger than the side burner.

I've tried with no success. The side burner might do it, but the issue with the main burners is the distance that the pot is away from the flame. So much heat is lost through the casting and the areas around the remaining grate (I even tried covering the open areas with foil and bricks), that there isn't enough to get things going. If you can find away to support the pot closer to the burner you might do it, but I think you'll end up being more frustrated than if you buy a dedicated stand alone burner.

Edit: The main issue with the side burner is wheter or not it will support five gallons of wort and the pan.

There's not nearly enough BTU's to get 5 gallons (6 1/2-7 actually) going on a grill. Most grills are 40-50K BTU with all the burners added together, while a turkey fryer is more like 75k by itself.

How many BTU are those? Man, youd want no less than 35,000 BTU... 55,000 would be better.

+1 on the above... that is A LOT of weight out there on that little burner shelf.

EDIT: Looks like most are 8-12,000 BTU... yeh, you will never get a kettle boiling with that little power, youd be just as well off using your stovetop indoors.

Awesome thanks for the responses. I'm saving some cash to buy a propane burner, I was just curious about the other propane burning device in my backyard

Plus, you run the risk of breaking off the side burner.

I have a 10K camp burner that I use to keep sparge water warm, but I heat it with the turkey burner first.

I tried it. I have a heavy duty weber gas grill with side burner. It didn't work, not enough heat on either.

Viva la turkey fryer burner.

When I was building my rims system I was surfing the net and found a picture of a guy using a grill with his keggle on the burner. I thought it was a cool idea since it already had everything there on wheels to boot. I dont know how it worked but it was a neat idea.

hell, it barely works for heating 2 gallons of sparge water!!!!


time to invest in a burner. Amazon.com: Bayou Classic SP10 High-Pressure Outdoor Gas Cooker, Propane: Home & Garden
not a bad deal, and this thing rocks. i have boiled 9 gallons with it

I watched a video on youtube where a guy had 6 gallons going on his grill. Basically he took off all the heat seperators except for the two on the ends. He had all three burners going, and the bottom of his pot was in the flames. Now, he could have got it boiling another way and transfered it there. Who knows.

Once.

Once!!!!!!

Turkey fryer purchased within the week.

That is an exercise in ghetto engineering to insulate and severe frustation tolerance for the human psyche.

Spend the bucks on a stand and pot, either kit or purchased seperately. I got a 30qt aluminum pot and burner for around $50. Now it's my HLT.

Yeah, maybe that was me but it was only two of the burners.

Did it once myself also, and at 29 F outside also. It took about 3+ hours to get that thing anywhere near a boil, but the pot I had that day didnt work on the stove. So not only will you go through a ton of propane, but it takes to stinkin long.