How much propane?

[soupfist]

I'm considering an outdoor burner like an SQ-14, but not really having much experience with propane-fueled burners outside of my gas grill, I don't know what to expect in terms of fuel usage. How many hours of outdoor burner operation can you get out of a single propane tank (assuming the usual sized ones you exchange at all the stores)?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

IIRC, I've been NG for a while now, I got 2 to 3 brews per tank.

ALWAYS have a spare tank on hand.

 

[944play]

I was able to get more than 10 batches to a tank when I was only boiling (~6 gallons for 60 mins) with propane. When strike and sparge water must be heated with propane, I get 3-5 per tank. The lower number is especially applicable to the decoctions and 90 min boils I've been doing for pale lagers lately.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I was able to get more than 10 batches to a tank when I was only boiling (~6 gallons for 60 mins) with propane. When strike and sparge water must be heated with propane, I get 3-5 per tank. The lower number is especially applicable to the decoctions and 90 min boils I've been doing for pale lagers lately.

Standard reg?

I had a 30psi aftermarket reg on mine too. I forget about that.

F-14's would blush when that thing was fired.

 

[944play]

Yeah. I boil off about 2/3rds of a gallon per hour (unless I oversparge).

 

[DosGatosBrewing]

I usually have 6.5 gallon boil, and I heat sparge water on the same burner. I get about 5 batches per tank.

 

[rico567]

I use the SP-10 and get maybe 5-6 batches per tank...but I expect usage amounts will be all over the map. I may get this many for reasons including:

1. I don't go for wide-open boils. I hit a nice bubbling boil and let it go at that.

2. I heat in a fairly sheltered location (my garage), so I would expect to use less fuel than someone who brews in the open, where breezes will tend to retard the heating process.

3. I heat my preheat water, a certain amount of my strike water, and my sparge water indoors on the cooktop, where propane comes much cheaper.

 

[WVRadar]

I weigh my propane tank before and after brewing to determine exactly how much propane I am using. My last four batches used 1.4 lbs, 1.5 lbs, 1.6 lbs and 1.9 lbs.

All brews were 60 minute boils with time added for steeping grains (I'm an extract brewer).

 

[maffewl]

I have the SQ14 and get around 3.5 batches per exchange tank. My boil size is 6.5 gallons on average.

 

[Rev2010]

This question is nearly impossible to answer because there are too many factors. There's your burner efficiency, how many gallons you are boiling, what your starting temp is (AG mash is about 152 or so and Extract starts from colder water), how long you plan to boil, how windy it is outside, outside temperature, etc etc.

Way too many factors. I lose more fuel on windier days and the wind also causes the rolling boil to ease which sucks so I run the flame a bit stronger.

But, if it's any consolation with my Blichmann burner I think I get around 5-6 60 minute 6.5 gallon preboil batches per tank. Just yesterday I went and bought a second full tank as I'm low in my other tank. Gonna keep the old tank on standby as backup. Best thing you can do is have two tanks and take some records to get an average amount of "minutes per tank". Gonna do this myself starting with this new tank.


Rev.

 

[soupfist]

Thanks all for the replies. I haven't really done the legwork on how substantially different a burner is from, say, a gas grill manifold in terms of BTU, but I honestly thought it was possible a brew day might use more than one tank...doesn't sound like it's that extreme, though, and so that's good.