Propane burner advice please!

[Torontobrew]

Okay!

I know there have been similar posts. I have tried to search around and inform myself with existing information, but I am unclear on a few things.

The Mission: lowest cost adequate equipment for my burgeoning all grain setup.

The Challenge: purchase equipment before the baby arrives to prevent any budgetary questions from the boss.

My current thoughts:
http://www.agrisupply.com

item number 30295 this is 170 000 btu high pressure.

My Questions:

what regulator (from the same website as I am shipping to canada and need to keep it to one seller to reduce costs) do I require?

can I run two of these burners off one regulator? (I'm finding the regulator setup/and requirements confusing)

do I need two or three of these burners for a all grain setup (HLT and boil kettle - but not mashtun?)

could/should I get a low-pressure burner instead for the mashtun?

in general, what do i need to buy from here to get all set-up for the least cost?


Thanks for all your experience and your willingness to share it!!

Dave

 

[Netflyer]

I'm doing all grain with only one Turkey Frier Burner. I have two kettles. I mash in a 10 Gal. Igloo. So what I do is:

1. Heat up the mash water to strike temp.
2. Dump it into the Igloo and then add the grains
3. Cover and Mash for 60-90 min depending upon the mash temp... lower = longer usually
4. In the last 15 min of the mash I heat up the sparge water.
5. Dump the first wort runnings out of the mash tun and into the boil kettle.
6. Dump the sparge water into the mash tun. Since I use two batches to sparge I then heat up another 3 gal. of water for my second sparge. About 15 min.
7. Drain the 2nd runnings out and add to the boil kettle.
8. Dump my 2nd sparge water into the mash tun.
9. At this point I put the boil kettle on the burner and crank it up...
10. Add my 2nd batch of sparge water and drain my 3rd runnings and add to my boil kettle that is pretty much boiling by the time I add the 3rd runnings to it... I get about 195F water after the 3rd runnings (combined with the almost boiling 1st and 2nd runnings) so it only takes about another 5-10 min to get the whole 7-8 gal to boil.

So one burner and a few trips to it. Really not that bad... If I was having a baby I would save my dough and just use one burner. I'm not regretting it at all and with my system I'm now getting around 80% efficiency so I'm happy.

 

[Bensiff]

170k is a lot of BTU's...overkill IMO...assuming you are doing 5 gallon batches. I currently use my ghetto brew sculpture the Bayou Classic DB375 and it works great. Comes with everything you need except the propane tank and is very stable for 5 gallon brewing.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VXD92C/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

You can get away with 1 burner. I use a igloo cooler for my mashtun for the now and find that two burners are perfect and won't likely get a 3rd burner until a I build a dedicated stand.

 

[ThoricourtBrewing]

I am also brewing all grain with a turkey fryer. Sometimes I do single infusion which is really easy, but lately I've been brewing some local Belgian recipes that call for step mashing. Either is easy enough to do directly in the turkey fryer a.k.a. brew kettle--as long as you don't mind sticking with 5 gallon max batches. I paid $60 for the turkey fryer and about $30 for a propane tank.

 

[Torontobrew]

thanks for your replies!

To add some more specifics for you;

I will be using converted kegs for all three positions (HLT, MT, BK) - I'm avoiding as much plastic as possible in the brew process, planning on doing 10 gallon batches.

So if that allows anyone to give me some more specific advice I appreciate it!

Dave

 

[Bensiff]

I would probably still avoid 170k btu's for 10 gallon...personally I would go with burners in the 100k range so I don't burn through propane tanks every batch.

 

[HalfPint]

If I were you, Id spend the money and invest in one of these bayouclassicdepot.com/kab6-kick-a-banjo-burner-plus.htm .

I know they're expensive, but they're so worth it. Since buying mine, I'll never go back to the turkey fryer propane burner agaiin.