all grain with one burner???

[kickflip_mj]

So im a pretty broke college student and im building a rims setup... i know alittle much for a broke kid but i was wondering if it was possible to brew all grain with one burner?? could i tranfer my strike water from my boil kettle to my lauter tun with a pump then gravity feed my strike and sparge water into my mash tun?? is this 10 times more of a hassle then spending a bunch more money on another burner??

 

[FlyGuy]

So im a pretty broke college student and im building a rims setup... i know alittle much for a broke kid but i was wondering if it was possible to brew all grain with one burner?? could i tranfer my strike water from my boil kettle to my lauter tun with a pump then gravity feed my strike and sparge water into my mash tun?? is this 10 times more of a hassle then spending a bunch more money on another burner??

Of course you can do it with one burner. You just need either a second pot to heat sparge water (batch sparging), or you need a cooler large enough to store pre-heated sparge water (fly sparging or batch sparging). If you are committed to a RIMS system, you might have to be clever about moving water around. Personally, if you are so broke that you can't afford a cheap second burner, I wouldn't bother with a RIMS. A couple coolers and a kettle, or a mash tun and a couple of pots is all you need.

 

[Fingers]

I do 10 gallon batches with a single burner. You have to be a little creative because lifting that much is rather difficult, but with only five gallons you should be good.

 

[tbulger]

http://www.agrisupply.com/cast-iron-burner-com/p/30295/cn/5400001/

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I've never done an AG batch with more than one burner. I do 15 gallon batches, and I just move the burner around as required (my stand holds the kettles and tuns high enough to move the burner freely).

 

[Bobby_M]

I've only used one burner as well. You lose a little time that way because you can't start boiling wort until the last of your sparge is going into the mash tun, but it works. Watch these videos.


[YOUTUBE]7jfrBUDpsmg[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]iGVvqmP0oTM[/YOUTUBE]

 

[kickflip_mj]

well i have, 2 9 gallon ittalian kettles and one keggle im turning into a mash tun, i already have a camp chef 60,000 btu burner and i built a seperate heat exchanger for my rims system using a corney keg... i stole that idea of someone else, but my main problem is that i need the burners for the itallian kettles but i dont know how to make a stand without using a welder and i think the kettles need to be supported on the bottom.

 

[The Pol]

I have one burner, one pump... works swell! I pump from the keggle to the MLT and HLT, during sparge I pump from the HLT to the MLT.

 

[kickflip_mj]

i was looking for something like that, i wish i had a sankyes bc you can mount them anywere above any burner, should have gone that route a year ago.

 

[kickflip_mj]

I also read that angle iron bends under heat, would that be a problem with onl five gallon batches??

 

[z987k]

http://www.agrisupply.com/cast-iron-burner-com/p/30295/cn/5400001/

wow that looks just like my burner.... and it's 170k btu.... And I thought mine was like 65k or so.

 

[david_42]

I only have one burner. I use my old 30 quart kettle for heating mash & sparge water. Sparge water gets heated while the mash is working. Then I drain the first running into the kettle and start heating while I do the sparges.

 

[RedVR6]

Great thread. This was something I was stressing about...

Bobby_M excellent video!

 

[blacklab]

Great thread. This was something I was stressing about...

Bobby_M excellent video!

Check out Yuri's as well. They are sticky at the top of the AG page. Helped me out out ALOT(Bobby's too).

You'll be jealous of Yuri's crazy steam powered Rube Goldberg setup!

You should not have a problem. I do 5 gall AG batches with one burner, a 40 qt pot for the boil, and 5 gall pot for the sparge water.

I keep the 5 gall on the heat with the sparge water 'till I'm done running into the boil pot, then switch them out.

 

[kickflip_mj]

Thank you everyone for all your imput, maybe i will build a stand that is capable of having two burners but use one for the meantime.
thanks again

 

[CollinsBrew]

My whole system is gravity driven and I only use one burner for AG brewing. Rather than have to deal with two burners, one of which would have had to be on my HLT, I made a heatstick to heat the sparge water. I think the total cost of the heatstick build was about $20. Granted, it takes it a while to heat up 5-6 gallons of water but I just plug it in and get everything else ready for the brew day, including starting the mash...and drinking a few homebrews.