MuchoGusto
Well-Known Member
I have forgot for how long and how many batches I've brewed. I've gone full circle from extract to all grain and back to extract SMaSH recipes. I did all that with a crappy turkey fryer burner until now. I'm putting this in the newbie section so hopefully you don't waste as much time as I did.
Time to kiss the old burner good bye and get something with some serious heat. After much research it came down to the Bayou Classic KAB4. The very first thing I did was to unscrew the hose from the regulator, install a 1/4" NPT tee and a low pressure gauge. This is an absolute must. Here's why. Blichmann knows that you don't need more than 10 psi to make a 10" banjo burner burn like hell. And on the KAB4 the same thing applies. Here's the data from this afternoon.
Outside temp 60 degrees. Water temp 52 degrees. Nice blue flame adjusted until it just wants to separate from the burner. 20 buck digital bathroom weight scale from Wally World to weigh propane tank.
10psi - 5 gallons to boil - 16:35 minutes using .99lbs propane (3.6lb/hour).
20psi - 5 gallons to boil - 14:45 minutes using 1.77lbs propane (7.2lb/hour).
It makes no sense to run at 20psi burning 77% more propane for a gain in time to boil of only 11% or less.
You'll burn some more propane than even using a 10 psi turkey burner, but you'll be finished sooner by far. It would take 45 plus minutes to bring 5 gallons to boil on my old crappy burner.
I'll do a 6.5 gallon boil tomorrow to compare to the Blichmann claims on their burner, but this KAB4 is going to be very close to their performance.
Amazon... 85 bucks and some change. Best money ever spent on brew equipment hands down! To add a pressure gauge will run you less than 20.
One last thing.... no doubt the Blichmann is top quality and better construction. No doubt about it.... but you can get great performance out of a KAB4.... each to their own.
Time to kiss the old burner good bye and get something with some serious heat. After much research it came down to the Bayou Classic KAB4. The very first thing I did was to unscrew the hose from the regulator, install a 1/4" NPT tee and a low pressure gauge. This is an absolute must. Here's why. Blichmann knows that you don't need more than 10 psi to make a 10" banjo burner burn like hell. And on the KAB4 the same thing applies. Here's the data from this afternoon.
Outside temp 60 degrees. Water temp 52 degrees. Nice blue flame adjusted until it just wants to separate from the burner. 20 buck digital bathroom weight scale from Wally World to weigh propane tank.
10psi - 5 gallons to boil - 16:35 minutes using .99lbs propane (3.6lb/hour).
20psi - 5 gallons to boil - 14:45 minutes using 1.77lbs propane (7.2lb/hour).
It makes no sense to run at 20psi burning 77% more propane for a gain in time to boil of only 11% or less.
You'll burn some more propane than even using a 10 psi turkey burner, but you'll be finished sooner by far. It would take 45 plus minutes to bring 5 gallons to boil on my old crappy burner.
I'll do a 6.5 gallon boil tomorrow to compare to the Blichmann claims on their burner, but this KAB4 is going to be very close to their performance.
Amazon... 85 bucks and some change. Best money ever spent on brew equipment hands down! To add a pressure gauge will run you less than 20.
One last thing.... no doubt the Blichmann is top quality and better construction. No doubt about it.... but you can get great performance out of a KAB4.... each to their own.
