Camping Stove Boil Testing

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Jorb

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I've been slowly gathering/building equipment for doing 5 gallon mashes. I ran some water through the system tonight. Since it's cold out I thought it would be a good worst case scenario test for outdoor brewing.

Equipment used:
Cast iron camping stove (like this one)
10 gallon pot
10 gallon Gott cooler (probably 20 years old)

20°F ambient outside temp. I was working on a covered porch which was about 10° warmer. Tap water measured about 50°.

2 gallons from tap to 200° in 12 minutes then dumped into the mash tun (cooler)
I checked it 20 minutes later and it measured 175°
Another 20 minutes and it dropped to 165°

5 gallons in the brew pot went from tap to boiling in 40 minutes
I then added the 2 gallons from the mash tun at 165° which brought the brew pot contents down to 195°
Another 15 minutes and I had a full rolling boil

I was worried that my camping stove wouldn't be able to handle 6-7 gallons of wort but tonight's test made me feel better. I'm going to brew this weekend when it's warmer outside and see how it goes. :mug:

IMG_20140107_172353_034.jpg
 
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Thanks for posting. I am considering buying one. I plan to use a 3 gal and a 4 gal pot set up to achieve a 5ish gallon volume. Looks like it will work fine.
 
Unless you want to use the stove for camping and beer I'd look at a burner stand. Amazon has the SP1 for a few more bucks and it has over 3 times the BTU output. I'm planning to go electric at some point so I don't want to buy the burner since I already have the camping stove.
 
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I have a 2 pot set up for boiling a total of 6 gallons so it looks like an affordable option. Can you regulate the propane flow on the burner itself?
 
20°F ambient outside temp. Tap water measured about 50°.

5 gallons in the brew pot went from tap to boiling in 40 minutes

That seems like plenty of heat for 5 gal batches, perhaps even 10.

Your MT cooler should be fine, if you lose a few degrees, just plan ahead a strike a little warmer, not a big deal IMHO....cheers!
 
I'll use indoor electric for strike water and mash inside. Only the boil will be outside so it looks like a doable setup.
 
I have a 2 pot set up for boiling a total of 6 gallons so it looks like an affordable option. Can you regulate the propane flow on the burner itself?

Yes, each burner has an adjustment knob. It's pretty fine so I usually go wide open with the burner knob and use the regulator for high/low adjustments.
 
This stove is performing very well. I did my second boil on it this morning and it easily brought 7 gallons to a boil and kept it rolling.
 
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