Efficient propane burner

[jobrien]

Hi everyone,

I'm a new brewer who just got his first brew kit for Christmas (after much hinting to the wife). The 10 gallon aluminum kettle I ordered arrived on Saturday. I decided to give a test it by boiling 7 gallons on my electric stove. After 2 hours, the temp had made it up to 205 and went no further.

So I guess I'm buying a propane burner.

I'll be making 5 gallon batches. As long as it's not ridiculously slow, time to boil is less important to me than being efficient with the propane. I'm not sure what BTU rating I should be looking for. I want it to be powerful enough to do what I need it to do, but I don't really need it to be more powerful than that at the cost of wasting fuel.

I know next to nothing about propane burners so any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[billl]

Max BTU doesn't really tell you much. Any stand alone burner is going to be complete and total overkill for boiling 7 gallons. You'll be able to dial it way back and still easily bring your wort to a boil.

Any brand will certainly work, but I've never met anyone who didn't like their blichmann. You efficiency is going to come primarily from dialing in your air/gas mix. (There are little dampers on every burner).

If cost is a major factor, you might also consider just getting a heating stick to assist your electric stove.

 

[ColoHox]

A banjo burner is pretty much the best bang for your buck. I use 3-10" burners in my setup, and can get about 4-10gal batches out of one propane tank, so they are pretty efficient.

The best prices are through Amazon or direct from bayou. You can buy them with a stand attached or without and attach them to a DIY project.

There a tons of threads about propane burner setups, so be sure to search through the forums.

 

[aiptasia]

Yep, i'd just get a jet banjo burner. Check out hardware stores that often put them on sale after Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially on the hidden "clearance" endcaps where they sometimes stick the returns. It sucks that people buy a turkey fryer rig, use it once, scrub it clean and then bring it back but they do. Craigslist is also a good place to pick up a used turkey fryer. Again, a lot of people just use them once or twice and they end up in the garage collecting dust.

I picked up a 60,000 BTU jet banjo burner turkey fryer set with a 15 gallon pot/inner basket rig on a clearance rack for $40 for the set, and it's been my main BIAB system ever since. Yes, it's aluminum but i'm religious about cleaning and drying the brew pot and basket after each use and have had no issues with rust. The inner removable metal basket is the perfect size to line with a BIAB bag, held in place with metal binder clips. I toss everything into that and then when the mash is done, I pick up the whole basket and let it drain out over the pot (I have a hops spider that I just rest the basket on top of to drain).

I do lose about 10% efficiency by not doing a sparge, so I compensate by adding about 10% to the base malt in my grain bills.

 

[jobrien]

Thanks for the tips.

What is the advantage to a banjo type burner that justifies the extra cost vs something like this?

I see a lot of talk about high pressure vs low pressure regulators. I assume that the high pressure regulators produce more heat at the expense of more propane usage. Is that correct? Would the low pressure regulator be enough to boil 7 gallons in a reasonable amount of time (~30 mins)?

 

[billl]

"What is the advantage to a banjo type burner that justifies the extra cost vs something like this?"

You linked to a banjo burner. They come in different sizes. I can't tell from the picture, but one of the other features most higher price setups have is a secondary needle valve so you can control both flow and pressure. The other benefit to the bigger burner is that you distribute the heat over a larger surface area. That is less important if you are going to run it low vs wide open.

For High vs Low pressure, that doesn't translate into fast vs slow heating. Higher pressure burners just have tiny orifaces that restrict the flow. Lower pressure has a larger oriface that allows the gas to flow at lower pressures. Burning propane will release a fixed amount of energy per pound no matter what pressure is. The higher pressure would just theoretically allow for more gas to be dispensed and burned in the same time period. Since you aren't going to open the thing up all the way, that isn't going to matter.

 

[Newsman]

On a related note, I have a turkey fryer and it's got a timer on it, which is aggravating because I have to keep resetting the timer or it'll shut off the propane. Any suggestions on how to disable that and manually control the propane?

 

[BeerGrylls]

I'm a fan of the Bayou classics. I have the SP10 which comes with a 20psi regulator. It's more than enough for a 10-gal pot, so if you want to get in for less of an investiment: http://amzn.com/B000291GBQ Otherwise you could "step up" to the KAB4 with the 30psi reg and the larger burner surface: http://amzn.com/B0009JXYQY

 

[jobrien]

Then I seem to be confused about what makes a burner a "banjo" burner.

Either a high or low pressure model would be more than enough to boil 7 gallons. A high pressure model will use more propane in the process than a low pressure model. Do I understand that correctly?

 

[billl]

A banjo burner is the the burner design. It looks kinda like a banjo with a metal stem going to larger ring with little holes in it. The smaller ones have an open center. You get dozens of tiny flames coming out the banjo face. The other main types are a torch burner (on big flame area) or jet burners (little jets, usually in a criss-cross pattern around a solid ring)

Burning propane releases the same amount of energy per lb no matter what the pressure. Your efficiency comes from getting full combustion and being able to direct the heat into the kettle. If you are shooting for best efficiency, make sure you get something with easy adjustments for both pressure and flow and a wind shield.

 

[jobrien]

Thanks for all the help. Looks like the SP10 is a good choice for me.

 

[BeerGrylls]

You ought to be pleased with it. It's gone up about 7 dollars since I've bought it, so you may be able to get a better deal, but it's still a good price under 60. The built-in wind shield does a fairly good job as well. I never did like the idea of a jet burner on anything besides a wok.

 

[brick]

Thanks for the tips.

What is the advantage to a banjo type burner that justifies the extra cost vs something like this?

I have the one you linked. I only use the burner to boil (strike and sparge water heats just fine on my electric stove top) and I measured ~2lb of propane per batch. Not wasting fuel is important to me, so I adjust to the highest setting that gets me a clean blue flame & a quiet burn. That gets 7.5 gallons from mash temp to a vigorous boil in under half an hour even on a cold day. The only down-side is that it lacks wind protection, and I absolutely have to rig something up if it's breezy.

 

[Britinusa]

I have the Blichmann floor burner, that has a banjo burner in it, very efficient and very quick

 

[harritchate]

On a related note, I have a turkey fryer and it's got a timer on it, which is aggravating because I have to keep resetting the timer or it'll shut off the propane. Any suggestions on how to disable that and manually control the propane?

I tried to do that, and that just ruined it. There are pieces you need to remove and then you will need to track down the proper fittings to replace them with.. Or be like me and have to buy a new one

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[norsk]

On a related note, I have a turkey fryer and it's got a timer on it, which is aggravating because I have to keep resetting the timer or it'll shut off the propane. Any suggestions on how to disable that and manually control the propane?

Most turkey friers are very simple to disable the timer.. What model to you have? Do a simple Google search for your model and you will probably hit numerous YouTube and other instructions for modifying your fryer. Took about 3 min. to fix my neighbors fryer...

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

On a related note, I have a turkey fryer and it's got a timer on it, which is aggravating because I have to keep resetting the timer or it'll shut off the propane. Any suggestions on how to disable that and manually control the propane?

I have the same issue. Instead of trying to bypass the timer, I turn the timer on the place a brick up against the timer so it does not turn. Been doing this for a few years now, works like a charm.

 

[Newsman]

I have the same issue. Instead of trying to bypass the timer, I turn the timer on the place a brick up against the timer so it does not turn. Been doing this for a few years now, works like a charm.

Thanks. I'll see if I can find instructions on how to bypass/disable the freaking timer... if not I'll do like the one time I've used it... just reset the dang thing every 15-20 minutes.

 

[Newsman]

Found this thread and at the end it has a Youtube video for a different brand that looks identical to what I have... So I may try to disable the timer before my next brew (Wednesday) or I may wait until this weekend when I have more time.
Either way it looks really easy.

 

[Britinusa]

re Timer, on my old burner I took the knob off then using pliers I turned the stem until it jammed, it never ticked again! that disabled mine.

Edited to add: I think that doing this breaks the coiled spring inside so the time knob will not wind back down on its own

 

[Riot]

You can also open the cover on the timer and join the to leads into it with a piece of wire. The timer breaks the circuit when it turns off, you just need to keep it connected.

 

[MarcusKillion]

yep what they said .

Get a big burner that will boil your kettle without using up massive propane . Then dial it down when it starts boiling or else it will boil over .
you probably do not need a huge burner like I have but I like my 210K . I do know for sure that a cheap burner will give you exactly what you paid for . CHEAP . do not buy one . they burn with a yellow flame that is useless . Do not go to menards . If you want one from there I will be more than happy to give you one I used one time .
Spending 70 or 80 bucks is a good investment . Just think of how many beers you are going to get for that as compared to going to the store and paying 10 bucks a six . 7 six packs versus 5 gallons over and over and over for years to come .

 

[Newsman]

Yeah, the turkey fryer I have is more than powerful enough to get it to boiling and then some! I had to figure out how to turn it down so it didn't keep boiling over.

 

[MarcusKillion]

One place to look for a big burner at maybe a good price is a asian store . the one here has a couple of them and one is huge . they are flimsy but would probably work for a 10 gallon pot . they look much like most of the cheap turkey fryers for 30 bucks or so .

 

[Britinusa]

Just keep in mind the cheaper burners are not as efficient, I use a lot less propane with a banjo than I did with a turkey fryer.

 

[MarcusKillion]

Just keep in mind the cheaper burners are not as efficient, I use a lot less propane with a banjo than I did with a turkey fryer.

I agree . Does not matter what it is when you buy a cheap made product you get what you pay for . Better to buy good product on sale .