First 5 gal boil observations

[mparmer]

Finally got my im chiller and turkey fryer and boiled up a couple 5 gal extract batches yesterday. Here are some observations I would love to hear comments on:
1. I was surprised how high I had to turn that fryer up to get 5 gal of water (I did a 1st boil of water only to "condition the aluminum kettle") to boil
2. I was surprised how long it took to get 5 gallons to boil. I mean good grief, I had flames coming out from underneath the kettle on all sides. Also, I adjusted the air valve to achieve the "small yellow flame at top" to achieve the best heat output. I think it was around 30 to 45 min each time before the 5 gal was boiling. I was beginning to wonder if it was going to burn up a whole tank of fuel on those 2 batches (well, 3 if u count the "conditioning" run". It was cool outside yesterday but I just didn't expect it to take that long.
3. My turkey fryer has a 20 min timer that is a pita. It kicked off a couple of times and I had to re light it. Anyone know how to disable the damn thing?
4. It sure it nice having a big kettle, one that would take a heck of a hot break foam to boil over. Both hot breaks went off without having to kill the flame.
5. The hot water coming out of the chiller is handy to rinse stuff off with.
6. It's pretty amazing how quickly those chillers get 5 gal of wort chilled down to pitching temp.
7. My boiloff rate was not as great as some I have read about on the forum here, mine was less than 1 gal per hour. I wound up with about 5.75 gal but on both batches my OG looked OK to me (about 1.05 which is what I was expecting)
8. I was also surprised at how good my fat tire clone (NB) tasted while all this was going on :rockin: as several of them bit the dust, ha ha...

 

[PatMac]

5. The hot water coming out of the chiller is handy to rinse stuff off with.

You can also collect it in a tub and then dump it in the washer to use on a load of laundry!

 

[nebben]

It depends on what the initial temp is of your wort (or water?) when you are just starting the heating. If it is windy or colder outside, both will conspire against your boil. Once you get it up to temp though, you shouldn't need much gas though. 2x brew sessions ago, I started on what I thought was a 1/3 to 1/4 full tank. I finished the day with two boils done (and one of those two was 120 min) and gas remaining. Once the boil starts, I feather mine down quite a bit so that a boil is maintained, but not much more.

How much you boil off will also depend on environmental factors too. I get between .75-1.2G boiloff in an hour depending on conditions.

My hot breaks with 6.5G of AG wort in the pot have all been close. I boil out on the fringes of my back patio so that boilovers wont affect anything but the burner itself. Anyway, I keep a spray bottle nearby and will dial down the flame significantly if it helps me control the foam. After the first 3 or 4 minutes, it's over and I can usually turn it up and get a good boil without much foam.

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

Once the boil starts, I feather mine down quite a bit so that a boil is maintained, but not much more.

+1 This has always worked well for me. From what I've read online, many blast away through the entire boil. Once hotbreak has been reached and the pot is boiling, I've never seen the need for such a fierce boil.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

3. My turkey fryer has a 20 min timer that is a pita. It kicked off a couple of times and I had to re light it. Anyone know how to disable the damn thing?

What kind of turkey frier is it?

 

[kornbread]

1. I was surprised how high I had to turn that fryer up to get 5 gal of water (I did a 1st boil of water only to "condition the aluminum kettle") to boil
2. I was surprised how long it took to get 5 gallons to boil. I mean good grief, I had flames coming out from underneath the kettle on all sides. Also, I adjusted the air valve to achieve the "small yellow flame at top" to achieve the best heat output. I think it was around 30 to 45 min each time before the 5 gal was boiling. I was beginning to wonder if it was going to burn up a whole tank of fuel on those 2 batches (well, 3 if u count the "conditioning" run". It was cool outside yesterday but I just didn't expect it to take that long.

A couple of ideas. Make some type of wind shield to go around the burner. Also, start your burner as soon as you start adding wort to the kettle. Smaller amounts will heat up faster.

. My turkey fryer has a 20 min timer that is a pita. It kicked off a couple of times and I had to re light it. Anyone know how to disable the damn thing?

Mine has the same thing. I guess it's a safety feature in case some D.A. walks off and leaves hot grease on an open fire and then forgets about it. Mine requires batteries to run the timer. I've found that, as the batteries get weak the timer goes off sooner. I haven't tried to disable it yet. I am usually right by the kettle during the boil, so I just reach down and hit the button every now and then.

 

[mparmer]

The turkey fryer is a "Backyard Classic, Professional" got it as Sams Club

 

[FoeKillerCreek]

I always thought you needed the bluest flame, no yellow? +1 on a heat shield. It will concentrate the heat to the bottom of the pot and increase efficiency by blocking wind. But 30 minutes on a cold day is
not a bad rate for 5 gallons.

CB.

 

[thristy]

If you can achive a good blue flame thats the hottest for propane or nat gas yellow flame is toooooo cool and it shoots up the bottom of the pot

 

[mparmer]

"blue flame is the hottest"

Ya know that's what I thought too, I think I remember this from science class in school some decades ago. Perhaps the same people that write instruction sheets for turkey fryers are the same bunch that write instruction sheets for some extract kits ;-]