First Batch - Burner Advice - Brewing Equipment At Estate Sale

[Jiffster]

Hey Folks,
Brewed my first batch this past Sunday. I brewed it using my turkey fryer burner (propane) out in the garage. Partial boil (2.5 gal), extract with some grains/oats.

I didn't really like the control over the flame this particular burner setup gave me. I also didn't like the soot that it produced at lower flames and how it left my boil pan all sooted up.

Is this typical?

Is there an upgrade I could consider to resolve these 2 issues?

On another note, there's an estate sale coming up in my area and they have some brewing stuff. No prices listed yet. They had a picture. Not much to go by.

Should I consider checking this out?


Thanks.

 

[Minky]

Did you use the plate on the inlet of the burner to adjust the air mixture for a blue flame?

 

[fimpster]

As far as the soot... what Minky said.

And yeah, I would check out any estate sale with brewing gear. I see a counterflow chiller, kettle, cooler that's probably a MLT. Definitely worth checking out.

 

[Jiffster]

Did you use the plate on the inlet of the burner to adjust the air mixture for a blue flame?

I don't even know what that is. DOH!

As far as the soot... what Minky said.

And yeah, I would check out any estate sale with brewing gear. I see a counterflow chiller, kettle, cooler that's probably a MLT. Definitely worth checking out.

Not experienced enough o know what to offer..... any suggestions?

 

[Calypso]

Not experienced enough o know what to offer..... any suggestions?

It really depends how knowledgeable they are and how much they care. I would try making a low but reasonable offer for the entire lot of brewing equipment. Assuming it's in good condition, $100 would be a steal just for what we can see.

 

[m00ps]

dude yeah thats a counterflow wort chiller. Much better set up than 90% of us starter with. Even some fo the siphoning gear is in its original packaging so you could use it. Id toss any plastic tubing and equipment and replace ti though (not including the mash tun)

 

[Bellybuster]

That chillzilla is a $200 item alone. Used ones go for 75-100 all the time or more

 

[Komodo]

Mmm Chillzilla, that's a good one. The kettle looks like ~10 gallon? Probably has a valve on it. I can see a valve on the cooler so it's a mashtun. Plastic tub could be used for storage or for a swamp cooler, and I see an auto-siphon. But best of all is the Secrets from the Master Brewers . . .priceless.

You have most things you need there for brewing, and the person know what they were doing, so you can assume more goodies.

 

[Jiffster]

Well I'll make sure I'm the first one through the door then!

 

[Jiffster]

Found another pic showing the stuff they are selling. Even more stuff than I thought!

 

[Hello]

I see a keg and MLT as well. Definitely go to that sale and see what you can snag for a song.

As for your soot, absolutely it is an issue with the burner not producing a rich blue flame. My turkey fryer burner did that, no matter what I did, it continued to do it. I bought a new one.

 

[TX_Brewing]

Also a couple of corny kegs, so I would infer that there is also probably a regulator and taps too. Off the top of my head if the big kettle is stainless then anywhere under $300 for all of it (assuming 2 cornys subtract$50 if only one) would be a good deal.

 

[Calypso]

And let us all know how it turns out so we can be jealous.

 

[Kharnynb]

That looks like all you need for a full 3-vessel brewing setup and kegging gear(minus co2 as far as i can see)

Second that anything under 300 would be a steal, even replacing the hoses/plastic.

 

[Jiffster]

I ended up passing on the stuff at the sale. There were 3 glass carboy's with handles, 1 propane turkey fryer burner, 1 corny keg, 1 igloo cooler with a "plastic" false bottom (I think.... Didn't look very robust) and a plastic valve/spigot, 1 small stainless pot and a tub with various vinyl lines, test jar, air locks, etc., plastic bucket, wort cooler. The larger pot in the picture wasn't there.

They wanted $250.

 

[TX_Brewing]

Good call on not going for it. Serious self control to keep from buying into that deal, which wasn't bad, but certainly wasn't great.

 

[Jiffster]

Good call on not going for it. Serious self control to keep from buying into that deal, which wasn't bad, but certainly wasn't great.

Thanks, I needed to hear that!

 

[Jiffster]

Thanks, I needed to hear that!