King Kooker Dual Burner Cart...thoughts?

[IncredibleMulk]

Just curious if any of you have brewed on one of these and what the pros/cons have been. The price looks good and I'm interested.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00264G584/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[IncredibleMulk]

I can't get that link to look right...the Amazon link will take you to the King Kooker on Amazon.

 

[daksin]

That thing looks awesome! I'm amazed I've never seen it before. It seems like a really good deal and there are a couple positive reviews from homebrewers.

 

[IncredibleMulk]

I thought the same thing...my purchase finger is getting itchy...

 

[raney]

I just bought one of these about a month ago. I'm a new brewer and have only used this once, so my opinion may not count for much..but I love it! its much sturdier than it looks. I am only doing 5g boils now, but i feel like it will handle 10gallon boils with no problem. I brought 6 gallons to a boil within 15 mins with it on the smaller (60k btu) burner, so i can't imagine how quick the jet burner will do it with 105k btus. the only downside so far is that the propane 'holder' is kind of janky and doesn't hold the tank well..but that's not a big deal to me i just unhook the propane after i brew anyways. i say go for it if you're looking for a nice burner for a decent price

 

[IncredibleMulk]

I think I'm just gonna pull the trigger on it...it looks cool enough! Thanks for the feedback!

 

[daksin]

Shoot some pictures, I'd love to see how it stands up to some larger kettles, and how it works on brewday!

 

[buzzkill]

I have seen those,and before I could say anything my wife gave me the look. so I dont have one....yet.

 

[JJL]

Never tried it, but I know that for the same price you can get 2 of these and 1 of these.

 

[raney]

Yeah, there are plenty of other options available...but I am more than happy with this for now. I just brewed yesterday..I wish i had seen this I would have snapped a few pics. This is the only pic of it I have off of my phone, but I will try and take a couple more pics of it today and get them up. It puts out some decent heat...the jet burner scares me a bit

 

[daksin]

looking good- definitely more pics of your brewdays required. This may be on my homebrew list (the nano list is too long already, haha).

 

[AOD]

I was looking at a similar cart without the tier. My only beef against the cart you originally linked to is the lower jet burner...is it loud? flame is VERY direct in that manner...center of the boil kettle could get very hot.

I saw this cart as a two burner option that could incorporate pumps: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002YXN12...e=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B0002YXN12

The burners on the cart appear to be the same that's on the SQ-14, which I love.

Anyone use something similar ever?

~Adam

 

[ddahl84]

Does anybody know the dimensions between the two burners? I am thinking about buying one to use the top stand for the mash and gravity feed to the bottom to the boil kettle and would like to be sure that the tier is tall enough to do this. Any info and more pics would be appreciated.

 

[raney]

sorry it's taken so long to respond. the jet burner can get a little loud if turned up all the way. I can take a video on my phone and post soon. The height from the bottom burner to the top is 13", so I'm not sure if it would work for a gravity-fed system. the dimensions on the burners are about 15"x15" for the outside 'rims', then 13.5"x13.5" on the inside of the 'rim.' I don't see this being a problem for larger keggles..it feels like it would support it just fine. Unfortunately, i'm still on extract brews (planning to do my first ag this week), but here's a pic of a 7.5gallon pot on the burner just for an idea.

 

[Effington]

So glad I found this thread - I stumbled onto this thing as I was researching propane burners on Amazon. I was looking into batch sparging with a converted cooler until I got as sweet keggle on Craigslist, complete with ball valve, thermometer and false bottom. I thought the deal I got on that would save me money until I realized how expensive it can be just to get a 3-tier gravity system setup (especially if you're not particularly handy, like me). This thing looks great. Would love to put the keggle MT on the top burner and then gravity feed into a brew kettle on the jet burner. I can just use a shelf or wire rack to suspend the HLT.

Unfortunately, 13 inches doesn't seem like enough height for that. Unless I can find a nice short-but-wide brew kettle in the 10 gallon range. Then this system will be perfect.

Anyway, long story short, I just pulled the trigger. At $153.00 and super saver shipping, I couldn't pass it up. Now, it's off to brew kettle shopping.....

 

[AOD]

I recommend the Blichmann boil kettle. Worth every cent... albeit a couple more cents than other kettles!

Google Spike Kettles for a good HLT option.

Careful direct firing your mash tun! Don't scorch the mash!

~Adam

 

[Effington]

Those Blichmann kettles are a little saucy for me - and even the 10 gallon is over 16" high. If I can find a brewpot in the 13-14" height range, I think that I can gravity feed right from the top burner to the bottom.

The 40 qt cheapo pots from Adventures in Homebrewing are just over 13" and the Brewer's Edge series are 14".

 

[Effington]

Northern Brewer's 40 qt Megapot is 13" high and seems like a good compromise between the really cheap ones and the Polarware/Blinchmann's.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/review/product/list/id/5513/

 

[AOD]

The height of the Blichmann is optimized for boil off. Shorter pots are wider, more surface area exposed to the air, more evaporation.

There are other intangables about the Blichmann I like. I'm not a sales rep...just a user. Sight glass tube integrated, temp gauge, ball valve, and the lid hangs / rests on the handles so you don't have to set it down somewhere.

Cheers!

 

[Effington]

There's no doubt the Blickmann pots are superior in every way, and I recognize that a shorter, wider pot will lead to increased evaporation.

That said, I'm a bit of a frugal and I'm mostly lazy. The 13" megapot will let me gravity feed on the King Kooker (which should arrive Monday) from the top burner to the bottom, so I'm pretty much sold.

I'll be happy to post pictures of my proposed setup once I get it.

 

[AOD]

Please do! Who doesn't love pictures of homebrew setups!?

 

[dog_gone]

Looking at the King Kooker 94/90TKD myself and noticed that you can pick one up @ Cabela's (ship to store) for $160.

It's also available @ Sam's Club for $128.

 

[whitehause]

They seem a little flimsy for a keggle set up. Might be ok for a 5gal boil....I think 10 would be pushing it.

 

[Effington]

Mine just arrived - I haven't opened the box yet, but on the outside it says that it's not suitable for turkey frying. Anyone know why? I thought maybe I could use it to try my hand at turkey frying next Thanksgiving, and I'm not sure why this would be different from any other burner. Maybe just because the burners are elevated.

I'll post my thoughts once it's setup - now I need to find a good deal on a propane tank.

 

[raney]

I have used this for 2 10 gallon brews now, both started out with close to 14 gallons of wort. brought it to a boil (on the top, weaker burner) in around 30 minutes. it's a lot sturdier than it looks! my boils were in the bayou classic 15g ss pots that I see a lot of people use on here, so i think it's a lot smaller than a keggle would be. I've done about 10 brews total on it so far and it's holding up pretty well for a cheaper burner.

no idea why it wouldn't be good for a turkey fryer though...maybe because they didn't put the 15 min shutoff timer on it..? who knows..I hope it works out for you though!

 

[orion7144]

I ordered one yesterday from Sams. I know it has been brought up about the height and gravity feeding the boiling pot but what if you just stuck your boil pot on the ground and gravity fed to it then just moved it to the jet burner should work fine correct?

 

[Effington]

I ordered one yesterday from Sams. I know it has been brought up about the height and gravity feeding the boiling pot but what if you just stuck your boil pot on the ground and gravity fed to it then just moved it to the jet burner should work fine correct?

That should work fine - my only concern with that would be lifting the brewpot onto the burner with 6+ gallons of wort in it. It would be much easier to gravity feed right from one burner to the other. Otherwise, I feel like I wouldn't be taking advantage of the offset burner setup.

But it would certainly be easy enough to just lift it onto the burner, as the lower one is not far off the ground.

 

[Effington]

It looks like things are going to work out just fine. In the past month I have received and assembled the King Kooker, plus a 10 gallon Megapot with valve and brewmometer, and a keggle I've been holding onto for use a mash tun, with new ball valve. Behind it on the floor you can see the insulation I plan to wrap the keg in.

I specifically went with the megapot since it is short and wide - this leaves enough clearance to feed straight from the MLT to the kettle. I have an Electrim Bin for use as an HLT which I'll probably put on a shelf next to the whole thing.

I have not brewed on it yet, and I plan to do a full boil extract batch first as a test run - but what do you guys think?

 

[ShadleBrew]

Looks good, Effington. I just put together my King Kooker today. I'm interested to hear how it performed for you...especially the jet burner. Any scorching?

When I was in the planning stages of this, I was planning on using keggles on the stand for a gravity fed system and building a separate stand for the HLT, but as it turns out the 13" height difference on the stand is not ideal for keggles. Should have done more research. But...after seeing this, I may just do what you did and get a 10 gal brew pot for the boil kettle instead.

 

[Effington]

I have not brewed on it yet due to some nasty cold weather in the northeast, but I may brew on it this weekend thanks to some unseasonably warm temps this week.