Moving to 10 gallons

[BrokenBrew]

Question about moving to a 10 gallon setup. But first...

I've now been brewing about 18 months. When I first started, I talked to the guys at the LHBS, read every single thing I could get my hands on, searched the Internet, then bought my beginner kit.

I figured I'd make a batch every few months to save some money on beer, and have a little fun. Little did I know.

Started with extract, no grains, then quickly moved to steeping grains. Soon discovered the joys of buying hops in bulk. I love hopsdirect.com! Next, All Grain. Man, did I ever screw this one up. I did the mash perfect, boil, sanitation, but let about 4 batches ferment too hot. My LHBS told me AT LEAST 70. I don't go there anymore. Once Yoop & Revvy straightened me out, I bought a fermentation fridge. Suddenly my coworkers are asking for growlers of my beer. All humbleness aside - my beer rocks. (picture below for absolute proof! My Pale Ale - wrong kind of glass I know, but it shows the beer off really well.)

Next, getting rid of the bottles. I built my keezer over Christmas, I have one more tap to install on my keezer, ran out of money at three taps. When it's done, I'll have four kegs on tap, and two carbing up. I have to say, kegging is awesome. It's probably my imagination, but I really think it improved the taste.

Now, I'd like to move up to 10g batches. I'm going to get a keg, make a keggle, and make a CFC.

The question - FINALLY! I've got a Bayou Classic burner (the square one, does 55,000 BTUs). My question is, with a keggle, do I need to move up to a bigger burner, or will this one work?

Thanks!

 

[annasdadhockey]

It will take longer, but it should still boil the water/wort. If you can wrap the keggle with some fireproof insulative material, it would help to retain heat, thus boil faster.

 

[SC_Ryan]

That burner will be just fine for 10 gallons.

 

[jfkriege]

For summer it will certainly be fine. A friend uses that burner exclusively and does 10 gallons all the time. The only time he has trouble with it (it just takes a long time) is in winter when it is below 35 or especially when it is colder and windy.

 

[wyzazz]

I can do 12 gallon batches in my keggle, on an old turkey fryer burner. It works just fine, but doesn't boil too quickly.

 

[BrokenBrew]

Thanks for the replies.

Now imagine my wife rolling her eyes when I tell her I'm going to NOW start doing 10 gallon batches. 'Weren't we supposed to SAVE money by you brewing your own beer???'

Yeah, right.