Propane burner: Boil Tips

[JohnIA]

Hi all - I'm very new, am around 10 brews in all-grain.

Can someone offer some tips around the boil? As it stands I start with my 10g kettle (10g ssbrewtech standard in case that matters) on a propane burner (darkstar I think is stamped in it). I start it maybe a couple of turns up (I would say it's still on less than half total capacity though?) and then monitor that the temperature is rising. It's been typically about 20 degrees fahrenheit in the garage so I'm sure that has something to do with it but it takes a good 60-80 minutes just to get to the boil the way I'm doing it.

Crux of my question: How high can I crank it up to start just to get the temp up to around 200 then pare down? I don't want to burn the wort but I'm sure I'm being far too cautious. Any other tips on getting up to boil? (another note: I use fermcap drops to protect against boilovers)

Thank you for your time!

 

[Manufacturedevolution]

I crank mine all the way up. If you're doing all grain I don't think you can "burn" your wort. That would be more of a concern with extract.

 

[BrewInspector]

Fire that puppy up.

Turn it to full capacity. As you are reaching the point of boil a creamy layer of foam will rise letting you know its coming. At that point you can begin to lower the flame so that it doesn't boil over. If you are doing 5 gallon batches in a 10 gallon kettle you should not have a problem avoiding boil over.

You are not going to scorch the wort by heating more rapidly. Those concerns are related to the use of extract.

 

[JohnIA]

I crank mine all the way up. If you're doing all grain I don't think you can "burn" your wort. That would be more of a concern with extract.

Thank you!

 

[JohnIA]

Fire that puppy up.

Turn it to full capacity. As you are reaching the point of boil a creamy layer of foam will rise letting you know its coming. At that point you can begin to lower the flame so that it doesn't boil over. If you are doing 5 gallon batches in a 10 gallon kettle you should not have a problem avoiding boil over.

You are not going to scorch the wort by heating more rapidly. Those concerns are related to the use of extract.

Thank you!

 

[Redpappy]

If you are doing extract, make sure to turn your flame off. Then stir the hell out of it while pooping in LME or DME. Once you have it mixed up real good, crank it up.as long as you don’t have shooting out from under the kettle, I would think you would be fine. That i# how I have been doing it.

 

[MaxStout]

If you are brewing in a cold garage, you can keep some more heat in the kettle by leaving the lid on until just before the boil starts. Then remove the lid, and adjust the flame when you get to the boiling point.

 

[hawkbox]

Pay attention to your boil off rate too, the higher the flame the more you will boil off. I bought a new KAB4 burner and boiled off 6L more than I expected to.

 

[C-Rider]

I have a digital thermometer attached to my boil pot. I can set an alarm to sound at say 200*. When that sounds I turn down the flame and have a spray bottle of water which I use to spray into the pot to keep it from boiling over as I make adjustments to the flame.

 

[BeerChemistWhiskey]

With my BG12 burner I've found that opening the regulator all the way blows off a lot more gas than it creates heat through flame. I used to translate the loud noise from the burner as a sign it was really going, but after some research I realized I was wasting a lot of gas that was blowing through the burner so fast it couldn't burn.

Now I pay more attention and start it low, then turn it up until all the flames are large and stable, with no "fluttering". They're all blue and tall with a splash of orange every now and then.

I'm not familiar with your burner and these other guys seem to be, but I thought I would just give you something to think about whether it's applicable to your setup.