Propane burner question

[Iceman6409]

Hello all. I am about to embark into the world of making my own beer. I have decided to go all grain from the start. I have my mashing tun completed and ready. I am going to purchase a 7.5 gallon kettle from Amazon. Wort chiller will be made soon. That leaves me with the burner. I am interested to hear opinions on which one I should get. Here is my scenario as best as I can get it. All this will take place in my back yard. I have a picnic table to work with and my ground will be concrete bricks. I am probably going to go with a single burner.

How many BTUs will I need in general? I have been reading about this and I see a wind shield might be appropriate as well. Can anyone recommend some good burners for a newbie? I have seen one at Walmart. A King Kooker 54,000 BTU. Will that suffice or will I need more BTUs? Thank you all in advance for your opinions.

Ice

 

[headfullahops]

I boil 7 gallons in a 9 gallon stainless kettle on a Bayou Classic SP50 tall stand 55,00BTU (that's what there website claims for a 10psi regulator) propane burner. I bought it from bayouclassicdepot.com for $74.90 ($60 + $14.90 shipping). I've never timed it but I'd say I'm at a rolling boil from tap temp (50-60˚ average in Michigan?) in about 20-30 minutes. I probably should time it once, just to know for certain. Once the wort is boiling, and I run a fairly violent rolling boil, it idles on about 1/3-1/2 throttle for the rest of the session, depending on outdoor conditions. I have gotten three batches out of one 20lb tank with enough left to grill some chicken, so I would imagine that it's using about 6-6.5 pounds of LP per batch. I bought it the beginning of this summer (2010) and have made probably 8-10 batches on it so far. I, and my brewing buddies, are very impressed with the performance of this burner.

 

[Zacharomyces]

I would go with a bigger kettle. your cutting it very close for a 60 min boil, I dont know if you could get enough liquid in for a 90 min boil.

 

[headfullahops]

Here's a couple relatively inexpensive kettle options that would give you some headspace on a 7-7.5 gallon boil:

$75 Bayou Classic SS 36qt (9 gal)
$90 Heavy Bottom SS 40qt (10 gal)

 

[headfullahops]

Get one of those kettles and throw a weldless ball valve kit on there and you're GOLDEN!

 

[malkore]

I too suggest a 9 gal kettle to avoid boilover issues.

 

[Banjoman76]

A 7.5 Gallon pot is do-able if you use Ferm-Caps.