Wal-Mart Turkey Fryer Kit

[firebird77]

Heads up- right now Wal-Mart has their own turkey fryer kits on sale. At only $45 I had to try it out.

My first impressions:

Stand/burner is a knock-off of the Bayou Classic, and surprisingly sturdy.

The burner itself is a low quality cast iron piece. I haven't found a BTU rating but I'll take a look at the directions/manual later and post it.

The 30 qt fryer pot is only slightly thicker than aluminum foil. I wouldn't really recommend brewing in this, however it it better than nothing.

The hose/regulator includes a timer/thermocouple as a "safety shut off valve". I already removed this as it seems like it would be annoying (it shuts off the gas every 20 mins).

I wanted to wait to post until I test it out but brewing won't resume until this coming weekend. Overall I think it was worthwhile, only this weekend's test will tell. I still have well under $100 worth of brewing equipment and make some tasty brews- whatever works!

 

[Walker]

I got the ULTRA cheap kit from walmart about 4 years ago for like $27. The stand wasn't any where near as nice as the bayou style. My base was just barely big enough to set a converted keg on. I have no idea what the BTU rating is, but it can bring 5 gallons of 65*F water to a boil in 25 minutes with the lid on and maintain a nice boil on a batch with no problems.

The pot that came with mine was a piece of crap, too. I sit my mill on top of it when I grind the grain and sometimes put water in it.

Something eventually went bad with the iron burner, probably because I didn't take good care of it and left it sit outside all the time tucked under the grill cover. It started to burn really bright orange flame and left greasy black soot on everything.

I replaced it with an equally cheap used fryer off craiglist which I still use when I brew a friends' houses.

 

[Rowdy]

It started to burn really bright orange flame and left greasy black soot on everything.

spider webs/nest in the burner