What burner to buy?

[Incongruent]

I've been making do with boiling my wort on a glass cook top for a while and it's time to move my brew day outside to the garage. I want a propane burner to cook out there. What do I buy? Is there something I can pick up from my local hardware store? Or do I need something specialized? What's the best thing for a typically 3-5 gallon boil?

 

[JohnSand]

There is a wide range, of course. I am happy with my SP10, a fairly basic model from Bayou Classic.

 

[Joe_K]

I love my Blichman when I use propane. Stainless frame with a banjo burner, powerfull and long lasting. I also bought the leg extensions so I can use gravity to transfer.

 

[kh54s10]

For 3-5 gallon boil which will get you somewhere between 1.75 and 4 gallons, almost any burner will work. It comes down to how long you want it to last and your budget. Low end would be a turkey fryer burner at $35 -$45 to high end = Stainless Steel Blichmann burner at about $150. The Blichmann will last a lifetime.

 

[EcuPirate07]

Most will say Blichmann, I have an edelmetall and love it! It's right on point with the blichmann. I think someone was doing a sale on them. Might have been northern brewer. When I got mine it was buy the burner get the legs free so look out for deals like that. My little 2 cents would, be if you are devoted to the hobby and this isn't just a fling go ahead and get a nicer burner. I started on a bayou and realized after a while on a 5-8g batch it had a hard time keeping a suitable boil and some of the heads wouldn't even stay lit. Save $40-60 and just bypass the deep fryer burners and get the blichmann or edelmetall.

 

[MaxStout]

My first burner was a Bayou Classic SQ-14. It's a great burner and provides plenty of heat--55,000 BTU. It's around $50 on Amazon. You may be doing smaller, 3-5 gal boils right now, but some day you may want to do full volume boils. You may outgrow the turkey fryer burners, so why not get a better burner from the start?

 

[pshankstar]

I have a Blichmann burner and love it! I did start off with a turkey burner and quickly upgraded to the Blichmann and wish I just went with it from the beginning. I didn't think I would be doing more than 5 gallon batches but now the last two have been 10 gallon batches kegged. So if you are in this for the long haul, spend the extra money. Cheers!

 

[oujens]

I have a KAB4 that works great. At a minimum I would recommend the SQ-14 type burner.

I've found myself recently about moving to electric. Have you investigated that possibility yet? If it's something you could do in the near future, I would save up for that or maybe get by with a decent burner that will work until you can convert to electric. I found an outlet in my garage that I can use for induction, and a dual 120v element setup is a possibility.

Just something to consider before dropping money on a burner.

 

[JDXX1971]

Here ya go,

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...arxmGX3_lhyOaJikw&sig2=N8vuFyu3AclOXh3VEJM90g

 

[ericbw]

I don't think you need to spend $250 on a burner. The SQ-14 is pretty good, especially for the money. You might find that you use it for other things, too. We use ours for seafood boils and frying fish in the summer, so the house doesn't stink.

 

[ZmannR2]

Blichmann HellFire.....hands down!

It is DEAD silent and because the burner itself is so large, you can boil water on such a low setting, which won't blow unused heat around the sides of your pot. Which in turn saves you on propane. It's extended my tanks to add an extra 2-3 more brewing sessions per propane tank compared to my old bayou classic

 

[Incongruent]

Picked up the sp10 for $35 CAD on Amazon. Seemed like a good deal for me when I'm doing 3g partial boils... guess I can do a full 5 gallon boil now.

 

[Horseflesh]

If you have 240V available in your garage, consider going electric.

 

[nate70115]

I have the Bayou Classic KAB6. This works well and puts out a ton of heat, just be careful the first time you us it. It is coated with a black paint that burns off the first time you use it, so If you have an extra cheap pot laying around you might want to use that the first time you light off the burner. You can get it on Amazon for around 100.00. I originally tried ordering the smaller lighter frame version(same burner size) but Amazon would only ship me the heavier one even though they where both free shipping but that is what happens when you live on an island.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I have the Bayou Classic KAB6. This works well and puts out a ton of heat, just be careful the first time you us it. It is coated with a black paint that burns off the first time you use it, so If you have an extra cheap pot laying around you might want to use that the first time you light off the burner. You can get it on Amazon for around 100.00. I originally tried ordering the smaller lighter frame version(same burner size) but Amazon would only ship me the heavier one even though they where both free shipping but that is what happens when you live on an island.

I've pretty much decided on the KAB4 for my burner going forward. What's the difference between that and B6....just the size of the surface for the pot?

At 200,000 BTU I figure that's as much heat as I'll ever need. I'm still trying to figure out why people spend nearly twice as much for things like the blickmann or edelmetall.....

 

[jpakstis]

I think the only difference is the size. I have a KAB4 and a 10 gallon kettle and it works just fine. The KAB4 is awesome, very quiet and much more efficient than my previous (a cheap turkey fryer I stole from my dad).

All the coating burnt off when I first used it. The other thing was that it was so hot it fried my thermometer and burnt off the ball valve's rubber handle (I have a 10g megapot). I ended up getting one of those valve and thermometer shields from Brew Hardware and they worked like a charm this past session.

 

[stan1007]

I have both Blichmann and Anvil. The Anvil is a good burner and I still use it occasionally.

 

[nate70115]

I think the only difference is the size. I have a KAB4 and a 10 gallon kettle and it works just fine. The KAB4 is awesome, very quiet and much more efficient than my previous (a cheap turkey fryer I stole from my dad).

All the coating burnt off when I first used it. The other thing was that it was so hot it fried my thermometer and burnt off the ball valve's rubber handle (I have a 10g megapot). I ended up getting one of those valve and thermometer shields from Brew Hardware and they worked like a charm this past session.

I did the same thing with my thermometer and valve during the first burn but they still work(just look ugly now) . I still don't have a heat shield but I also realized I don't need to crank it up full blast to heat up quickly.

 

[Jim311]

I feel like the high end burners just don't offer all that much considering how much more they cost. In fact if you look at the guts of them, the actual cast iron burner, regulator, hoses, etc, many of them are the same banjo burner that is used by Bayou Classic. I use an SP10 currently, but I will say that I had to weld a frame around it to accomodate my keggle. Luckily, I have a welder

 

[PsychoBiter]

We saved a ton of time when we upgraded from a turkey fryer style burner to a Blichmann.
It get the water up strike temp and boil so much faster. Quiet too. Only downside if you run out of propane, you don't know because you don't hear the loud roar stop.

 

[kh54s10]

Picked up the sp10 for $35 CAD on Amazon. Seemed like a good deal for me when I'm doing 3g partial boils... guess I can do a full 5 gallon boil now.

I got the turkey fryer burner first. I then added an SP10 for the boil kettle and use the turkey fryer for my HLT. Has worked fine for 5 gallon batches for over 5 years.

I hope to go electric and skip the Blichmann, but if I upgrade with propane it will be a Hellfire.

 

[stan1007]

I feel like the high end burners just don't offer all that much considering how much more they cost. In fact if you look at the guts of them, the actual cast iron burner, regulator, hoses, etc, many of them are the same banjo burner that is used by Bayou Classic. I use an SP10 currently, but I will say that I had to weld a frame around it to accomodate my keggle. Luckily, I have a welder

I like my Blichmann burners. The Bayou Classic with 10" burner runs between $100 and $130 depending on model. $30 more gets you stainless steel construction that will support you standing in the brew kettle if necessary.