Your time to get desired temperature

[checo78]

Hello, Im building my first brew stand and did some tests today. My setup is low propane going into a Honeywell smart valve and then to a 23 tip jet burner. I place the burner approx. 3" from the bottom of the converted keg.

I tested heating 10 gallons of water from 85f to 153f. It took 33min and 25 seconds. I have a ball valve coming out of the lp tank which was 60% open. If I open it more, the flames come up from the bottom and start to heat my valve and melt the plastic grip.

Can you provide your times? Im wondering what will happen if I plan to do a step mash. It really takes a lot of time. What would happen if I plan on doing 120f - 140f - 153f steps. It would take at least 10 minutes to increase 20f approx. Will this work for a step mash?

Any comments welcome. Thank you!

 

[checo78]

This is a photo of my burner. All comments welcome!

 

[philjohnwilliams]

Judging from you photo, it looks to me that your burner is more like 8" from the bottom of your keg (figuring that your burner is about 8 1/2 to 8 3/4" diameter and the distance between burner and keg seems to be about the same as the width of the burner ). Get it closer and that should help with your heating efficiency. You can try adding a heat shield to protect the grip on your valve.

 

[lowtones84]

You can also start with a thicker mash, and add boiling water to change the temp rather than (or in addition to) direct heat. That's what I do since I brew on the stovetop. This is a helpful site for me: http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

You can use the rest calculator. Start off with a thick mash like .8 qts/lb. or grain and add boiling water to get to the next temp. Just need to stir well. The calculator doesn't work absolutely perfectly for me but gets me pretty darn close. Maybe it's not as convenient for you though since you're not brewing on the stove like me, I dunno. I'm sure others will have suggestions too, this is just mine

 

[checo78]

Thanks for the tips. I will look into going that route (thicker mash)

Regarding the distance, I will measure it again tomorrow. Seems that 8" is a bit much, since I used three 2"x4" wood planks plus the 1"x4" steel. = 7" minus burner heigth. Will test again tomorrow and try to adjust pressure and distance. Thank you both for your comments. Happy brewing!