Brewing Master

Question:

Tim, I have a couple of Superb 35K BTU natural gas burners that I use for 10 gallon batches.  I used to use a 170K BTU propane burner, but that is overkill (it will boil cold water faster than a 35K BTU burner though). With smaller burners you need to have more careful planning (get sparge water heating toward end of mash, etc.), but it can be done easily. These burners have a valve at the input which allows regulation of flame.  I usually have to turn it down quite a bit to avoid boil-overs with 12-13 gallons of wort in a 15 gallon pot. I love not having to worry about running out of propane during a boil. Email me with any questions Scott

Response:

Mike On domestic stoves, the smaller burners start at less than 5,000 BTU and the wok burner (if you’re lucky enough to have one) reaches only 12,000 to 15,000 BTU. Fairly pathetic and only designed for up to a gallon. Chris – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I switched to a cajun cooker / propane burner a while ago despite having a natural gas stove in my basement where I brew that is used for nothing but brewing.  The reason is that even though my pot can span two burners on the stove, it took forever to bring 6.5 gals to a boil. Two *very* nice things about the cajun cooker setup: 1. I can bring 6.5 gals of freshly sparged wort to a boil in under 15 minutes. 2. I mash on the stovetop so I can start my boil when I start my sparge. The bottom line is that with a propane cooker, you can do an all grain batch from start to cleanup in 4 hours.  Not too shabby considering the usual 8 hours I’d spend when cooking with only natural gas. Mike

Response:

Mike These were salvage jobs.  The tanks were corroded but the gas gear was still in OK condition (the heaters had definitely retired early).  I removed the burners with the whole thermostat and control system.  I disabled the thermostat (not needed) and repositioned the controller (still connected to the flame-safe and pilot hardware).  Tank (storage) heaters are fairly common here. Actually, the instantaneous "tankless" heater burners are generally more powerful.  I plan only to use the heaters "al fresco", hooked up where my BBQ goes, so the installation regulations are a little more lax with respect to ventilation and allowable heat output.  I’m being a little over-cautious here, because the flame will be supervised 95% of the time, but I like to worry about these things (-: I initially had reservations about whether my gas supply was going to have the pressure, but the spot I have chosen used to supply a 56,000 BTU spa heater.  No shortage of gas ! Chris. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi Chris, Did you buy these new, with the 100% shutdown valve, or did you salvage them?  Do they use tank-style hot water heaters in Oz, or do you use the tankless "instant" heaters that are fairly common throughout Europe? Regards, Mike Sharp

Response:

FWIW, I use a 170,000 BTU (propane) outdoor cooker from Cabelas (www.cabelas.com). Sells for $50. Boils 6 gallons of cold tap water in about 25 minutes. Garry

I’ve always wondered about these ratings…I have a low pressure propane 2 burner stove, rated at 56K BTU total, which I take to mean each burner is about 28K BTU.  It boils 6 gallons of cold tap water in about 35 minutes…  I also have one of those 170K BTU burners, but I’ve never actually used it for homebrewing.  I’m gonna do a side-by-side comparison this weekend. I’ll bet if we did a bit of research, we’d find out that the ratings are based on propane consumption, not heat production.  Anyone have specific knowledge on the subject? Regards, Mike Sharp

Response:

FWIW, I use a 170,000 BTU (propane) outdoor cooker from Cabelas (www.cabelas.com). Sells for $50. Boils 6 gallons of cold tap water in  about 25 minutes.

Are you able to regulate the heat?

Yes, very much so. Note that I’m doing full-boils with extract, not AG, so I’m starting with cold water. The cooker comes with a simple valve for regulating the fuel flow. There is a simple air valve as well for dialing in the flame. I’m pretty happy with it… Garry

Response:

Are you able to regulate the heat?

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – FWIW, I use a 170,000 BTU (propane) outdoor cooker from Cabelas (www.cabelas.com). Sells for $50. Boils 6 gallons of cold tap water in about 25 minutes. Garry

Response:

FWIW, I use a 170,000 BTU (propane) outdoor cooker from Cabelas (www.cabelas.com). Sells for $50. Boils 6 gallons of cold tap water in about 25 minutes. Garry

Response:

I switched to a cajun cooker / propane burner a while ago despite having a natural gas stove in my basement where I brew that is used for nothing but brewing.  The reason is that even though my pot can span two burners on the stove, it took forever to bring 6.5 gals to a boil. Two *very* nice things about the cajun cooker setup: 1. I can bring 6.5 gals of freshly sparged wort to a boil in under 15 minutes. 2. I mash on the stovetop so I can start my boil when I start my sparge. The bottom line is that with a propane cooker, you can do an all grain batch from start to cleanup in 4 hours.  Not too shabby considering the usual 8 hours I’d spend when cooking with only natural gas. Mike

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – What is a good size burner (in BTUs) to use for 5 gallon all-grain brewing? Excellent question. I’m contemplating switching to natural gas for my brewing system. One burner I’m looking at is rated at 27,000 BTUs. If I had two of these (1 for hot liquor, 1 for mash/kettle), is this going to be sufficient for 5 gal. batches? Or should I stick with the higher-pressure propane? Who brews with natural gas? What’s your burner rated at and how does it work? Thanks for the help, Christopher Hadden

Response:

Chris & Tim I’m about to get a couple of NG burners (30MJ  = 28,200 BTU each) plumbed in. The burners are of the same type used in domestic "family sized" hot water heaters and come with neat features like automatic shut-off on flame failure.

Hi Chris, Did you buy these new, with the 100% shutdown valve, or did you salvage them?  Do they use tank-style hot water heaters in Oz, or do you use the tankless "instant" heaters that are fairly common throughout Europe? Regards, Mike Sharp

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Chris & Tim I’m about to get a couple of NG burners (30MJ  = 28,200 BTU each) plumbed in. The burners are of the same type used in domestic "family sized" hot water heaters and come with neat features like automatic shut-off on flame failure. The ratings indicate that a single burner would bring 5 US gallons of tap water to the boil in about 12 minutes.  OK, so this is on the basis of a hot water heater and the efficiency will be less than perfect under my kettle, but there’s still plenty of oomf in the burner.  I can fit two (or 3) under the kettle, so I can increase the heating rate later if needed.  Not that I’m planning on 10 gallon batches, but you never know. Meanwhile, I’m still using a 15MJ (14,200 BTU) low pressure propane burner, and manage to get a good boil out of that, so your 27,000 BTU burner sounds good to me!  My main reason for going natural is to prevent running out of propane mid boil, and save costs too.  Bottled propane is much more expensive than NG where I live. Two notes of caution.  (1) Make sure you brew either outdoors or where there is sufficient ventilation. (2) With NG, get a gas fitter to do the job, or at least check it out. Chris

Thanks for the advice. From the response I got from local homebrewers, it seems that 27,000 BTUs will be perfectly adequate – especially when I’ve got a burner for the hot liquor and a burner for the kettle. As the first runnings hit the kettle (at 170