Taking my Homebrew Outside (Question about Propane)

[Kbar]

3-4 batches with a 210K BTU burner on the BK. This is after I moved to a 240V HLT and 110V RIMS system. Nice not to go through so much propane heating up water now and controlling mash temps.

Always have one extra. I also have the BBQ tank on Standby as well.

[gwk453]

Man! Propane is pricey! 100000btu! If natural gas is an option go for it!
It might look expensive to get in, but it pays for itself quickly. NG is the abundent energy of the future! You might want to start buying 30 lb tanks.

[ajdelange]

Twenty lbs of propane contains 430,000 BTU thus a 100,000 BTU/hr burner will run 4.3 hrs on a 20 lb tank or, put another way, it will consume 4.65 lbs/hr. To heat 20 gal (166 lbs) of water from 52 °F to boiling would take 166*160 = 26560 BTU. Assuming the burner can deliver 50,000 BTU/hr to the water it would take a little over half an hour to boil that much water and use about 2.5 lbs of propane. If you boil for an hour that's another 4.65 lbs.

These numbers sort of suggest that if you are doing 5 or 10 gallon batches 100KBTU is overkill and will cost you lots in propane.

[sharkguy05]

I would just spend the few extra $$ and get a blichmann burner. U be so much happier

[Afterlab]

I would just spend the few extra $$ and get a blichmann burner. U be so much happier

That's exactly what I did, well worth the money.

[maxwell]

If you don't want to shell out on the Blichmann gear, I can recommend the Bayou SQ14, which comes with a nice stand for about $50 on amazon. More efficient than the jet style burners and quieter too. I can get at least 6 boils from a 20 lb tank with this burner.

[spiderwrangler]

I've got a outdoor wok burner. I don't often get a chance to brew on it (it lives at a friend's house based on lack of space in our little apartment), but at the last big brew day, other club members were jealous. It's the Big Kahuna propane burner, seems to be rated at 65,000BTU, but the flames are tight and blue. This video isn't the model I have, but is similar... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqU38t8M9dE I had to keep it turned most of the way down to keep the wort from leaping out.