[weithman5]

so i am thinking of building a new gas (natural) grill.  i was planning on making a t off to supply a burner for brewing on.  now i am thinking of replacing the regular grill burner with some banjo shaped burners as well.  and even making a natural gas fed oven off to the side.  too many ideas to ponder but the one question i have for those of you is how many btu do i need for the natural gas burner for the kettle.  usually i only do two gallons at a time but could go up to four on occasion.  (i am also just thinking of doing an electric kettle) i have been kicked out of the kitchen

[PSUhomebrewer]

He two questions you need to answer first are:
A) how long do you plan on staying there?
B) do you plan on brewing for a long time.

If the answer to these are yes, go as big as you can220k-600k burners to allow for future expansion. The other nice thing is even going electric, you always have the burner as a back up and if a point in time the size of your batches becomes large enough that you need to run additional 220 lines or your electrical panel runs out of space you have the burner there already to transition to.

[euge]

He two questions you need to answer first are:
A) how long do you plan on staying there?
B) do you plan on brewing for a long time.

If the answer to these are yes, go as big as you can220k-600k burners to allow for future expansion. The other nice thing is even going electric, you always have the burner as a back up and if a point in time the size of your batches becomes large enough that you need to run additional 220 lines or your electrical panel runs out of space you have the burner there already to transition to.

I say don't go bigger than you need. You've been brewing your way for years now. Yes I have been paying some attention...

Why do I say that? I went that route and have two burners that are overkill. It will waste gas and heat and if your burner is too large you will have to run it at the lowest setting. To do 4 gallons- let's say six for a full boil. I would get the small ring burner if this appeals to you. Thinking 50k btu would be more than enough.

Go electric and skip the gas burner is my ultimate opinion. It's where I want to be eventually.

[weithman5]

thanks guys.
i am going to build a test electric kettle out of one i got at goodwill.  i do think i will also build the new grill with smaller ring burners. may actually throw a third one off to the side and build a pizza oven.  and euge, you are correct, i am not likely to increase the size of my batches. if i can build the grill the way i want i should be able to pull off the grill rack and put the kettle over one of the burners.  a couple of 50-100 k should work as the grill i have is only 30k.

[weithman5]

i guess the other advantage of electric is that it is easily portable.  we have lived here for over 20 years but when my last runs off to college (will be a senior next year) we may move.  not sure where too yet.  planning that where to retire and still be able to see grand kids thing

[passlaku]

I use the natural gas from my house.  I bought a burner from these guys: http://www.topfoodservice.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=KECABJ

My batch size is 6 gallons, so not knowing a whole lot about these burners I bought the 9 inch burner.  If I could do it again, I'd go with a smaller burner with less jets. 

[Gribble]

I find for 10 gallon batches a 55k btu banjo burner from bayou classic for my kettle and a 55k btu cup burner for my hlt