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Author Topic: burners for 55 gallon pots  (Read 19266 times)

Offline jdmontez

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burners for 55 gallon pots
« on: November 16, 2009, 11:49:53 am »
Hi All,
I have decided to upgrade to a 1 bbl system using 2-55 gallon boilermakers for mashing and boiling and a 30 gallon for my HLT.  I have some guys welding up a modified Brutus 10 to accommodate the larger pots, but I am not sure which burners to use for such a large system. 
I am torn between a cast iron hurricane burner and jet burners.  I have a smaller cast iron burner that I use now so I have experience with that, but have no experience with the jet burners.
Any suggestions?  Maybe a 3rd, 4th, or 5th option I haven't thought of?
Thanks.
J

Offline hjherbenson

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Offline bob

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Re: burners for 55 gallon pots
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2009, 05:14:09 pm »
What about propane? Most resturant stuff is natural gas.
Bob

Offline onebarrel

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Re: burners for 55 gallon pots
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2009, 07:50:51 pm »
I have a 30gal kettle I boil in that rests on 2 x 70000 btu cajun cooker burners... I use both burners
to reach strike water temp then pump to my mash tun (plastic)

After I dough in I heat sparge water and pump to my HLT (plastic)

When I drain to the brew kettle I only need one burner to get a rolling boil while slowly sparging since
the wort is already around 150F... I could probably switch out that burner for one half that power and if I was to do that
I would probably go with a 50000 btu ring type burner with a needle valve flow control - back the gas right down.

I have such a ring burner but it is used exclusively for outdoor cooking - pasta sauce, chilli, and soup done inside a
converted Sanke... the flame and heat control is so much better on those ring burners it is not funny, but my wife
would kill me if I messed with her set-up, down side is they are more $$ and they are big/bulky to set up side by side.

I would stay away from jet burners (straight pipe type) they are noisy and don't offer much control - got rid of one already.

My system consists of a 30g HLT 40g MT 30g Kettle and 2 x 15g Keggles - cast out is 45gal at 1060 OG max

Offline hjherbenson

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Re: burners for 55 gallon pots
« Reply #4 on: November 18, 2009, 06:45:46 am »
What about propane? Most resturant stuff is natural gas.
They make these available for propane as well
There is no strong beer.
Only weak men.

Offline bob

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Re: burners for 55 gallon pots
« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2009, 10:52:35 am »
I have a cajun hurricane big cast iron burner that seems too weak to get 80 gallons boiling and have had to use a jet burner to get it going. Then had a hard time keeping a rolling boil. Might be the tank icing up that causes that. I want to plumb it to my house 500 gallon propane tank. Might have to go to high pressure regulator for that.
Bob

Offline g-s

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Re: burners for 55 gallon pots
« Reply #6 on: November 19, 2009, 01:54:09 pm »
Try this site . I used the 32 tip propane burners  on my one barrel system that I made from 2
55gallon s/s drums .     http://www.kitchensupplydirect.com/burner-accessories.html

Offline blatz

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Re: burners for 55 gallon pots
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2009, 01:59:28 pm »
I use the banjo KAB6 - 220K BTU - I would imagine that would be enough power, but have not tried it out first hand.

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Offline majorvices

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Re: burners for 55 gallon pots
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2009, 03:09:08 pm »
This is what I use - man, it really puts out a lot of heat. It brings a 55 gal barrel to a boil in about the same time I can bring my 14 gallon kettle to a boil with a much smaller burner. Stock up on propane though - you will need it.  ;)

http://www.shopperschoice.com/item_name_Multi-Jet-Propane-Gas-Burner-Large_path__item_7314.html