quick propane burner question

[hemogoblin]

Bought a 170,000-BTU burner a week ago for my first foray into all-grain.

About how many brew sessions can I expect to get out of a typical 17-lb. propane tank? Anybody know? 'preciate it ...

[jsmurphy]

I don't remember, but I got a gauge for my propane tank after I ran out of fuel once. Not brewing, thankfully, but grilling for a big party at my house.
Running out during a boil would really suck.

[Tweek]

I get about 2 and a half per tank. I have 3 tanks and 2 are always filled that way I never run out in the middle of a batch.

O yeah I do ten gallon batches. I use the stovce for all my heating including mash and sparge water.

[Beerconnoisseur]

I've gotten 5 5 gal. batches out of this tank of propane. And yes, that does include using some to heat my kettle for cleaning purposes. So you could conceivably get 6-7 batches per propane tank.

However, the BE400 Camp Chef Cooker I got from MoreBeer is only rated at 70,000 BTUs. So, as a wild-ass guess, I would expect you to get 3-4 batches with a burner twice as powerful.

[YamahaXS]

You don't need to use all 170k BTUs. Use a lower setting and you should get better efficiency.

[toneyc]

3 or 4??? OMG, what are you guys doing? In 2 years of brewing every other weekend, I've only had to fill my propane tank 3 times, maybe 4. We are talking about the ones about the size of a basketball, right?

:eek:
Toney.

[YamahaXS]

nice haircut Toney

Originally posted by toneyc
3 or 4??? OMG, what are you guys doing? In 2 years of brewing every other weekend, I've only had to fill my propane tank 3 times, maybe 4. We are talking about the ones about the size of a basketball, right?


Toney.

[sullydavid]

As an extract brewer I get away with much smaller volumes of water to heat. I also have a 170k btu burner and am 8 batches (5 gallon each) into it and the bottle is still good and heavy.

[BucksBrew]

I would think you would use a high flame initially to get up to temperature then turn it down to get a nice rolling boil. I don't think you'd want an all out boil going. IMO

This would be IMO the most effective way to conserve propane.

One question I have to anyone currently using a 170,000 BTU propane cooker is I typically use the stove with 2-3 gallons with my steeping grains in a bag. To get up to say 158-160 takes I think about 40 minutes. By using a higher BTU burner and cutting this time down, do you think this does not get all we need from the grains?

Thanks

[hemogoblin]

Thanks for all the great info ... I have now done the first all-grain brew (see my "photo essay" post) and it was not necessary to put the burner on full blast the whole time. Tank is still quite heavy.