gas burner or heating elements?

[Mr BR]

hi all would like to know if a gas burner or heating elements are going to be best for my adapted keg its going to be making about 50 litre brews in the one go extract to begin with hopefully moving to AG things i need to know if gas burner what BTU should i be aiming for for a quick boil without going over the score and if heating element what sort of KW and how many elements needed ie should i put in a thermostatic control so that i am able to hold the heat at a specific temp also any other ideas or tip much appreciated aswell as places for parts like thermostats controls and ball valves and the like :

 

[artiums_enteri]

I am not sure about electric elements as I have no experience with them, but for gas I would look for something around 200k BTUs.

 

[pittsy]

i would say gas would be quicker and poss cheaper too

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

I use electric for mine, 2 kettle elements and lots of insulation

 

[Aleman]

This Gas Burner is ideal for use with a keg, The legs unbolt and fit on the other way you to give a wider base for stability and the smaller diameter stands fit inside the keg well.

As long as you have a good wind shield they are very effective at heating water and wort.

There is no point in adding thermostatic control to a boiler as what you actually want it to do is . . . . Boil

 

[pittsy]

try this 1 a bit cheaper , ive got this http://www.gasequipmentdirect.co.uk/Sto ... LARGE.aspx

 

[Mr BR]

thanks all for the responses will look into the burners any ideas where i can get a stainless ball valve and can a keg be used for anything other than a boiler :

 

[pittsy]

i may of miss understood but if your after a large pot for using for boiling with a gas burner cheapest around is german ebay , i got 1 from there 33l is ideal but they also sell 50l, 70l and 100l pots and also thermo pots http://www.ebay.de/sch/catering-portal/m.html

 

[Mr BR]

no pittsy am looking for burners or elements to change a keg into a pot or kettle, and can a keg be used for a mash tun or any other piece of equipment, and what stuff would i need for the change, planning on doing extract next hopefully moving onto AG this year but want to do bigger quantities so i am not brewing every week ideally 50litres is good, will i be ok with a 50 litre keg / pot / kettle, havent been able to find a good picture of an all keg brewery as yet, any help much appreciated.

 

[BeerEagle]

I bought a system 2nd hand recently. Uses kegs for mash tun and copper.

Mash tun is lagged with neoprene kept on by gaffer tape wrapped all round.

Nice perforated false bottom with a copper tube pick up to a ball valve tap.

Loses a bit too much temp for a 5 gallon batch (head space) but perfect for 10 gallons.

I wish I could post some pics (on iPhone)

 

[johnluc]

I am not sure about electric elements as I have no experience with them, but for gas I would look for something around 200k BTUs.

erm! i think you might have got that a little bit wrong there, 200000 btu's = 58.6 kw

 

[artiums_enteri]

200k BTU burners are what are installed on most of the commercial rigs. Commercial breweries use the same systems that we as homebrewers use to create pilot batches, so companies like more beer, blichman, and Brutus have taken those designs and built them for the homebrewer. For instance: the sculpture I have from more beer has 2 high pressure 200k btu burners one for the boil kettle and one under the mashtun. The hot liquor tank burner is a natural gas adjustable digital adjustable jet 200k low pressure burner.

 

[Mr BR]

so could some body clear this up for me if i went down the gas route which size of burner BTU would i need, and if i went down the electrical heating element route how many KW would i need / elements i now have the top cut off of it and am ready to put a stainless ball valve in it can somebody post me a link of where to buy one please, cheap mind thanks oh forgot to say its a 50ltr one so would probably be boiling 40ltrs to leave some head room for boil and ingredients

 

[pittsy]

for gas a 5 to 8 ish is ideal :thumb:

 

[Mr BR]

would this one do http://www.gasproducts.co.uk/acatalog/L ... _Ring.html :thumb:

 

[pittsy]

yes thats a good 1 :thumb:

 

[artiums_enteri]

I think I'm misunderstanding the discussion here. Is 5 BTU the same in England as it is in the states? My small lantern I use for night fishing that takes a tiny 1/2 pound propane canister is rated at 5 BTU. I could not imaging bringing any amount of water to a boil using that. What is the typical outdoor propane burner rated at you guys use for camping or deep frying? Whatever it is that should work. My first setup was a turkey fryer we bought from the local hunting shop. It came with a 5L kettle, and worked for us for about 2 years.

 

[Springer]

That big Foker burner is the one that Aleman suggested way up post :?
Talk here seems to be all gas, but don't dismiss electric.
Might be something interesting here
S

 

[Stone Cold]

i have fokers and they work very well.
the old kegs can be used as boiler or mash tun or fv ( with a good lid)

 

[Mr BR]

I think I'm misunderstanding the discussion here. Is 5 BTU the same in England as it is in the states? My small lantern I use for night fishing that takes a tiny 1/2 pound propane canister is rated at 5 BTU. I could not imaging bringing any amount of water to a boil using that. What is the typical outdoor propane burner rated at you guys use for camping or deep frying? Whatever it is that should work. My first setup was a turkey fryer we bought from the local hunting shop. It came with a 5L kettle, and worked for us for about 2 years.

when they are talking about 5-8 ish a think pittsy was talking about KW as over here in britain they give you the power of the gas burner in both BTU and KW ,5KW is roughly equal to 18000 BTU, and as far as i can work out if i make a 40ltr brew with a 5KW burner it should take about 48 mins to boil probably slightly longer factoring in heat loss so if i use the one in the link which i think is 8.8KW this should off set the heat loss and as its an extract brew was hoping i could get away with only brewing once or twice a month instead of every week to keep up a constant supply of drink making it worth while going to extract from kits and in the long run recouping my out lay for equipment and gas ohh and not buying commercial lager :thumb: Sorry just noticed the gas ring in my link is the same one as Aleman posted sorry :whistle: