Pimp my system?

I’d say go for it but none of you have the money or inclination to do it.  :smiley:

What, pimp my system or yours?

Interesting thing about the group here. Seems like everyone is content with what they have, mostly. Very little talk of going bigger better faster… except for that Cap guy and that clown guy. :smiley:

Oh I’d like to change my system alright, its just too damn cold to do anything now and I don’t have everything I need yet either.  ::)  ;D

It would be cool to see a TV show “Pimp My Homebrew System” though.  :D  8)

I’m upgrading from 10 to 20 gal.  I just don’t talk about it

What are you using or going to use to brew 20 gallons?  I’ve thought about going bigger but its the burner system and the brew kettle that brings things into perspective.  Imagine the burner you’ll need with a 30 or 40 gallon brew pot.  :o

I bought a 25 gal megapot from Austin.  Also got a 165 qt cooler from Costco.  I already have a Bayou sumthinerother burner that will do the trick.

My banjo burner + a jet burner is barely able to boil 65 gallons. I get about 10 degree F rise in ten minutes. I think I need a better gas supply for the burners. The propane cylinders  are icing up. I could use my wife’s gas kiln burners but I think they would blow a hole through the bottom of the kettle.

Pick up an inexpensive laundry tub/basket (solid walls), set your tank in it and add just enough water so that it doesn’t float on its side.  You’ll get more pressure, a better flame and your tank won’t ice up.  :wink:

I would like to see a comparison of the burners out there. Boil a measured amount of 75 deg F water in the same kettle with time to boil and weight of propane burned to get there. Would that be useful information?

Interesting experience this last weekend: I was trying to get 50 gallons of wort to boil. My 210,000 btu banjo burner is nice and quiet but its a pig and would barely get the wort to boil. When I shoved the 120 btu jet burner under there I got a nice roiling boil and then the Cajun banjo burner shut off because the tank was empty. The boil continued with out change with the jet burner on its own tank.
I don’t know if the jet burner is able to pump the heat into the wort because it has a more concentrated flame (no scorching either) but I am going to get two more high-pressure jet buners and set them under the kettle. I should be able to have a bigger range of flame power that I can turn it up to get to the boil and throttle it way down after I reach a steady boil and still use less gas. Then I will sell the banjo burner.
Bob

Blichman I believe has some burners with stands that czn handle up to 50 plus gallons—If I can ever find some ss drums at a fair price,I will be buying blichman burners

Replaced the banjo with a tornado type burner. There are two of them under my brew kettle so I can ramp up to the boil with the 2 and keep it boiling with 1 burner. Total cost about $50. Now to hook it up to my house 500 gallon propane tank.
Bob

Just out of curiousity, did you make a windscreen for you banjo burner?  Mine has been doing insanely better since I made one.  It seems like it was really effected by the wind and losing a lot of heat around the sides of the kettle.  With the wind screen on, I had a rockin’ boil in my converted keg with the burner on as low as it would go.  Of course, that is less than half the size of your boil, but just thought I’d ask.

My burners were completly enclosed with a fresh air vent and a flue. Someone more knowlegeable than I said the evaporation rate of the gas in the small cylinders isn’t high enough and that a 100lb cylinder would work better. Or hook up a direct line to my house propane tank to get the gas before the 9psi regulator at the tank. So I haven’t sold off my banjo yet. More to come I guess.