National Homebrew Club Ireland

Brewing Discussions => Equipment & Chemicals => Topic started by: rukkus on October 13, 2015, 10:12:53 PM

Title: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 13, 2015, 10:12:53 PM
Electric brewers look away, anyone ever thought of using something like http://www.gasproducts.ie/acatalog/copy_of_Bitumen_Burners.html ? Very high BTU but I'm guessing the diameter is so small you'd melt the bottom of the pot or scorch alot of wort......?
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: Leann ull on October 13, 2015, 10:48:52 PM
(http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-angry026.gif) (http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php)
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 13, 2015, 11:08:45 PM
Shhhhhhh, i said look away :P
Title: Gas Brewing
Post by: Leann ull on October 13, 2015, 11:21:28 PM
To answer the Heathens question its gonna burn the bollix off the bottom of a keg and total overkill, but that never stopped us homebrewers ;), have you underground gas reserves to run it?
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: LordEoin on October 14, 2015, 01:05:13 AM
it's so much more expensive than a more suitable burner that I'm not sure why you'd go for it
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 14, 2015, 08:44:39 AM
I should have mentioned its for a 70L kettle, those 8.8kw burners just dont cut it. I'm edging towards importing a blichmann but wanted to look at options available here
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: Leann ull on October 14, 2015, 09:29:53 AM
What's the bottom of the 70l boiler like? Will it handle that much heat
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 14, 2015, 01:05:08 PM
Its one of the german stockpots so fairly thin. I'm looking for something that will get up to a boil and keep it there as quickly as possible without having to mess around with special electrical wiring.
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: DarraghKS on October 14, 2015, 04:51:16 PM
http://m.ebay.ie/itm/STOCKPOT-COOKER-32-JET-600-x-600-NATURAL-OR-BOTTLE-GAS-HIGH-SPEC-SEE-PICTURES-/251663228782?nav=SEARCH

I got two of the burners from these for mine. Fairly strong as we use them with 100l pots similar to what you described.
The only thing with gas is its generally only 33% efficient due to loss of energy by other methods.
You can get them to deliver them to an argos in the north and collect them like we did. Or just get them delivered to the house.
Call them up for a quote on one as they sell 20 tip burners as well.
The 32 tips cost us less than €300 for the pair.
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 14, 2015, 06:09:55 PM
Nice thanks for that, like these ones? http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/261681295962?varId=560549660825
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 14, 2015, 07:55:28 PM
Hmmmm I could go all American on it and get a couple of these http://www.stockpotsrus.co.uk/multi-jet-burners-22-c.asp and get a brew stand welded up .....
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: DarraghKS on October 14, 2015, 07:56:28 PM
That's the exact ones. Make sure you pick lpg. We had a mix up on our delivery as they gave us natural gas jets. They have a larger orifice.
Also make sure you have a regulator for 2.5kg
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 14, 2015, 08:14:22 PM
Are they considered to be high or low pressure?
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 14, 2015, 09:01:38 PM
How in the world have i missed this section for so long http://www.gasproducts.ie/acatalog/Catering_Burners.html ding ding ding
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: armedcor on October 14, 2015, 09:20:35 PM
Those jet burners are incredibly loud aren't they? I was just reading a thread about them on HBT. How fast would they blow through a tank of gas?
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 14, 2015, 09:25:29 PM
Not a clue, DarraghKS might know as he uses them. I'd love to know how quickly they'd get 70L up to boiling. I think i'd opt more towards a 20 jet one
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: armedcor on October 14, 2015, 09:32:57 PM
The thread I was reading he had a 20 jet but had 10 of them blocked as he thought 10 was enough. No idea how big a boil he had though.
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 14, 2015, 09:36:44 PM
Some of these also look nice http://www.gasproducts.ie/acatalog/Centre_Fire_and_Vortex_Gas_Catering_Burners.html
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: Jonnycheech on October 15, 2015, 07:25:36 AM
I'll be moving my brewing from the gas cooker in the kitchen to a brew stand in the man cave in the new year, it's just too dangerous moving heavy pots full of hot wort around. I have nightmares where one of the handles gives way and I end up looking like Harvey Dent.

I'm thinking of getting a single tier brew stand made up from a welder out of box steel. I bought a couple of chuggers in the recent GB so they will be placed on welded plates. A couple of burners, maybe three, and a plate chiller are to be my next purchases. I'll have to sort out some type of ventilation system too.

Interested to see how you get on with the jet burners if you go for them. What's the benefit of LPG of natural gas? Or is it just that all bottled gas is LPG whereas piped gas is natural?
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: Leann ull on October 15, 2015, 08:37:48 AM
Jesus you fellas must be loaded burning all that gas
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 18, 2015, 11:29:36 AM
I have been doing a bit more research before buying a new burner and it seems the guys in Aus use the 8.8kw burner I already have for much larger boils than I'd be able to use mine for. From what I can see they use what they call a medium pressure regulator that goes up to about 2bar. Has anyone tried different regulators on the 8.8kw burners? Would the gas control valve on the base of the burner also need to be changed for this to be safe?

They call them the Italian Spiral burners over in Australia. My burner indeed says made in Italy and looks the same.

I was considering trying the 50 - 150 mbar regulator rather than going up to 2bar. I obviously don't want things exploding, can any gas experts comment?
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: Leann ull on October 18, 2015, 03:39:25 PM
Please consult with a professional vendors of these products as the potential for harm to you and or those around you when it comes to incorrect handling of a compressed explosive product cannot be understated :(
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: Hop Bomb on October 18, 2015, 05:00:30 PM
Yer bonkers to use gas to heat your liquor. Waste of money imo & you'll over shoot your temps every time. Much easier put an element or two in your HLT & cycle on/off the heat with an stc to hold your desired strike & sparge temp.

Gas for the boil is great. Im on propane with blichmann burner. Very efficient & great option for larger brew kits. Id highly recommend the blichmann burner. But the next best thing is linked below:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Banjo-Burner-Cast-Iron-Classic-Outdoor-Cooking-Grilling-Garden-Patio-Portable/271940323075?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D33870%26meid%3Dd4b896e1384041feaa070b3b926d375e%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D231724511774

Thats the guts of the blichmann. You can get your local gas shop to fit a hose & regulator for you. Make your own stand.

Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: rukkus on October 18, 2015, 08:33:22 PM
Yea i really want to get my hands on a blichmann but getting one here is very difficult, i love the look of the banjos but they require a ton of work to build a stand etc
Title: Re: Gas Brewing
Post by: DarraghKS on October 18, 2015, 09:48:34 PM
I don't find the burners to be very loud. They do use quite a bit of gas, but the more wort you make in one sitting the less gas you use in comparison to brewing a couple of small brews.
We didn't block any holes as we just regulate the gas valve to increase/decrease the heat. These are low pressure only when used with the lpg jets. These use 37mbar @ 2.5kg/hr. So get a regulator for that. We tried a stronger regulator with 9.2kw burners we had and it didn't help as the air flow was too limited by the burner. I think they actually do have limitations in terms of heat output.
I use this link: http://www.phpdoc.info/brew/boilcalc.html
to determine how long to ramp up through temperatures. Base all gas burners at approximately 33% efficiency of the full power of the burners and we get an accurate idea of how much power they actually have.