Getting my wort to boil

[Ollie Goulden]

I had a go do in my first all grain BIAB yesterday and couldn't get the wort to boil. I’m using one of those cheapo 2 ring burners from Bunnings and a normal bbq regulator and bottle. In the end i did a split boil on my stove and hit my expected gravity numbers on the nose. Is there anything i can do to make this burner better or do i need to upgrade? I was boiling in a 40L aluminium pot

[Paul Fraser]

2 ring is getting pretty low but I think others have managed alright with it. An adjustable regulator will be a good help. Maybe some kind of windshield to keep the flame as strong as possible. Keep the lid on the pot until it gets to a boil then remove and try and maintain a boil. It doesn't have to be too vigorous. It just needs to be rolling and moving about a lot. If maintains the boil is not possible then I would intermittently put the lid on to keep it going. Other than that I would upgrade the burner. A worthwhile investment.

[Ollie Goulden]

any suggestions on which burner to get? i probably want to spend less than 100

[Robert McLeod]

You could try getting a hurricane burner from Karl at allgrain. Theyre pretty good and around the 100 dollar mark with a high pressure reg.

[Ollie Goulden]

they look good, but how stable are they? i've got a fairly wide BK and dont really want it to fall off

[Julian Melville]

I bought one of the hurricane burners and a 70L pot (45cm diameter) from Karl recently. It's much more stable than it looks in the photo on the website, and boils a *lot* faster than my stove did.

[Ollie Goulden]

how long does it take to boil all that wort on the hurricane burner? i do 20l batches and start with about 30L

[Julian Melville]

Outside on a not particularly windy day it took 20-25 min to get from 15C to 58 for mash in/protein rest, and then from mashout at 73 to a boil was 25 min with 33L in the pot. Could possibly do it quicker with a bigger gas bottle, I had a 4.5 kg one and it was icing up a bit.

[Ollie Goulden]

sweet, that's roughly half the time it took my current burner. i've got a 9kg bottle which i'm assuming will work

[Grant R Baker]

+1 they look pretty good (I have oggled them through the window of his shop)... give him a call on Monday.

[Peter Church]

Did your burner soot up your pot? If there is soot then you may need a tune up to get a bit more heat from it... unscrew the washers a little that allow air to be drawn into the housing where the gas valve assembley attaches... 

[Ollie Goulden]

yeah there was a fair bit of soot. i tried fiddling with the bolt thing in the side near the gas input and got a slightly better blue flame from it. i'll give your idea a go tomorrow. i'd rather spend the money on grain and hops if i can

[Robert McLeod]

Fairly stable. my pot is 50cm at the base and it sits nicely. Just have make sure its centered.