Anyone Got Any Hot Tips On A Cheap Burner?

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WAY OT but you own a revo hairy!

I cant say that my head retention is great with using gas, maybe it has to do with how hard you boil? I only just get a rolling boil but as I got a wide pot I still get 11% boil off. The burner is only less then half on at the boil stage but heard you need 10% or better to get rid of DMS so figured I beat that mark so no use to crank the burner up.
 
I think cellar plus mentioned above might be the mob near vic market!
 
WAY OT but you own a revo hairy!

I cant say that my head retention is great with using gas, maybe it has to do with how hard you boil? I only just get a rolling boil but as I got a wide pot I still get 11% boil off. The burner is only less then half on at the boil stage but heard you need 10% or better to get rid of DMS so figured I beat that mark so no use to crank the burner up.

lol, yep got a revo but the poor baby's got a broken right arm at the moment. a usual brew of say 4-4.5 kg grain with the burner goin fulll tilt is there abouts 12 ltrs first runnings with 25ltr sparge to get to 23 ltr flame out and 20-21 ltr into cube. So I think that's like 30ish % boil off, it's when I started the extra sparge and bigger boil off I started getting better eff (obviously) and coincedentally or not the better head/lace.

bah
 
lol, yep got a revo but the poor baby's got a broken right arm at the moment. a usual brew of say 4-4.5 kg grain with the burner goin fulll tilt is there abouts 12 ltrs first runnings with 25ltr sparge to get to 23 ltr flame out and 20-21 ltr into cube. So I think that's like 30ish % boil off, it's when I started the extra sparge and bigger boil off I started getting better eff (obviously) and coincedentally or not the better head/lace.

bah

Yeah there maybe something in the increased boil off. Your efficiency is prob mainly to do with the extra sparge you are doing :p
 
Don't know about your neck of the woods but James Shields in Spotswood, Melbourne: $137 for a 4 ring with hose and reg. Does this sound like a good price??
 
Cellar Plus sell this burner for $80. It is actually an upgrade to the Italian spiral burner (which is made by the same company, but is called the DRAGO, not the MAMMUTH):
http://allthingswine.com.au/product.asp?code=7GASB-M1RING-OM

I use it with a medium pressure regulator and it is fast and quiet. I can't compare it to the famed Italian spiral burner, but it throws out a huge amount of heat, is solidly built and very adjustable.

This is the italian spiral knock off. same type burner different pattern holes, its not exactly spiral.

I had an italian spiral but it crapped itself. now use one of these and i can def say there is not much difference at all. i actually prefer the knockoff model.

i regulary boil 100+ litres with this burner and a med pressure reg no dramas at all. quiet too!
 
This is the italian spiral knock off. same type burner different pattern holes, its not exactly spiral.

I had an italian spiral but it crapped itself. now use one of these and i can def say there is not much difference at all. i actually prefer the knockoff model.

i regulary boil 100+ litres with this burner and a med pressure reg no dramas at all. quiet too!

Which would you prefer, this or a 4 ring burner as they are the same price when you put a reg on them. 4 ring doesn't have a stand tho...
 
lets be clear, they are knock off or 'style' burners, not the actual real deal. you may get what you pay for.

or be patient and see what people sell on AHB and other brewing boards.

I suspect you were specifically refering to the super el cheapo one in the link that I commented on.


The quality of this one for $90 at Hong Kong Hardware looked to be as good as the one I bought from Beerbelly.
 
This is the italian spiral knock off. same type burner different pattern holes, its not exactly spiral.

I had an italian spiral but it crapped itself. now use one of these and i can def say there is not much difference at all. i actually prefer the knockoff model.

i regulary boil 100+ litres with this burner and a med pressure reg no dramas at all. quiet too!

It isn't actually a knock-off. I did a bunch of research on burners, and it took forever to trawl through the misinformation out there. Here is a summary of what I found:
  • The Italian spiral burner is made by a company called OMAC. The model is the DRAGO. It has 140 jets configured in blocks of 7, running outwards in a spiral. It is mounted on a 40x40cm frame.
  • There is a smaller spiral burner, with less jets. I don't know who makes it, but it looks like a miniature spiral burner. The jets are in blocks of 5, and I'm not sure of the total count.
  • There are a bunch of "knockoff" spiral burners made of cast iron with a built in stand like this one (http://www.leeswarehouse.com/productShow.asp?id=636). Primus also used to sell them, but no longer do.
  • The Italian spiral burner is difficult to get here in Australia. Lots of the distributors are running them out.
  • The MAMMUTH (the orange one I posted above) is supposedly the upgrade to the DRAGO. It is made by the same company. The burner itself is slightly larger, but it has the same number of jets. The jets are not in a spiral configuration. The frame is a similar size at 38x38cm.
 
I suspect you were specifically refering to the super el cheapo one in the link that I commented on.


The quality of this one for $90 at Hong Kong Hardware looked to be as good as the one I bought from Beerbelly.

Looks exactly the same as my BeerBelly Italian Spiral that I have.

As mentioned it is actually a "Drago" burner (italian for dragon?) made in italy

And the other burner, the orange one, is a Mammoth burner... they very well might be from the same company.


edit: ignore me, see previous post ;)


...

So, how does an Italian Spiral "crap itself"?
 
It isn't actually a knock-off. I did a bunch of research on burners, and it took forever to trawl through the misinformation out there. Here is a summary of what I found:
  • The Italian spiral burner is made by a company called OMAC. The model is the DRAGO. It has 140 jets configured in blocks of 7, running outwards in a spiral. It is mounted on a 40x40cm frame.
  • There is a smaller spiral burner, with less jets. I don't know who makes it, but it looks like a miniature spiral burner. The jets are in blocks of 5, and I'm not sure of the total count.
  • There are a bunch of "knockoff" spiral burners made of cast iron with a built in stand like this one (http://www.leeswarehouse.com/productShow.asp?id=636). Primus also used to sell them, but no longer do.
  • The Italian spiral burner is difficult to get here in Australia. Lots of the distributors are running them out.
  • The MAMMUTH (the orange one I posted above) is supposedly the upgrade to the DRAGO. It is made by the same company. The burner itself is slightly larger, but it has the same number of jets. The jets are not in a spiral configuration. The frame is a similar size at 38x38cm.

From the picture I saw, it seems to have 12 groups of 12 jets, each group is made of a group of 3,4,5 jets. Total 144 jets
 
I suspect you were specifically refering to the super el cheapo one in the link that I commented on.


The quality of this one for $90 at Hong Kong Hardware looked to be as good as the one I bought from Beerbelly.

I've got 2 of these puppies and they are the ducks nuts once you adjust the air intake correctly for maximum blue flame
 
From the picture I saw, it seems to have 12 groups of 12 jets, each group is made of a group of 3,4,5 jets. Total 144 jets

Yep, sorry, you're right. Almost the same number of jets.
 
If you have doubts about what burner is what, have a trawl through eBay.it and google translate be your friend.

When I did that research, I found out that omac make 2 different rating burners. Emporiovalenti something is the name of one website where I found them listed.

If you googled enough you'd find them.
Luckily for me, the Italian spiral was still cheap at Beerbelly.

Mine has done 5 boils + BBQ use so far for between 1-1.5 size batches and sometimes also used to heat strike water.
I reckon there is still a brew left. G&g med pressure regulator is well enough for what I do.
 
I once got a hot tip on a cheap burner, so I decided to start wearing pants while brewing...
 
Hello lads!

I've been scouring the forums and the internet. I've read all the older posts on burners but I was wondering if anyone has any current tips on getting a cheap burner? Thinking Spiral or Nasa, pretty much anything except the 2/3/4 Ring burners.

http://www.leeswarehouse.com/productShow.asp?id=636
These are no longer in stock.

http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP10-H...GBQ/ref=lh_ni_t
Something like this would be perfect. Ofcourse they don't ship to Australia.

I'm kind of hoping I can do it for less that $80. I've looked at all the usual Home Brew site but everything seems a but to far out of my range.

Thanks lads!

Joel

I managed to purchase the SP10 through Amazon and they delivered to my place in Sydney, ended up costing ~$100AUD. The hose doesn't fit a 9kg LPG tank, but I've been told BBQ's Galore or a similar place will be able to get me an adapter of sorts. Going to head down there this week and try and get it sorted.

PM me if you need any more info.
 
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Wow. This is a metric tonne of great info. thank you everyone for sharing. I'm going to look at everything posted and pick a path to go down. I shall post my results for y'all.

And at the moment I'm doing BIAB because I live in a one bedroom apartment. I have dreams to someday buy a home with a yard big enough for a shed/brewhouse but until then I'd like to buy gear that could be used should I ever upgrade.

Like I said, I will report back with my findings so as to keep this resource up to date.

Thanks again lads!

Joel
 
So, how does an Italian Spiral "crap itself"?

not exactly crapped itself just sooting up my 120L pot like a barsted. when i got it it had that magical blue flame everytime but over time and prob with a few boilovers and me getting a touch lazy it would only burn yellow. so i took to it with a wire brush and drill bit and gave it a clean up and it got better but still not good enough for me, so i retired it.
 
Morning lads!

OK so the cheapest I found in Australia (thanks to the hot tips above) was through Cellar Plus. the website wasn't that helpful but I received this reply from the nice gentleman via email -

"Yes the Italian burner is on special at $79.90 rrp $110

ALLOW $ 22-25 to ship

We suggest the adjustable regulator hose 1800mm at $49.50

Please confirm order via phone with c/card or send 2 emails with card details split.

Do you need any other beer mashing or sauce making gear?

We also have the Italian hot plate to suit this model if you want to use also a portable bbq it taste better than most china hot plates..
STEFANO BAGGIO

CELLAR PLUS p/l ( Division of Australian Olive Oil Supplies Pty . Ltd)

218 Cooper St

EPPING . VICTORIA 3076 AUSTRALIA

Tel: 0061 3 9422 1711 Fax: 0061 3 9422 1714"

I only boil max 30 litres so I think I might save some money and get a not-so-fancy-regulator from Bunnings for $30. Looking around these forums if I got the high pressure reg (at bunnings for $50ish) I might blow the concrete up or worse yet, boil the beer away to nothing. Lanlord wouldn't appreciate either outcome, I'm sure.

When it arrives I'll do some tests and post some pictures. Thanks again everyone for the advice!

Joel
 

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