Gas Per Boil?

[therook]

DJR,
What are you using as your kettle? ( Keg or Alli pot )

rook

 

[Blackfish]

my gas refiller suggested converting to mains gas. after the fitting, the supply price is about 1/10th the price of bottled according to him....
any gasfitters in ADL reading this that like beer and bbqs?

Risking a beating for being off topic h34r: but makes me wonder can you convert an LPG vehicle to Natural Gas? Imagine that, hooking up to a fitting in the garage at 1/10th (maybe not quite that much vs Servo LPG) the price?

Add on that government bonus you get for an LPG conversion and suddernly we have all that spare money to spend on, hmmm... maybe BREWING!!! :beerbang:

Of course, its too good to be true, Are there any mechanics out there who can burst this bubble for me?

FHG

 

[DJR]

DJR,
What are you using as your kettle? ( Keg or Alli pot )

rook

40L ally robinox pot with a spigot drilled.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...mp;#entry135137

Note that the 3 ring is more than enough, after it reaches the boil, usually about 30-45 mins after finishing sparge and putting the 30L or so of wort on the burner, i can turn the middle/inner ring down to save gas, still has a rolling boil though. The 4 rings are pretty poor value - 45MJ or so for $90, for that price you might as well get a NASA or mongolian, the 3 ring i picked up for $45 and does 35MJ.

 

[Stuster]

I get around 4-5 brews out of my 9kg bottle using a NASA. Warren's trick helps the ear drums as well as the pocket. :lol:

therook, DJR uses as aluminium kettle, 40L IIRC.

 

[Aussie Claret]

I think that the most I had was 3 batches from one bottle, and only have the shuttle taking off to get the boil going, then cranked right down to the barest minimum. I do use it to heat the mash and sparge water also and the sparge water gets upto boiling.

I do a 90min boil most times so may be I should cut back on the boil time.
AC

 

[DJR]

my gas refiller suggested converting to mains gas. after the fitting, the supply price is about 1/10th the price of bottled according to him....
any gasfitters in ADL reading this that like beer and bbqs?

Risking a beating for being off topic h34r: but makes me wonder can you convert an LPG vehicle to Natural Gas? Imagine that, hooking up to a fitting in the garage at 1/10th (maybe not quite that much vs Servo LPG) the price?

Add on that government bonus you get for an LPG conversion and suddernly we have all that spare money to spend on, hmmm... maybe BREWING!!! :beerbang:

Of course, its too good to be true, Are there any mechanics out there who can burst this bubble for me?

FHG

It has to be compressed, a fair few Sydney Buses run on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas), not sure if you can refill it from your town gas connection!

Edit: you can, http://www.myphill.com/index.htm

Now this is OT

 

[tangent]

I have a 2-ring burner which takes a while to get my wort to boil and I use the gas to heat my strike water, so i only get about 3 brews from a 9kg. I joined up to BBQs Galore and their 4th or 5th (can't remember) is free, so it works out to a good price. I'd still rather be using mains gas though.

 

[warrenlw63]

I get around 4-5 brews out of my 9kg bottle using a NASA. Warren's trick helps the ear drums as well as the pocket. :lol:

therook, DJR uses as aluminium kettle, 40L IIRC.

Gotta love the noise Stuster. :lol: {Insert Toolman grunts here}

Also seems to keep the dogs out of the garage when I wander out to do something else too. They seem to respect it at full noise. B)

Warren -

 

[TidalPete]

I'm with Coggee,
I get about 2.5 batches from an 8 Kg bottle, using the nasa style burner.
Gas is costing more than the ingredients, well almost.
AC

AC

You must be boiling the arse off it.

I routinely do 50 litre batches with a NASA and have gotten as many as 4 brews off one 9kg bottle with some gas left over. OTOH I do agree they're truly the Holley 750 double pumper of the burner world and in today's terms it equates to around $5 of LPG per brew.

I find the trick is to only run them on full noise until the boil approaches then to turn them down to a sane level for the rest of the boil.

Warren -

I do as you do with my NASA Warren & get 8 x 90 minute (36 litre) boils from a full 9kg bottle. Every time I brew I mark it on a tag attached to the gas bottle. If I run a little short I just use the barbie bottle to finish off.

:beer:

 

[Coodgee]

You must be boiling the arse off it.

:lol:

yep I was doing that until I learnt it would still boil on a very low setting. now I get 4 brews and a couple of barbies out of a 9kg. I run it flat out until it boils and turn it down. I reckon I can do 5...

 

[Screwtop]

Used to use a 3 ring for all water and 60 min boil, got 7 per 9Kg fill. Bought a NASA, now use an electric HLT for all water and do 90 min boils. Flat out till boil then back to just rolling, so far 4 brews and counting, seems to be plenty of weight still in the bottle.

 

[hughman666]

I get them refilled for $14 at the BP down the street so it's only costing me $2.80 in gas per batch. I think a NASA would only be worth it if you were doing double/triple batches as you don't use that much more gas.

i've been using the swap n go bottles at my local servo and they cost $28 each time - ouch.

better off trying to find somewhere to refill them rather than swapping them out!

 

[DJR]

$14 for a 9kg is almost the cheapest price in Sydney for it, so i'm not sure how much luck you'd have trying to get it round that price, most places seem to be about the $18-20 mark otherwise as long as you go to a place that doesn't overvalue the gas and the refill time.

BP in Summer HIll on Carlton Crescent btw for you sydney peeps, if you're around the inner west it's worth a stop just for the cheap refill!

 

[Stabilo_Boss]

You must be boiling the arse off it.

:lol:

yep I was doing that until I learnt it would still boil on a very low setting. now I get 4 brews and a couple of barbies out of a 9kg. I run it flat out until it boils and turn it down. I reckon I can do 5...

I heat both the HLT from cold (about 40 litres) and do 90 minute boils and get 4-5 brews from my 8.5kg bottle (that used to be a 9kg - thanks swapper robbers)

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Sorry to bring up an old thread...

What is actually involved in converting a burner to natural gas?

I've got a BBQ hooked up to mains gas - so the facility is there to use it.

Is it a matter of getting a different regulator or do the jets need to changed?

Cheers

 

[Steve]

After running out of gas exactly on flame out on Saturday im going to start marking my gas bottles with a black marker pen rather than relying on how heavy it feels. A dash for a brew and a dot for a BBQ. So I can at least have a very rough visual guide as to how much I can get out of it.
Cheers
Steve

 

[DJR]

Just buy another 9kg bottle Steve - they only cost $30 or so from Bunnings, just keep one of them refilled, then when the other runs out, you have until you use the full one to get the other one refilled again.

 

[Voosher]

After running out of gas exactly on flame out on Saturday im going to start marking my gas bottles with a black marker pen rather than relying on how heavy it feels. A dash for a brew and a dot for a BBQ. So I can at least have a very rough visual guide as to how much I can get out of it.
Cheers
Steve

Steve,
I weigh mine on the bathroom scales. The empty weight of my 9kg bottle is 8kg.
I'm also weighing my bottle before and after each boil at the moment to get a consisent idea of gas usage.
One advantage of doing half-batches. I can get almost 20 batches out of 9kg. HLT is electric though.

Cortez,
There has been discussion on here before. Do a search on something like "+mains +burner" and hopefully that will bring something up.
From memory brewers have run their NASA's or similar off mains by plugging in a High-pressure regulator.

Cheers.

 

[DJR]

Sorry to bring up an old thread...

What is actually involved in converting a burner to natural gas?

I've got a BBQ hooked up to mains gas - so the facility is there to use it.

Is it a matter of getting a different regulator or do the jets need to changed?

Cheers

Bit of both i think. Depends on the burner though as to whether it works, best to ask a gasfitter about it (and donate him a bottle or two of your finest). Nat gas though doesn't get the same heat as LPG, something about Nat gas being mainly methane/ethane and LPG is mainly propane/butane.

 

[Voosher]

Cortez,
There has been discussion on here before. Do a search on something like "+mains +burner" and hopefully that will bring something up.
From memory brewers have run their NASA's or similar off mains by plugging in a High-pressure regulator.

Cheers.

Here you go...
Try this search for starters...
In particular the "Natural Gas Burner" thread.