Looking to make the AG leap, Burners, 2 ring or 3?

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Nizmoose

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Okay so it's taken me all of about five months to go from doing my first brew to wanting to dabble in small batch all grain and for some reason I feel the need to migrate from the kitchen to the backyard. The weather is finally starting to get better and I can't think of anything better than sitting outside with some mates while brewing a batch. My question is whether I should go for a 2 ring or 3 ring burner.

The 2 ring is this:
http://www.bcf.com.au/online-store/products/Primus-RB30-Burner-Double.aspx?pid=114491&menuFrom=571613#Cross

and the 3 ring:
http://www.bcf.com.au/online-store/products/Primus-RB40-Burner-Triple.aspx?pid=114492&menuFrom=571613#Cross

Now I'm only going to be making 10L batches for now but dont have a problem with having a burner that can do larger boils than that in the future my main concern is that the triple will be too strong for 10L keeping in mind that I want to use a normal bbq regulator because I just don't need to go crazy. So i guess in short, is the triple ring on a bbq reg going to be overkill for a 10-12L boil or will it be fine?
 
A two or three ring with BBQ reg will be fine for small boils as each ring can be controlled individually.

Have you considered electric over gas? If I was starting out again I would be electric all the way. It is cheaper, more consistent and convenient, but not as powerful/fast. For 10L boils a 2400 watt hot plate would work and still have a place in your brewery if you upgraded to a larger system later.
 
on this forum the only thing that needs to be smaller is the price! always go for the biggest

MB
 
You can turn a 3 ring burner down but you can't make a 2 ring burner burn as hot as a 3 ring. You might not think now that that you will ever brew more then 10 litres, but you will

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Pay the extra for the 3 ring, then you've got it if you need it.
 
$12 for a corded kettle from woolworths $19 for a 19ltr pot from big w and your into 12ltr batches..

Going up from that you might aswell buy a 70ltr pot and a NASA burner, as soon enough you'll be wanting to do double batches.
 
What's the thinking behind the small batches? Or rather, why wouldn't you plan around the eventuality that you'll want to do larger ones? I recommend planning around future needs, especially where they are compatible with current ones.
 
A 10L boil you should be able to easily do on the wok burner on the bbq (assuming you have one).

I went electric, 2 x $9 kettle's from kmart and a 40L pot and I boil up 30L quick smart.
 
Prince Imperial said:
What's the thinking behind the small batches? Or rather, why wouldn't you plan around the eventuality that you'll want to do larger ones? I recommend planning around future needs, especially where they are compatible with current ones.
Yeah I sort of am planning around doing bigger ones but didn't want to get a burner that wouldn't be able to do smaller for now :) I have thought about electric but I think at the moment for like 60 bucks the extra portability of gas is good, I could easily do a 10L boil with kettles or in the kitchen but as I said the main thing for me was to be able to sit outside in the summer evenings and do a brew, BBQ is wok burner less but I think I'll go with the three ring and keep a ring off for now and enjoy the third when I do bigger boils, the main reason I don't at the moment is simply because I want to brew lots of different beers, I want to brew more often and I really don't drink heaps of beer haha. Thanks for all the replies guys looks like a three ring is the go

Edit: I should mention I'm a 21 year old uni student living at home so storage space is a consideration and part of the reason for scaling down a bit, so for now this should do, both scale and fuel type. When I leave home (soon) I can build a nice electric system, having said that I think gas has its place
 
When I started AG I wanted to do small batches for many of the similar reasons. But a minimum amount of time, for say BIAB and no chill is still around the 4 hour mark.

It's not really much more effort/time for a bigger quantity.

Brew to what suits you, to your time, financial commitment and consumption needs. Enjoy it.
 
Tahoose said:
When I started AG I wanted to do small batches for many of the similar reasons. But a minimum amount of time, for say BIAB and no chill is still around the 4 hour mark.

It's not really much more effort/time for a bigger quantity.

Brew to what suits you, to your time, financial commitment and consumption needs. Enjoy it.
Yeah it's really purely a matter of not having to drink 3 slabs of the same beer and not having to bottle 60 bottles every batch, I just don't drink enough of it. For my megaswill loving friends I do a 21L batch of coopers Mexican cerveza and they're away but for me I prefer to have a few slabs of lots of different beers and it means I get to brew more often. I still don't quite understand the no chill thing either, I can cool 10L in an ice bath pretty damn quickly and no chill just seems like added sanitation worry and dms trouble more than it's worth. With 10L batches I can try new recipes get more brewing done and learn a lot more, effort vs batch size is irrelevant for me, getting more batches brewed to me is more enjoyable and important for the learning process.

Edit: just to put it into perspective I'd drink less than a 6 pack a week, so three slabs would take me a whole quarter of a year to go through give or take
 
As per a few of the comments above (and also a pearl of wisdom from my Pop); Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Go for 3.
 
Lincoln2 said:
As per a few of the comments above (and also a pearl of wisdom from my Pop); Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Go for 3.
It's a good idea and for 15 extra bucks I think it's worth it so I'll go for the three :)
 
3 Ring is what you want if your going to go with one of those burners. it wont be long before you want to do full volume. I use a 3 ring on standard bbq reg to fire my setup. Ive got a keggle and takes around 20 mins to ramp up to a decent rolling boil. I think the 2 ring would struggle to get there.
 
Lincoln2 said:
Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Never a truer word spoken.

With homebrewing (as with a lot of other stuff too..), it's all about Upscale....Upscale...Upscale....

When you nail a recipe that you like, you're gonna want to produce lots of it & it takes the same amount of time to produce 200L as it does 20L.

Believe me, plan for the future. I bought 2 x 4-ring burners about 15 years ago & I can do all sorts of stuff that I couldn't possibly have thought-about if I'd gone with smaller kit.
 
Hey guys just wanted to say thanks for all the advice! I spent many hours researching many options and electric looked tempting but the initial cost of either a pot with built in element or a heat stick was too much as well as certain safety issues so I got the three ring burner from bcf and picked up a big w 19L pot, was stoked to find out the pot is stainless as I was assuming for that price it would be aluminium, not that I'd have any issues or reservations about using aluminium, got the burner for 25% off so that made it $48 dollars with a regulator and hose which is awesome! Fired up the burner and it's way bigger than I expected and looks like it'll roast ten litres in no time (in a good way) so cheers again guys I'm looking forward to my first batch on the new gear.

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Wait till you taste your first all grain, no bloody hangovers from shit megaswill or kits, easy to drink and tasty goodness.
I started out in all grain just like that, with a 19l pot at my parents house, the beer was disappearing so quickly I had to get a kettle and bigger burner.
And I don't count myself as a big drinker, about a six pack a week on a busy week and a few more on the weekend.
 
practicalfool said:
Wait till you taste your first all grain, no bloody hangovers from shit megaswill or kits, easy to drink and tasty goodness.
I started out in all grain just like that, with a 19l pot at my parents house, the beer was disappearing so quickly I had to get a kettle and bigger burner.
And I don't count myself as a big drinker, about a six pack a week on a busy week and a few more on the weekend.
Haha this has gotten me extremely keen, I'm doing an extract batch tomorrow then it looks like on Tuesday I'll be ordering some pale malt and a biab bag! The pot and burner were really the only things holding me back from AG, no part of me is intimidated by the process thankfully, if anything it looks like less hassle than dealing with dme
 
huez said:
You can turn a 3 ring burner down but you can't make a 2 ring burner burn as hot as a 3 ring. You might not think now that that you will ever brew more then 10 litres, but you will
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I'd have said the same thing about the 4 ring ;)

Started on the 3 ring and now on the 4 (75-100 liter brews)
 
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