which burner do you prefer

[fastdogbrewing]

NG is great if that's what you want to use. Around here in Cajun country, we use propane because it's portable and we like to get together and brew in a parking lot every so often. (Like for National Homebrew Day.) With energy supplies being what they are, I'm also looking at using wood fired burners in the future. Almost anything's better than electric in my opinion. At least if you can brew outdoors. I would only consider using electric if I had to brew in a basement or spare room.
By the way, my sister lives in Temecula, Fastdog. I wonder if you're the homebrewer she keeps talking about. Though I'm sure there are probably a few hundred in your community.

NG is just a lot easier for me. Though I do sometime wish my stand was portable.

We actually have a LOT of homebrewers in the valley. My buddy Jim opened up a homebrew shop, Murrieta Homebrew Emporium, here less than a year ago and he says he has not had a single day since he opened when he has not had at least 1 customer come in and buy something. He says he has met at least one brand new customer every week. My club, Temecula Homebrewers Association, is now over 50 people, and Jim says that the club makes up less than half of his business. We also have a brewery now open in town, Black Market Brewing, and it looks like a couple more in the planning stages. We also have a really great beer bar, Barley and Hops, and some impressive restaurants. The valley has become a great place to live.

If you come to visit, let me know.

[foomench]

Almost anything's better than electric in my opinion. At least if you can brew outdoors. I would only consider using electric if I had to brew in a basement or spare room.

Can you elaborate on why you feel this way? Since I'm about to go electric, I'm wondering what the issues are. I know scorching is one, so I'm going to try to get a large low density element to avoid that. Scorching is also an issue with gas, thus this thread. For cost, electric is way cheaper, at least in my area where electricity is $0.06/kWH. I am wondering about cleaning the heating element. If that gets to be a major issue, I might switch to an induction system. Time? I think with 5.5kW heating I'll be at a boil just as fast as gas.

[Mylo]

Almost anything's better than electric in my opinion. At least if you can brew outdoors. I would only consider using electric if I had to brew in a basement or spare room.

Can you elaborate on why you feel this way? Since I'm about to go electric, I'm wondering what the issues are. I know scorching is one, so I'm going to try to get a large low density element to avoid that. Scorching is also an issue with gas, thus this thread. For cost, electric is way cheaper, at least in my area where electricity is $0.06/kWH. I am wondering about cleaning the heating element. If that gets to be a major issue, I might switch to an induction system. Time? I think with 5.5kW heating I'll be at a boil just as fast as gas.

Well, I would say that the lack of portability would be the biggest con for me. I like to take my rig around to different places. 220v outlets are hard to come by.


Mylo

[aleguy]

I can't believe electricity is that cheap anywhere. You must be on hydro. Despite costs, The conversion of electricity to heat is the least efficient of any source. Wood, solar, gas, propane, all far more efficient at heat conversion. Like I said, If I had to brew indoors, I would choose electric for obvious reasons, but if outdoor brewing is an option I would go with a direct fire system. same reason professional cooks nearly always prefer gas to electric stove tops. You can visually adjust your heat instead of flying by instruments.
If you are careful in choosing your set up and learn to use it properly, you can brew good beer with just about anything, however. Go with what's best for your situation.

[foomench]

Portability is definitely an issue. My local brewery said they could probably supply 240 for Big Brew Day, but other than that, I am out of luck if I want to brew elsewhere. I was thinking of attaching a propane burner just for off-site brewing. On the other hand, one of my big motivations for brewing in my basement is to have everything in one place with a dedicated space.

Yes, electricity is really cheap here. My employer recently located our new data center in this town, over California, Europe, and even India, in large part because of electricity costs.

I understand that generating heat from electricity doesn't exactly make sense, but with a heating element in my boil kettle I'm hoping I won't be wasting as much energy as my current propane burner setup. I guess if I was real concerned about that I would design a good heat shield for my burner.

O.k., I've rambled enough. Back to your regularly scheduled thread. Right now I have a propane banjo that has worked really well for my last two brews.

[zee]

Despite costs, The conversion of electricity to heat is the least efficient of any source. Wood, solar, gas, propane, all far more efficient at heat conversion.

aleguy.
my understanding is that converting electricity into heat with modern resistors has close to 100% efficiency. i've been working recently with a bunch of folks on a house renovation, and they all tell me that were electricity cheap and created cleanly, electric heaters would dominate over all other heat sources [propane, nat gas, wood, etc.]. this makes sense to me, as modern resistors are close to 100% efficient. [either the electricity is converted into heat, or it isn't converted at all and stays in the system.]

[Charlie]

I use three of these:
http://www.agrisupply.com/cast-iron-bur ... n/5400001/

My Academy Sports type 2 burner stand came with those. I replaced one of them with a small banjo from a single burner rig I have, but I've about decided (based on boil vigor) that the original cast iron burner puts out more btu than the small banjo.

How do you tell, just looking at it, if a burner is low or high pressure?

Charlie

[aleguy]

The size of the gas aperture is usually your best bet at visually determining whether a burner is HP or LP. Not much help I know, but as far as I know, all rose type burners are HP.