Ah, the good life.
Sitting in the backyard, watching the sparge water gently seep
through the grains and pour into the boil kettle that sweet, caramel
colored wort that will be beer in a few weeks. Meanwhile, the luscious
scent of bratwurst and warming buns lets us know lunch is almost ready.
And no heavy propane tanks to lug around. Let the Gas Company do the work!
Wham! Back to reality! According to our plumber, I can't afford
to supply half a million BTU's, just in case I need them later. I
really have to figure out how many I'll likely need and pay to install
just that.
(BTUs, or British Thermal Units, are units of energy, or in this
case, heating capacity.)
For our new system we would like to use natural gas in the
backyard, near the BBQ. So that's two separate burners - one for the
boil kettle, one for the hot liquor tank, and then of course some
extra BTU's for the BBQ to make lunch. I don't want to skimp on
the bratwurst. Would you?
So the decision is made to jump from propane to natural gas. My
BBQ does not have a conversion kit for natural gas, so that's
another expense to incur. The current BBQ is 36,000 BTUs for the
grill burners, and another 12,000 BTUs for the side pot burner, which I
have never used. So 50,000 BTUs should cover a similar BBQ.
The brewery burners are another matter. We'll need two. We have
two now, but they use high pressure propane. Here's some pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=217875161615939&set=pu.2132725187...
It would be nice to be able to hook them up to natural gas. But
I don't know if that's possible, or how to determine whether
it's possible. So I will probably end up needing new burners.
If anyone has tips on burners, a good source, how to adapt what I
have now, I'd like to hear from you.
The main requirement is to be able to heat 12 gallons of water from
60 degrees Fahrenheit to boiling in 30 minutes. Here's Dad's
calculation on how many BTUs that would take:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/S-S-Sciortino-Brew-System-Upgrade/21327251...
So two 60,000 BTU burners for the brewery ought to just do it.
That's a minimum 170,000 BTUs needed for the gas line to power two
burners and the BBQ full blast. But what if we want to upgrade to a 20
gallon system in a few years? We might be able to double that capacity
by using 1.25" instead of 1.00 inch pipe, although, strangely,
that's supposed to be a good deal more expensive. I measure 100 feet
between the gas meter and the BBQ/Brewery Site. Here's the table I
used to come up with these numbers:
http://www.ci.pleasanton.ca.us/pdf/bldg-gaspipe.pdf
One more complication -- our dog, Chelsea, learned how to jump
our brick wall some months back so she could bark at trash trucks. Of
course she can bark at trash trucks from the backyard, too, but she
finds it much more satisfying to bark at them face to face, so to
speak. Woof. Some months back I posted these pictures on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1859185231700.101755.1002978657...
I only mention this now because the above-pictured dog barrier
stands between the gas meter and the site of our BBQ and future
brewery. So I have to come up with a more permanent solution before I
can get the gas line installed.
Hence the Fence Guy came to visit this week. We'll be putting in
a couple of vinyl gates. I assure you they will cost more than
the plywood monstrosity pictured above.
People ask what kind of dog Chelsea is. See if you can guess.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=217883308281791&set=pu.2132725187...
Sal Sciortino, the Younger, is a BJCP National Judge and
a card-carrying member of the Maltose Falcons Homebrewing Society.
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Comments
Sal,
Of course you and your dad would approach this situation analytically.
Based on a quick scan of the internet, using the conventional cast iron burners is not going to provide you with enough BTUs. Those are all jetted for propane anyway. You may want to consider a wok burner instead. I found this one that looks promising:
http://www.cpapc.com/23-Tip-Round-Nozzle-Jet-Burner-natural-gas-P469C244...
I rather like using propane for my system. Of course the difficulty and expense of getting sufficient BTUh of natural gas out to the garage where my brewery is located may have something to do with that. My solution to the run out of propane issue is to have two tanks. I keep a full one on hand and the other tank hooked to my system. When one runs out, I just switch them and move the empty one to the front of the garage so that I will remember to get it filled before I brew again. Since new tanks cost about $25, even keeping two spare full tanks on hand will still probably cost less than will the plumbing for natural gas, especially if you have to upsize to inch and a quarter or inch and a half pipe. Plus propane has about twice the BTUs of natural gas. So I have two 150,000 BTUh high pressure burners in my system. It isn't hard to do a manifold out of brass pipe to supply two regulators from one tank.
I figure I spend about $150-200 a year on propane. So if I'd installed NG 10 years ago, I'd be ahead by now, maybe way ahead. The upfront expense has kept me with propane. I'm not looking forward to it, but I think I want to convert.
First, converting those burners to NG is NOT a viable solution. The multi-jet kind that Rich linked to, and I employ both at the Shop and at home, will give you all the heat you need, cleanly.
Now to fuel choice: While Rich's comment that Propane has about double the heat content (per cubic foot) is true, it doesn't really mean anything in terms of economy. As a matter of fact, propane on average costs FOUR TO FIVE TIMES AS MUCH as Natural Gas! In rating economy of a fuel gas, you have to look at the cost per Therm. A Therm is 100,000 BTUs. A Therm is 4.65 pounds of Propane, and a pretty good average price is $1 per pound. So, that's $4.65/Therm for Propane. My current Gas Company bill shows I'm paying a whopping 98 cents per Therm, and that's the premium rate for over baseline use. Of course, if you brew regularly with NG you will be over baseline, but it's still a LOT cheaper than Propane, AND you never run out, AND you don't have to get tanks refilled.
Sal, are you married to the location for your brew rig? A shorter run means smaller pipe, and a LOT less money. If you can get it within 60 feet of the meter, 1" pipe will do just fine.
Lastly, upsizing your rig capacity doesn't have to mean bigger burners. The 9" 23 jet burners at the shop do quite well in a 1 Barrel rig. Just set up the HLT burner with a furnace valve and ignition module, and put it on a timer (just like the Mark II at the Shop). Wake up on brew day with a full HLT at 190, ready to go.
Rich's link looks great. A $25 burner with 100,000 BTUs. I suppose I am married to the location. Maybe I could move the brewery closer to the gas meter. I'd have to brew under the patio cover. These are good comments. I need to think about this for a while. Use smaller burners but a large HLT of preheated water. Hmmm... Hooking up a timer and furnace valve sounds kind of tricky, though.
The burner Rich linked to seems to be the best-priced burner I have found on the internet, and I have spent some time looking.
http://www.instawares.com/thunder-group-natural-gas.thu-irbr002cn.0.7.htm
I know it works great for the shop system, but the page shows a BTU range from 62,000 to 160,000. On my 10-13 gallon system, will this be too high a minimum to maintain a smooth boil?
Or, if it is too much output, is there an easy way to replace some the replaceable burner tips with a closed cap to decrease the BTU output? Or close some of them with some kind of non-flammable goop?
One thing you might consider, are you really likely to have all those gas consumers operating at the same time? Sure the BBQ and the brewery, but the forced air heater for the house too, etc.? Maybe you can get by with the existing line and save a lot of cost and hassle.
You might want to call a plumbing store for the cost of 70' of black iron pipe in different diameters. My experience is that most of the cost is for labor and that straight pipe is relatively inexpensive. Of course once you open a trench and overcome fence obstacles, you might want to oversize so you never have to go through the exercise again.
I hope I can get by with the existing line. My understanding was I need to run a new line from the gas meter. It never occurred to me the brewery use would impact the rest of the house. I'll talk to the plumber when it's time. Need to put in those gates first.
If you run the Brewery supply line directly from the meter, you shouldn't have any issues, as long as it's sized for the demand and length. Connecting to an existing line in the house would almost certainly create a dangerous low pressure condition.
Hmmm, looks like a golden retriever beagle mix to me.
Close. Golden Retriever/Cocker Spaniel Mix. Thanks for guessing.