Most efficient burner...which btu rating and fuel is the best mix of power & efficiency?

I haven't been able to figure out how many btu I actually need.

I have a Bayou Classic 225k+ banjo burner with a 30 psi regulator, and the power is nice, but it does suck down the propane if I don't back off of it. Right now I get about 3 batches out of a 20lb tank. ( I use an electric 4 gallon coffee urn as my HLT, so I can save some gas)

I recently purchased a 20psi regulator to use with the banjo burner, in hopes of stretching out the pressure in the tank a bit. 186k btu is still plenty to work with...

I was wondering if I would be better off using a 120k btu with a 15psi reg, or a low pressure 60k btu burner.

Or should I just use natural gas? Does anyone here use a natural gas setup?

Any thoughts?

Even with a 45k BTU burner, once I'm at a rolling boil I back off the propane as much as possible. Unless you're in need of some serious boil-off, there's no reason to keep it cranked. Boiling is boiling.

I've been thrown out officially to the garage or basement so no more stove top. I just bought a Propane King Kooker 54k BTU, with regulator. I will cook up a batch Saturday and let ya know how it works. Man 225k that's one hell of a cooker.

Yeah...it doubles well as a garage heater...and it should be perfect for a giant seafood boil. Now all I need is someone driving back up from the gulf to bring me 30 lbs of live crawdads on ice...

Anyone driving down to the superbowl?

Well the King Kooker 54k burner worked good, got my 4 gal pot of cold water, in the garage at about 45 degrees, up to steeping temperature in about 10-15 min cut back to maintain temp for 20 min with no problem turned back up to a good rolling boil in 5-min. I like the performance, the flame was erratic at first but I found a piece of card board down in the burner assembly, removed it and was just fine. The legs on this model are raised for comfortable height to work at, I'm going to order another one, the legs can be cut down to shorten the height. If interested I found the burner at Wal Mart on line for $54.00 site to store order. I'm gonna try to put everything together so my next brew batch is all grain. And as always help and advice is always welcome.

Hey Ben,

If you don't already have a cooler to use for a mash tun, I have a 5.5 gallon knockoff brand cylindrical that I converted to a MLT using stainless mesh and the original plastic valve. I have $30+ into it. I'll let it go for $20 plus a six pack of your first all-grain beer.

I bought it new, and have only used it 5 or 6 times. I bought a total of three 5 gallon coolers thinking I would use them all, but the most I've ever used is two. I would be happy to know that it is making some beer somewhere, rather than sitting in my basement collecting dust.

Besides, right now I'd rather brew more beer than have more gear, and $20 would pay for a batch.

For $40 I'll include a brass valve, barb, and expanding stainless steel steamer basket I used for a false bottom.

Good luck,
Ben

Let me check my inventory of fans, I think I may have what you were looking for but with a lot more power, but we can control that details to follow. Perhaps we could make a trade?