Hello,
I just upgraded to the Megapot 1.2 15 gallon and I had a heck of a time getting it to boil. I have a Bayou Classic Model #SP10 burner is it not able to put out enough BTU’s to boil the wort? I had a long brew day today 
Thanks,
Sign
If you are talking the “classic” bayou like this -V-
http://home-brewing.northernbrewer.com/ ... &view=gridThen kettle height shouldn’t matter whatsoever if you had a “traditional” kettle before with a wider ID than a 1.2 ratio kettle.
I have the same “classic” bayou and have never had trouble with 8-15 gallon boils with traditional style kettles and keggles. But, I get a super efficent flame/burn going as my brewshop(garage) is wind/draft free other than ventilation air. So I get pure blue flame and never have to run wide open and the flame is usually pretty low even on large boils.
This makes me allude to a possibility of low efficiency burn or too much draft/ winds that is taking BTU away from the pot. Otherwise you should have no issue. One thing I always do is cover pots until I am close to target temps, or once I approach 180+ on boils I take the cover off during the duration of boil then. Just a cover could make all the difference in time saving possibly. I am completely done and cleaned up having brews at 6 hours flat when making 5 gallons and when doing dub batches I clock it around 8 hours as the larger volume does take a little extra time to come up to temps. So if your in around 6-8 hours your doing great. Plus I fly sparge, so if your batching you can easily see around 4-6 hours for 5 gallon and for sure under 8 hours for 10 gallon batches start to finish this is talking all grain of course.
If your extract brewing it should only take under two hours for a 60 min boil as it will take the 12-14 gallons at least 40-50 some minutes to hit 209-212 depending on your altitude. Just for smaller volumes like 8 gallons it will take me at least 30 minutes to hit over 170 for strike water during moderate air temps. Plus your chilling and cleanup time, so a 10 gallon extract batch should only take up 4 hours or less.
Welcome to the forum also.
Can you be a little less specific with your problem?
What is “a heck of a time getting it to boil”. I can find no reference to that time frame in any literature.
Same with "I had a long brew day today "
Did you have problems with other kettles? I have this burner and it doesn’t perform well outdoors in any wind, so I made a shroud to put around it and the boil pot. That improved performance substantially. Just some aluminum flashing, cut out for the hose connection area and pop riveted or screwed together into a cylinder shape. I doubt it has anything to do with the kettle, per se, but I am willing to hear other reasons why it may be the pot as the problem…
:cheers:
I had an issue with my gas grill where after I turned on the propane tank then hit the gas, a regulator would limit the gas flow. It is a safety mechanism. I would turn off both valves, wait a couple minutes, turn the main tank back on, wait a minute, turn on the valve to your burner, then the burner would go full blast. Does your flame seem lower than usual, I had one bad tank I always had to do this on.
With the SP10 its going to take awhile to get close to 15gal to boil, maybe an hour or more. Also running full out could cause your propane tank to freeze up and this slows things too. And I try to shield the burner from wind as well, I think you can lose some significant heat from a stiff breeze. I use a cheap plastic folding lounge chair for my wind break. I went to a Bayou KAB6 for my 20gal pot, its a gas hog but it brings 17gal to boil in under 45min.
You can shave some time by doing things like starting the boil on the first wort while collecting the sparge in a separate container. Once you know what your new system will do you can decide if you want to deal with it or upgrade.
