Does anyone have an opinion on the usefulness/effectiveness of using a standard turkey fryer rather than the darkstar for 3 gallon BIAB and 5 gallon full boils?
I can’t see the difference between a turkey fryer burner and the darkstar being likely to significantly change the outcome of your beers. That said, it may be more efficient and may use less propane; emphasis on may, as I have no idea what your turkey fryer burner is like…
One issue you may run into with a Turkey Fryer…
Most of them come standard with an auto-off timer that needs to be reset every 20 mins. Manufacturers added this feature as a safety precaution.
Unless you’re doing 20 min boils, this will be a real nuisance.
[quote=“Chris-P”]One issue you may run into with a Turkey Fryer…
Most of them come standard with an auto-off timer that needs to be reset every 20 mins. Manufacturers added this feature as a safety precaution.
Unless you’re doing 20 min boils, this will be a real nuisance.[/quote]
There are several write ups on the internet on bypassing this “feature”. :roll:
<rolling eyes at the “feature”, not you Chris. :lol: >
Duct tape works well.
If the timer can’t move, it can’t shut off.
:cheers:
I recently purchased the dark star burner. I have a Blichman as well and I’m using the DS for my HLT. Anyway I don’t have any fryer experience but for $40, the DS burner is really nice. Brewed twice over the weekend and I was really impressed on how fast my mash and sparge water reached temp.
How is the Dark Star for fuel economy? I have a cheapo turkey fryer and it seems to vary gratly on how much gas I use for a brew. Not to mention that silly timer / temp thing has issues, so I end up jury-rigging it to keep the burner going for the time of the brew.
Thinking of upgrading eventually, just have to get permission from SWMBO.
Can’t comment too much on fuel economy yet as I’ve only used it during two sessions but I do have to say I don’t think it used much. The tank I had it on doesn’t have much left and it didn’t seem to burn much up. It really likes to be cranked up for sure though. Trying to use it turned down was giving a more of a fire flame rather than the blue flame. I turned it up and it turned nice and blue. The circular air defuser is useless compared to my Blichman.
