propane ran out mid boil, best thing that ever happened!!!

So this weekend I was brewing outside with my turkey fryer, and ran out of gas half way through the boil.

You would think this would be a disaster, well it turned out the be the best thing that has ever happened to my brewing carrer. Why you ask? Because SWMBO doesnt let me brew in the house, in case it stinks up the place.

Well at this point there were no other options, so everything was carried into the kitchen and put on the stove. Long and short, the house didnt smell for the rest of the weekend and now I am allowed to brew beer in the house!

No more brewing out side when it is cold/windy/partially raining for me

I personally love the smell of freshly boiled wort. It brings back memories of a happier time...oh wait! It means a happy time is happening! I live in a small apartment and the whole floor can tell when I'm brewing

Glad to hear though. I can't imagine having to brew my beer outside. I'm sure it's nice on the sunny days; and I'd imagine those mosquitos and stray leaves add a little flavor.

It smells, you just get used to it.

We brew indoors. We both love the way it smells. We also leave the windows open when the weather permits so that the whole neighborhood can smell what we are brewing.

I don't mind brewing outside because I don't have to worry about spills as much and a propane burner will boil the wort faster than a stove.

Unless you are doing partial boils - the propane burner will get the job done much faster.

A good and pleasant smell, would make a good air freshener scent, Glade brew day. ---Mark F.---

I'd much rather be outside as well, just something about sitting around a kettle full of boiling wort drinking a homebrew..

I really enjoy brewing outside in my garage, I get to blast my heavy metal music, drink some home brew in the process and tease the crap out of my neighbors with the fresh wort aromas.

Cheaper to use electric. I did exactly the same thing as you once. It was in the dead of winter though and man did the windows sweat like crazy. My kids were not a fan of the smell.

FlyDoctor said:

Unless you are doing partial boils - the propane burner will get the job done much faster.

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Something must be wrong with my outside burner... It takes me at least an hour to get to a boil. I am not sure of the exact model of the thing but it is a big turkey fry thing. Sometimes it souds like a jet, other times I am not even sure it is on?

I always have gas but maybe not enough is in the tank? Does that really mater? Shouldnt the stuff be presurized so even at a 1/4 tank it still comes out at the same rate???

Anyways the inside stove top got the 6gal batch to a rolling boil in 45 min or so, its a haus!

Brew inside, put a fan, just about any fan in a window, you will still get nice brewery aroma, just not over the top...best of both worlds IME.

Never brewed inside, but love brewing outside. When the weather's nice, having my 3 and 5 year old kids out back with me playing while I brew is wonderful. Great way to spend a weekend afternoon.

PorterGlenn said:

Something must be wrong with my outside burner... It takes me at least an hour to get to a boil. I am not sure of the exact model of the thing but it is a big turkey fry thing. Sometimes it souds like a jet, other times I am not even sure it is on?

I always have gas but maybe not enough is in the tank? Does that really mater? Shouldnt the stuff be presurized so even at a 1/4 tank it still comes out at the same rate???

Anyways the inside stove top got the 6gal batch to a rolling boil in 45 min or so, its a haus!

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Have you made sure to use your air control valve to lean down the flame? You should have an absolute blue flame with very little to no yellow. This could be the cause of your extended time to get to boil. I get 3 gallons to boil in ~15 min.

Definitely sounds like somethings off....I get 6 gallons from 154 up to boiling in about 20 minutes tops with just a standard Banjo Burner.

I brew in my garage. I've switched to NG, so no more empty propane tanks.

One day I had a whole family show up in my driveway. They smelled the boil and were trying to figure out who was cooking something that smelled so great. They were surprised when they found out I was making beer. The mom thought it smelled like I was making french fries.

BlackDogBrew said:

Have you made sure to use your air control valve to lean down the flame? You should have an absolute blue flame with very little to no yellow. This could be the cause of your extended time to get to boil. I get 3 gallons to boil in ~15 min.

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well the air control valve I have wide open, possibly should it be not necessarily wide open to get a good blue flame? Ill play with it next time I have it out.

NOT THAT I WOULD EVER DRINK BUDWEISER... but I have occasionally driven through Fairfield, California, where Bud has a brewery, and on brew day the whole town smells great! (their beer goes downhill from there)

PorterGlenn said:

well the air control valve I have wide open, possibly should it be not necessarily wide open to get a good blue flame? Ill play with it next time I have it out.

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^This means too much air. You have a yellow/orange flame, correct? You don't want that for boiling water. Blue flame is the hottest and will heat your water the fastest. Try leaning it down and watch how much faster you get water to boil.

Be careful though once you have wort. If it is a very heavy wort, you can scorch it with too hot of a flame. In that case, once you have a heavy wort, you should dial back the flame until you get it all to a nice rolling boil.

You only have one propane tank?

meltroha said:

You only have one propane tank?

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That is so true. I have 3 and will borrow the one on the barbeque if needed. I personally like brewing out doors. Nice and quite. Kids leave me alone out there.

I like to use the garage, door closed when cold out but then the cigar smell gets in the house which the bride doesn't like. When it's nice out then the neighbors know what's going on

As BlackDogBrew states above, you have to have a blue flame. I have to adjust both the regulator and the air valve to get it right. I also use the tanks that my grill thinks are empty??? I've gotten two boils out of an empty (not quite) tank