LP to natural gas conversion

[Fred David]

Has anyone converted from propane to natural gas? If so, has it proved time efficient or does it add time to your brew day? Secondly, what is the BTU output of the NG burner compared to the previous LP burner?

[Dave Warner]

Are you hooking these up to a gas line?

Propane contains about 2.5 times the BTU content of NG per unit burned according to this site:
http://www.propane101.com/propanevsnaturalgas.htm

I imagine you can get any size BTU burner you'd want, but at that rate, I'd think you'd want to have a direct line.

This is just info, I don't have an NG system.

[RobDrechsler]

slightly off topic, but on my propane burner, I noticed that Academy Sports has "banjo" burners with which you can replace the stock burner... they're not quite the size of the bayou banjo burners.. anyone have any experience with them?



on the subject of propane vs natural gas... I can see why the conversion as you don't have to keep running to fill the 5 gal tanks all the time..

In my mind, NG may not have as much energy as propane, but given the right burner, you should be able to turn the "fire" up as high as you want and as noted before, if you're tied into the house line, you don't have to worry about running out..

[Jimmy Orkin]

I know NG has less heat per volume of gas than Propane. Therefore the jets for NG are bigger than for propane. Also, NG is very low pressure in your house. It is about 2 or 3 lb/in2. Propane comes out of the regulator with more pressure than that. I think you have to consider both items when switching to NG.

I would talk to the propane gas people like Northwest Propane. They may know how to convert.

[Fred David]

Acutally, I am looking for someone who has already made the switch. I have found the burners I want and I have NG in my brewery. The math says that NG per BTU cost is about 26% of LP. What I am looking for are things like time to boil of 10 gallons. Theoretical calculations are great for getting you in the ballpark but experience trumps it all with these kind of things. None of us want to add 2 hours to our brew day. The question would be more accurately posed as; "Using low pressure residential NG and a 90,000 BTU burner, how long does it take to boil `10 gallons of water?":(