Burco Boiler

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

samnorfolk

Landlord.
Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
702
Reaction score
17
Ive been informed i can have a burco boiler about 30 litres, anyone use one of these
 
Ive been lucky enough to be given one! can anyone talk me through how id use it

The link from my post above describes what I did today, am not sure if the boiler you have been given is the same as the one I have.

I would start by filling it with water & seeing what number on the dials give you what temperatures.

Then maybe do some reading about BIAB.
 
The link from my post above describes what I did today, am not sure if the boiler you have been given is the same as the one I have.

I would start by filling it with water & seeing what number on the dials give you what temperatures.

Then maybe do some reading about BIAB.

ive done loads of BIAB 10 litre ones. i was just curious in using it, is it the same pricinple use a bag, mash in it, remove grains, then can you boil in it as well
 
ive done loads of BIAB 10 litre ones. i was just curious in using it, is it the same pricinple use a bag, mash in it, remove grains, then can you boil in it as well

Yes pretty much, I had to add a little water to the resulting mash to obtain my desired brew length 2 litres I think.
 
So you can use the burco for rhe whole process? I have got a 46 litre cool box i could use for the mash
 
So you can use the burco for rhe whole process? I have got a 46 litre cool box i could use for the mash

What volume are you looking to do? you can mash in the boiler you will probably have to do a sparge which may be better in a separate pot or your fermenter and then top the water up in the boiler as you go along (I think a few people with the 30l have to do it during the boil and its close to boil over if you put the full volume in)
 
depending on the mash/sparge a preboil volume for a 23l batch could come close to 30l, so dont do what i did with my first biab brew and overfill the boiler.. give yourself a good 5 cm of height above the liquid level to contain the boil, splashes, and the possible initial foam up as it boils.. no harm boiling a couple of litres on the stove for adding back ;)
or as Smileyr did just liquor back..

imho with a well insulated and prewarmed coldbox tun you can improve efficiency and initial boil clarity of the liquor, BUt you can also wrap up a burco with £shop camping mats with a bag of grains inside too.. you can brew either way, what do you feel like doing?? Whicever appeals the most to you is probably the best way to go ;)
 
depending on the mash/sparge a preboil volume for a 23l batch could come close to 30l, so dont do what i did with my first biab brew and overfill the boiler.. give yourself a good 5 cm of height above the liquid level to contain the boil, splashes, and the possible initial foam up as it boils.. no harm boiling a couple of litres on the stove for adding back ;)
or as Smileyr did just liquor back..

imho with a well insulated and prewarmed coldbox tun you can improve efficiency and initial boil clarity of the liquor, BUt you can also wrap up a burco with £shop camping mats with a bag of grains inside too.. you can brew either way, what do you feel like doing?? Whicever appeals the most to you is probably the best way to go ;)

I was thinking mashing in cool box, sparging in fv and then addig to boiler, as you say if volume to much then boil on hob
 
Well I just came here to ask about this very thing..

I'm pretty new to the game, have successfully done 3 kit's which all turned out well.

I want to step up to extract brewing and from reading up, am I right that this should be done with the largest volume of wort possible to ensure a nice light colour and proper hop infusion?

If so I need a massive pan, which is about £50, but then I worry that my cooker wont be able to heat it up enough to get a rolling boil (in fact I'm sure it wont, getting from 90-100 degrees with just 5 litres is a struggle).

So my searching took me to this on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004EAERSS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

The fact that there was already a thread here makes me think I might be on the right track?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sorry should have put mash im cool box and would i then sparge in cool box as well
 
The reason I did everything in the Burco was because I could also the thermostat on there allows for this, doing so saves cleaning and the need for insulated cool box as a mash tun, I aim for 19 litres at the finish (for the cornies) and to achieve this I am having to brew to 22 litres at the moment as once you leave the trub/yeast slurry behind thats about what you end up with.
 
The reason I did everything in the Burco was because I could also the thermostat on there allows for this, doing so saves cleaning and the need for insulated cool box as a mash tun, I aim for 19 litres at the finish (for the cornies) and to achieve this I am having to brew to 22 litres at the moment as once you leave the trub/yeast slurry behind thats about what you end up with.

Ah ok do you get good clarity in the beer? Also I've just picked it up (I'm like a little kid at christmas!) It has got some limescale any ideas best way to clean is
 
lemon juice, vinegar or citric acid will all eat/soften limescale build up.. if up the pot wall use tissue paper (bogroll) to adhere the liquid to the perpendicular surface (moisten tissue and slap it on the wall and keep it moist with your choice of agent..

an overnight soak will eat it or if really heavy soften it for a scrub back..


a batch sparge is an easier job and less hassle as no need to balance 2 x flows. also with your target preboil volume a known quantity after batch sparge #1 you will have collected X litres of liquor so preboil target volume - X = batch sparge 2 volume ;)

just my view..

also when i say a benefit of mashing in a seperate tun can provide a clearer pre boil liquor, a bit of flour isnt gonna matter and will drop out as trub anyway, ive jugged back the mash tun volume twice over on occasions or its felt like it and until i did a recirculated mash i never had a crystal clear preboil liquor but the beer was fine ;)

some folk tho have posted pics of mash liquor clearer than may a finished commercial pint (envy envy..)
 
lemon juice, vinegar or citric acid will all eat/soften limescale build up.. if up the pot wall use tissue paper (bogroll) to adhere the liquid to the perpendicular surface (moisten tissue and slap it on the wall and keep it moist with your choice of agent..

an overnight soak will eat it or if really heavy soften it for a scrub back..


a batch sparge is an easier job and less hassle as no need to balance 2 x flows. also with your target preboil volume a known quantity after batch sparge #1 you will have collected X litres of liquor so preboil target volume - X = batch sparge 2 volume ;)

just my view..

also when i say a benefit of mashing in a seperate tun can provide a clearer pre boil liquor, a bit of flour isnt gonna matter and will drop out as trub anyway, ive jugged back the mash tun volume twice over on occasions or its felt like it and until i did a recirculated mash i never had a crystal clear preboil liquor but the beer was fine ;)

some folk tho have posted pics of mash liquor clearer than may a finished commercial pint (envy envy..)


Ok thanks, so i think i may go down the route of using the cool box to mash to start with, its all ready to go! Just need to clean the boiler!!!
Im looking to do a 19-20 litre brew, ive got MO, Crystal, Hop wise- challeneger, cascade and fuggles any ideas
 
Ah ok do you get good clarity in the beer? Also I've just picked it up (I'm like a little kid at christmas!) It has got some limescale any ideas best way to clean is

I used a home made copper pipe wort chiller, it was amazing to see how much break material there was, the resulting wort was very clear, it was a pale ale & I was also surprised how pale it was. I just like to keep it simple as this was my first AG I think I went a little overboard watching things, however having watched and studied what was going on I will be able to adapt things and make them simpler next time.
 
Back
Top