OK, still more questions than answers. Has anyone tried a rotary switch on the pumps to regulate flow or does everyone use the valves? Wouldn’t that churn the beer when it was not fully open?
I use a valve on the output. Doesn’t seem to cause problems. The pumps are impeller pumps, so internal leakage around the impeller is what happens, as opposed to a positive displacement pump which does not have much leakage and are sometimes designed to close the side plate gaps with higher pressure (power steering vane pumps).
Ive run my pump wide open for the whole boil, and ive run it for just whirlpool, noticed zero difference. There probably is some difference but not enough for me to notice.
The gap between the bottom of the kettle and the top of the burner tip on my system is 4 1/8", and if using the KAB4 banjo burner like I have on my system, then I would recommend decreasing the gap to about 3". It really depends on the type of burner that you’re planning to utilize.
I agree. Trying to come up with a design that will allow me to raise/lower the burners if needed. Also might do a bench test/experiment to help me decide. I’ll post pics as it comes together.
Still trying to decide on valves too. Been doing a lot of research and I think the tech guys at Asco know me by name now…
I run the 20 tip jet burners with a 4" space (not adjustable) space and it works well. I reduce from 3/4" pipe to 1/2" and have never needed to run them wide open (15 gallon boil volume in 20 gallons pots). They are overkill for my system, but I designed it to be able to be easily upsized to 2x the batch size I’m doing now. I left the wind shrouds open a few inches in the front to make sure there was decent air circulation around the burner.
As for ASCO valves, pipe size is the thread size. Orifice size is the throughput. I’m using the Blichmann supplied 1/4" valves on mine (not on the boil kettle) and it works fine though not having to squish the line down to 1/4" from an already reduced to 1/2" line would be better. But mine is direct fired, so I’d be turning the valve down low on the MLT anyway. HLT gets my sparge water up to temp fine.
Your kettle should be big enough for a couple of these under it. Each could have their own control for ultimate temperature management. I have one under my 15 gallon kettle and it works very good. Just a thought anyway…
Just wondering how your burners turned out. I use 20 tip burners and my jet tip to kettle is about 12". I do like these burners, even though many do not like them.
I ended up buying the 32 tip burners. I just finished drilling out the pots for the ball valves, thermometers and site glasses. Got the swollen hand to prove it as the bit started catching as it dulled.
Going to start work on the gas retrofitting this week. Hoping to have it done by the end of T-Day weekend for a dry run. I’ll post a picture when it’s done with how it worked. Have to say I’m a little nervous.
I measured my burners and it is actually 15" from burner tip to kettle. I have a 3 tier sculpture with 25 gallon kettles, and 120qt cooler MLT. I ran a 3/4" flex line from the meter, and 3/4" pipe all the way to the burner. I was worried about running both burners full out at the same time. At the burner I used a bell reducer to the 1/2" going into the burner. I generally do 13-15 gallon batches and use a HERMS in my HLT. Make sure you have a good wind screen for dropping down the flame with this style of burner. My wind screen is just 1/8" plate in a 20" x20" square. I bought a cheap burner from a food supply for wok burners. I had a lot of trouble with soot. I ended up buying one burner from Tejassmokers. It was much more expensive, but was bench tuned. I found a bit that matched the orifice size of that burner. I believe it was 15 guage, and I drilled out the other burner. To answer your question:
These burners are designed to run full enough to draw air into the mix. This is why I have that 15" gap. IMO people using this style of burner put them way too close to the kettle. It forces you to run the burner at levels that hurt its designed performance. I crank the burner up when I start and the flame is nice with no soot. Literally the flame is up to the bottom of the kettle. It then gives me enough room to keep the flame strong enough to keep a good mix of air and NG going into the burner, even when dropping down the heat. I just use gas ball valves to control the flame. I have another burner in an old stand, much like a turkey fryer. It is useless at 6" from the kettle. I have to turn the flame so low that it blacks my pot with soot. I would highly recommend test burning your burner and looking at the flame height. I think you will find that it will burn best when you feed it a lot of gas. This style of burner works great for me. It didn’t until I gave it some room. I have no trouble bringing 23 gallons up to boil and dropping the temp down controlling my boil intensity. Long and short, give your burners some room to work. Hope this helps you.
Got the boil kettle burner about 8" from the kettle but the others are about 5" due to the extra ball valve for the pilots. I’m running a test this weekend and will post the final layout. It’s just about there. Bought a kicking plate chiller from Duda Energy. Brings 10 gallons to 68F in 3.1 minutes! Can’t wait to run the rig.
BTW-how do you guys clean up after brewing? I bought 50# of PBW. Just run that through the system and out the chiller?