I’ve brewed twice on my new single-tier stand and, for the most part, it’s awesome. But there is a banjo burner issue that is really putting a damper on things. I only seem to be able to get a great flame when there is no kettle over the burner. As soon as I place a kettle over the burners, I get a big mass of propane that spills out and envelopes the kettle. I’ve tried adjusting the burner height, but this doesn’t seem to do much. I’m using a 30-psi regulator going through a gas manifold made from 1/2" black gas pipe. The burner orifices are the stock banjo burner orifices. You can see what I’m talking about in the photos below.
I can control the flame by dialing back the gas shutoff valve, but then the burner doesn’t put out enough power to heat my liquids properly. It took me two hours to bring 8 gallons of wort to a boil last weekend. :-\
I think energy is always a function of fuel and oxygen. You have a lot of fuel and to little oxygen. I have a 10 psi regulator and everything works fine. Turn your fuel way down and open up the plate for more O2. Bottom picture, way to closed. Looks to me like the burner might be to high also. Tune it up in the dark, blue flame, just starting for yellow on the tips,
I’ve tried opening the gas mix vent all the way and it doesn’t make much of a difference as far as keeping the flame under the kettle. The burner may be too high though. I think I will probably try to mount them lower this weekend to see if it makes a difference.
I’m also wondering if the burner shields weren’t the best idea. I’ve seen a lot of brewers use them on their stands, but they may be choking the flame by preventing enough oxygen from getting in there.
I might try elevating the kettles on short pieces of 1"x1" steel tubing to see if this allows enough air in.
This could just be a perspective thing, but from the picture, it looks like there is no where for your exhaust gas to go. The diamond in the frame that is supporting the kettle and surrounding the burner appears as though it would trap a lot of the exhaust gas (CO2, etc.) between the frame and your kettle bottom. If that exhaust gas cannot escape, it could then choke your flame. Or it wouldn’t combust until it escaped around the frame.
You could try setting your burner off to one side to create a gap between your frame and your kettle bottom and see if that helps.
I think you’re perceiving things correctly, Wesbrau. There really isn’t anywhere for exhaust gas to go. I could probably use my dremel to cut out part of the burner shield (which is welded to the diamond mounting frame).
I think cutting holes in the burner shield might not be the answer. It looks like you already have a sizeable opening in the shield on the corner where the burner assembly comes in. I think the problem might be that you’re trapping the exhaust in the diamond shaped part of the frame, between the burner and the kettle bottom.
The diamond part of the frame appears to be 2" thick. Cutting holes in the shield below it would thus be 2" lower than might be needed, because hot exhaust wants to rise up.
You could probably test this theory by setting your pot off center to create a gap between the diamond part of the frame and the kettle. If that opening serves as a flue for the exhaust, it might tame the runaway flames and result in the burner going back to normal. If so, I would think that would mean the diamond part of the frame is the part that is in the way. You may have to cut out the midpoints on the sides of the diamond.
I’m no expert on this subject by any means, so take what I say with a grain (or bag) of salt. I’m just throwing out ideas. Definitely get a second or fifth opinion before you do any cutting.
Today, I picked up a length of 3/4" x 3/4" square steel tubing and cut it into eight 2" lengths. Then, I mounted four of the tubing pieces on the diamond-shaped burner frames to act as risers, which the kettles now sit on. Now there is an exhaust pathway for the gas to go out. Burners work as they should; wort boiled in no time with no blue propane flames running up the sides of the kettles.
Looks like the ones from brewhardware.com. I have several of those. They work great. Wish I had found them before I cooked the rubber coating off a couple of my ball valve handles.
