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Message |
    
Paul Edwards
Senior Member
Username: Pedwards
Post Number: 1727
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 76.252.38.36
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 04:42 pm: | 
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I decided to move up to a higher output NG burner. The old Superb burner will likely get sold locally.
I haven't brewed with the new one yet (I just got the stand finished over the weekend). I did bring 11 gallons of water up from tap temp (about 58 degrees) to a rolling boil in much less time than the Superb burner would've taken. I didn't have the watch on it, tho. Maybe 1/2 hour or 45 minutes. But I wasn't running the burner wide open, either. Maybe 1/2 way. My CO detector never went off of zero. The silver thing in the first pic is the cover for the exhaust fan (a gable end attic fan). The kettle is a 20-gal Blichmann Boilermaker.
The stand assembly is strong enough I can stand on it, so it'll hold the kettle when full w/o problem
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Bob Wall
Senior Member
Username: Brewdudebob
Post Number: 2506
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 98.192.7.62
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 04:52 pm: |
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I bet you had an Erector Set when you were a kid... |
Graham Cox
Senior Member
Username: T2driver
Post Number: 2163
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 68.32.253.156
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 04:55 pm: |
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Paul, what is that stuff you made the stand out of? |
Paul Edwards
Senior Member
Username: Pedwards
Post Number: 1728
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 76.252.38.36
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - 06:04 pm: |
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Graham,
It's my old Erector Set.
No, actually, it's perforated angle steel from Lowe's. legs and burner support are 1-1/2" by 1-1/2" angle steel. The platform is 1-1/2" by 2" angle steel, with a trivet made from 1/2" square steel barstock. The braces are 1-1/2" flat perforated steel.
All held together with 1/4-20 bolts.
Platform is 16" by 16" and the legs are about 7-3/4 tall. |
Connie
Senior Member
Username: Connie
Post Number: 1370
Registered: 10-2000
Posted From: 76.17.52.96
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - 12:44 am: |
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I think even WalMart carries it. I bought mine at a hardware store going out of business and constructed my brew stand of it...except the bottom rails which are bed frames 
May be called slotted angle iron~ |
Tom Gardner
Senior Member
Username: Tom
Post Number: 1158
Registered: 01-2001
Posted From: 71.56.208.229
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - 02:03 am: |
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Is that an 8" 20 jet burner or a 9" 23 jet? |
mikel
Member
Username: Mikel
Post Number: 215
Registered: 02-2001
Posted From: 4.246.214.170
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - 02:50 am: |
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Let us know how that burner works out for you. I installed a 10" 32 jet burner on our new 1 bbl brewery and it's given me nothing but trouble. The main problems result from leaking jets, at the base where they thread into the cast iron. The best fix we've found so far is wood stove gasket cement, everything else just starts leaking again when the burner heats up. Getting a clean burn has also been difficult. The best we've had so far is to drop the burner height to about 8" below the kettle bottom and use fire brick to make a sort of fire box under the kettle, leaving one side open for air, to help trap the heat under the kettle. Also, insulating the top half of the kettle has helped allot. On the last brew we used 4.23 gallons of propane for a 33 gallon batch heating the sparge water, 90 minute boil, and clean up water. the mash water was heated on a different burner. |
Paul Edwards
Senior Member
Username: Pedwards
Post Number: 1730
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 76.252.38.36
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - 12:00 pm: |
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Tom,
It's a 23 jet model that my LHBS has in stock.
Mikel,
In test firings so far, this burner works very well. This came with the jets already sealed at the juncture of the jets and the cast iron. No leaks so far.
As I said, I don't have to run it full open, so I get a nice blue flame, with a little yellow on some of the tips. The burner jet tips are about 4 inches below the kettle bottom. I can take out the 1/2 inch spacers between the burner and the support bracket if need be, and I can lower the bracket another 1 inch if need be.
My stand is open on three sides. I put a piece of sheet metal on the side where the supply pipe goes to the burner. I used a 10 inch length of 1/2 inch black pipe to connect to the burner, then a valve, then the flex line to the wall. |
mikel
Member
Username: Mikel
Post Number: 216
Registered: 02-2001
Posted From: 4.246.214.69
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - 03:07 pm: |
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Who's your local homebrew shop? Sounds like a better quality burner.
When we had ours at about 4" it would periodically starve for oxygen, building up a huge ball of yellow flame under the kettle. On the suggestion of others here on the board, and based on what an online store that sells these things says, we dropped the burner height as low as possible for our stand. That cleared up the yellow flame problem but there was now allot of heat being wasted around the kettle. Some sheet metal and fire brick and we seem to have a good balance. |
Graham Cox
Senior Member
Username: T2driver
Post Number: 2166
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 68.32.253.156
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - 04:13 pm: |
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I've looked at some of these guys' products and they say the optimum burner-to-kettle distance for the jet burners is 16 inches! They build theirs that way. Seems awfully wasteful to me, but that's what they say.
http://www.tejassmokers.com/newproducts_page4.htm |
mikel
Member
Username: Mikel
Post Number: 217
Registered: 02-2001
Posted From: 4.246.214.69
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - 04:32 pm: |
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Graham,
That's the site I was thinking of. I find it really hard to believe that 16" is the proper height. With ours at 8" the flames aren't really even touching the bottom of the kettle. Strange though how we had much slower heating times and wimpy boils when it was closer to the kettle. It seems that when it burns rich there is much less heat output and allot of wasted fuel. |
Paul Edwards
Senior Member
Username: Pedwards
Post Number: 1731
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 76.252.38.36
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - 04:36 pm: |
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I just lowered my burner about 1/2 inch to what diff it'd make. Seemed to be about the same as I originally had it. It does burn very cleanly, but, then I'm not running it wide open, but about 1/2 or 2/3 open.
I am going to put another piece of sheet metal on the opposite side from where the gas line goes in. Right by the side where the Chillzilla sits.
Another guy in our club uses the same burner and his stand has the burner about the same distance as I do.
Not sure if there'd be a diff between propane and NG. And that 32 jet burner seems like waaay overkill for me. I probably could've gotten by with a 10 or 20 jet burner, but the 23 is what the shop has.
here's a website with a pic of another setup for a crab boiler, with the burner MUCH closer than 16 inches:
http://www.bayouboiler.com/pics.htm
Lunch break is over. I need to go to the basement and cut/drill some sheet metal. |
Paul Edwards
Senior Member
Username: Pedwards
Post Number: 1732
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 76.252.38.36
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 - 05:36 pm: |
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OK,
Here's a pic with the burner running:
One thing is that these burners aren't designed to run at a simmer.
If I turn the gas down, then back up, the flame will get a little sooty. It looks like, on low gas setting, that the flame is burning from the base of each jet, rather than the tip, which doesn't allow as much air into each jet as they needs.
It will burn OK on low gas setting, but to get back up to full heat, I need to shut the gas off, then re-light at a higher gas flow rate.
The Superb burner works better at a simmer. But then, I'm not trying to simmer anything.
The sheet metal on the right side was a nice addition. The Chillzilla stays cool to the touch |
Brews and Views Archive 2009 
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