Bayou classic sp1

Purchased the sp1 jet burner after reading some decent reviews.

The first time I used it, it was a struggle took forever to get to boil and could barely hold it. It had a weak orange flame and was just disappointing.
I went to brew today and it had a great roaring flame. It got to mash temps in about 10 minutes. Turned it off during mash and back on for boil. It was back to a weak flame. Any ideas? I tried everything I could think of.

I suppose I get what I paid for. Any tips to strengthen the flame would be outstanding though!

what are the temps outside? A cold temperature causes troubles for the liquid propane to turn into a gas and give you the necessary pressure for a burner like that. Even using the propane tank, drastically drops the temperature of the tank, causing the same issue. You could try putting the propane tank in a large tank of water to help it from frosting over if that is indeed the case. If it isn't, how are you adjusting the air input?

O by the way, I am from phoenix, so when I say a cold temperature, I mean below 60 degrees....

It was 65ish today so that could be the problem I suppose. Would explain why it worked at the start and than not after.

I'm using the standard 10? I believe psi regulator.

There is a required sequence for turning valves on to prevent gas flow if something is disconnected. Not following that sequence might be the cause of your problem.

Turning on:
Make certain that both the tank valve and the regulator valve are off:
Open the tank valve completely.
Open the regulator valve and light the burner.

Turning off:
Close the tank valve.
Close the regulator valve.

If you have the regulator valve open when opening the tank valve the safety shutoff will stop or limit propane flow.

Here's a link to a site that explains it more fully: http://www.classicwinnebagos.com/forum/index.php?topic=6999.0

I have two of the SP1 and good luck for the most part. You may want to pull the burner middle piece out and make sure it's clean. If it gets rusty from water like mine did, or a spider or earwig or something gets in there it can be a problem with propane flow. One screw in the middle it pulls off. Cast iron piece.

Sounds like for now it's what previous poster said. Gotta turn the propane regulator on last and off last.

I agree with the opening of the tank then the regulator when lighting. I doubt that it makes any difference in extinguishing. I use the SP10 and turn the regulator off then the tank and have never had any problems, same for a turkey fryer.

Will try this today. If that's all it is I'm going to feel like an idiot, but that's better than buying a new burner I suppose.

I'm not sure about the 10psi reg, but I know that with the 30psi reg the safety shutoff can be activated just by opening the valve too fast, even if you do everything in the right order.

Chupidacabra said:

Will try this today. If that's all it is I'm going to feel like an idiot, but that's better than buying a new burner I suppose.

Click to expand...

That's all it is. The burners are fine. The only other thing was the rusting of the pathway. And earwigs and other bugs. You can wire brush it and it will work great again.

Alright, thanks. It's only been used twice its pretty clean still but I'll make sure to keep it that way.

Mine acts up when I use a certain propane tank, but the rest are fine. I get the same weak orange flame you talked about. I fix it by backing the regulator off of the tank about 1/2 a turn.

Interesting. I was planning on trading my tank in before next brew day anyway. Maybe with that and properly turning on the gas we will be in business. Right now it's raining pretty hard so I'm going to mess with it tomorrow.

I have this burner. I have the same problem if i open the tank valve too fast. I have to turn it all off and try again.