Getting rid of soot from my burner

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austinb

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Hi...I have a pretty cheap burner that came in a turkey fryer kit and it is creating a thick black soot on the bottom of my brew kettle. My guess is that it is because it is a cheapo burner. I was looking into retrofitting a better burner into the stand that came with the cheap burner. Right now it has a burner that looks like this:

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Do all of this burner style create soot?

Would getting a banjo style burner like this one, solve my problem?

64494.jpg


Thanks in advance.
 
How's the flame look when it is fired up? It should be all or pretty much all blue. Soot usually means it is burning too lean, and would usually mean yellow flame. Common cause is lack of oxygen. If opening up the intake doesn't help, it could be the regulator, and running with too much pressure.
 
Doesn't, but means the flame is not as efficient as it could be. And, makes for more cleaning.
 
I didn't even realize there was an adjustable intake. It was about 1/3 open. I'm gonna use the burner for some canning tonight so I'll see if opening the intake helps.
 
Adjust the damper until you get as little orange in the flame as you can. Blue is good.

If there is soot in the burner a wire brush will help.
 
So I tried adjusting the intake as well as the regulator last night and no matter what there was lots of yellow flame. After failing to eliminate the yellow flame i opened the intake all the way and ran it like that...I still got soot on the bottom of the pot. Any other ideas?
 
Yeah those burners suck, nothing you can do, you'll always have soot on your kettle.

I replaced my cheapo turkey fryer with a blingman burner with the leg extensions - best move I ever made.

YOu can just ignore the soot for now until you upgrade to a better burner like the one you have pictured above. THen when you do, you can clean your kettle once and for all.
 
So I tried adjusting the intake as well as the regulator last night and no matter what there was lots of yellow flame. After failing to eliminate the yellow flame i opened the intake all the way and ran it like that...I still got soot on the bottom of the pot. Any other ideas?

There are a few possible causes. If the orifice is the wrong size it can cause the symptoms you describe. Same thing if there's something in the casting obstructing airflow. Spiders love to build nests in those castings, which is a common cause of airflow issues. If you use a keggle, the wort from a boil over will roll down the convex bottom to the center and drip into the burner, which can then solidify inside the casting and block airflow. Some of the stands are poorly designed, and place the burner too close to the bottom of the pot. If you can get decent blue flames with yellow tips when there's no pot on the stand, that's likely the issue.

Yeah those burners suck, nothing you can do, you'll always have soot on your kettle.

I used that type of burner for my first couple years as a homebrewer. I brewed dozens of batches and the only time I ever had even the faintest sign of soot on my kettle was when some sugars from a boil over partially clogged the airflow inside the casting. They're loud as hell and use too much propane, but they shouldn't ever be creating soot.
 
I still dont understand the problem with the soot

Mostly its just annoying because it gets all over your hands and clothes when you move your kettle around...especially a big heavy keggle like I have where it is tougher to just hold the sooty end away from you.
 
It's also indicative of poor combustion, meaning that you're not getting near as much heat as you could, and you're using more propane than you need to.
 
There are a few possible causes. If the orifice is the wrong size it can cause the symptoms you describe. Same thing if there's something in the casting obstructing airflow. Spiders love to build nests in those castings, which is a common cause of airflow issues. If you use a keggle, the wort from a boil over will roll down the convex bottom to the center and drip into the burner, which can then solidify inside the casting and block airflow. Some of the stands are poorly designed, and place the burner too close to the bottom of the pot. If you can get decent blue flames with yellow tips when there's no pot on the stand, that's likely the issue.



I used that type of burner for my first couple years as a homebrewer. I brewed dozens of batches and the only time I ever had even the faintest sign of soot on my kettle was when some sugars from a boil over partially clogged the airflow inside the casting. They're loud as hell and use too much propane, but they shouldn't ever be creating soot.

I tried running it without the pot on there and no matter how i set it the intake and regulator I just got about a half inch of blue and 1-4 inches of yellow flame. If it is clogged, how do I clean it properly?

Would is be worth it for me to just get the banjo burner? Would that most likely solve the problem? Also is the banjo burner more efficient as well? I got through about 1/3 tank of propane boiling 10 gallons of wort for an hour so if the banjo burner uses less then it may be worth the investment.
 
I tried running it without the pot on there and no matter how i set it the intake and regulator I just got about a half inch of blue and 1-4 inches of yellow flame. If it is clogged, how do I clean it properly?

Would is be worth it for me to just get the banjo burner? Would that most likely solve the problem? Also is the banjo burner more efficient as well? I got through about 1/3 tank of propane boiling 10 gallons of wort for an hour so if the banjo burner uses less then it may be worth the investment.

To see if it's got something in it, take the orifice and air shutter off, and look inside. You can also remove the bolt in the center of the burner end and pull the interior piece of cast iron out to help see/clean the inside. If there's something in there, use a coat hanger, screwdriver, soak in hot soapy water, or whatever else seems appropriate to remove whatever it is.

If there's nothing in the casting, the issue is likely the orifice size. You can buy a replacement orifice for ~$6-8 + shipping, or solder it closed and re-drill it with a smaller drill bit. IIRC it should be somewhere close to a #57 wire size drill bit.

One of the reasons you're using so much propane is because your burner isn't working properly. Buying a banjo will improve the propane usage by a lot, but so will fixing whatever the issue is with your burner. That said, I use banjo burners in my brew stand now, and love them. They're whisper quiet, use slightly less fuel than yours would even working properly, and can be converted to low pressure propane or natural gas.
 
Yeah those burners suck, nothing you can do, you'll always have soot on your kettle.

I replaced my cheapo turkey fryer with a blingman burner with the leg extensions - best move I ever made.

YOu can just ignore the soot for now until you upgrade to a better burner like the one you have pictured above. THen when you do, you can clean your kettle once and for all.

+1

I also got the blichmann burner and absolutely love it, I was having issues with soot with my old burner too. The blichmann seems to run hotter, use less propane, and leaves my kettle clean after a brew day. I can maintain a full boil with the regulator turned almost all the way down.
 
paulster2626 said:
Yeah those burners suck, nothing you can do, you'll always have soot on your kettle.

Not necessarily true. I have two of these cheapo turkey fryer burners. I noticed my one fat large diameter pot doesn't get any soot but my taller skinnier pot is LOADED with soot every time, no matter what burner I use (2 diff brands of turkey fryer).
Both pots are 9 gallons but the skinnier one always gets soot!
 
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