I've used them a few times when brewing on my buddie's Brutus 15 clone. The problem is that there is no way to adjust the air/fuel ratio. The ratio is fixed and designed for the burner to run at full throttle. Additionally, full throttle on one of these babies puts out a humongous amount of heat. This is OK for the HLT and BK so long as you use enough heat shields to protect the thermometers, sight tubes, valves etc., but not so hot for a direct fired MT. You can work around the problem by firing the burner intermittently in short bursts. This works OK if you have the burner automated, but a major PIA if not. The banjos have a similar problem when used with a MT. If you turn the banjo down to an acceptable low flame level when mashing, the flame is easily blown out by the slightest draft or all gas ports don't immediately ignite. You can use the same kind of work around as with the wok burner if you are automated, but again, it's a major PIA without automation on the MT burner. I still prefer the 6" ring type burners for all around best performance and fuel economy. I did recently use a banjo on a SS 55 gal drum BK and it worked wonderfully for that application where it's power could be fully utilized. What we really need is an 8" diameter cast iron ring type burner with about 1/2 as many gas ports. I've thought about plugging half the ports in a banjo burner to calm it down some while still having a wide burner to better distribute the heat. Haven't done it yet, but it's on my list of things to try. I'm thinking that the ports could easily be plugged with small sheet metal screws which would be easy to install or remove. I'll post back after I give it a try.
