Identifying propane burner, increasing efficiency

Greetings all,

I have a turkey fryer set that is at least 20 years old. Came with the 32 qt aluminum pot w/strainer insert and the base is the 3 legged stand with a circular top frame.

The high pressure regulator hose is screwed into a small diameter pipe which is capped and has a small hole drilled in the upper surface near the end cap.

The flame shoots out the small hole and is relatively contained in a cylindrical tube that directs the flame up to the bottom of the pot.

A metal plate swivels on a hinge and can be placed across the tube to deflect/spread the flame away from the center of the pot.

I have no paperwork for the system, but have been brewing with it for the past year or so.

Any guesses on the BTUs of this type of system and can I tweak it for better efficiency?

I do all grain, heating water to preheat the 5 gal round cooler mashtun, then heating mash and sparge water.

It was 95 the other day when I brewed up a batch of the Centennial Blonde I've read about here and used 4 lbs of propane to preheat mash tun, mash/sparge, and do a 60 minute boil on a 5 gal batch (boiled 6.5 gals).

The regulator has a control know to adjust the flow of propane, but when I turn it down low, the flame turns yellow and tons of soot are produced.

I am curious if the burner I have with only 1 hole for the gas to exit is more efficient/less costly to run than the burners with lots of holes spread in a circle.

I'm looking to go electric one day, but if I can get this propane burner doing it's best for another year I'll be happy.

Regards and thanks for any insight.

Sounds like a high pressure single jet burner. Does it look similar to this?

http://www.bayouclassicdepot.com/sp1_propane_jet_burner.htm

The heat output is determined by the regulator. It's probably either a 10 psi regulator with a max of ~55,000 btu, or a 20 psi regulator with a max of ~185,000 btu. Those are notoriously inneficient burners and waste a lot of fuel. I don't know of any tweaks to increase efficiency for that burner. In general you can conserve gas by turning the burner down after the boil starts. You only need it running hot enough to maintain a rolling boil, not cranked all the way up.

Thanks for the feedback. The picture does look very similar. On my burner, the flame spreader is square instead of round, and the unit is so old the hose has the 'old fashioned' screw in tip instead of the plastic covered fitting that screws over the tank threads. What is the most efficient propane burner on the market these days? Would it be possible to get a more efficient burner at a reasonable price and attach it on top of the tube that the jet burner flame shoots out of?

Regards

I'm not sure what the most efficient burners are. I know my SP-10 style burners aren't a whole lot more efficient than yours. The banjo/hurricane style are suposedly more efficient, but I'm not sure by how much. You could probably re-purpose the stand with a different burner, but it might take some modifications.