Converting to Natural Gas

I picked up a Turkey Fryer with 7.5 Gallon Stainless Steel pot for $60 as a display model brand new. I would like to convert it to natural gas, but I am not sure this small 4" burner will do the job. I have hooked it up to my natural gas hose for my grill coming off of 1/2" pipe. All I can get is yellow flames and lots of soot. I tried using the Blichmann Natural Gas Orifice as well as just a 'flare to pipe' brass fitting from HD and did not have success with either. No matter how much I adjusted the air intake and ball valve, I could not get a good blue flame. I could get 2 foot high yellow flames wide open.

I think the cost of the kit is worth it for the pot. Would I need a different burner to boil 5.5 gallons?

Has anyone converted such a burner with success?

Any suggestions are welcome.

I could be wrong but I believe you also have to take a look at the jet sizes on the burner. Propane is a high pressure gas system (10 - 20 psi regulator), natural gas at your house is low pressure, less than 1 psi. Propane burners usually have a much smaller orifice than natural gas burners due to that high pressure. Sometimes you get lucky when doing a conversion but it doesn't sound like this was the case.

If all you get is the orange flame I would go with a different burner.

Any suggestions on which burner to get for use with Natural Gas? I have searched the forums and never seem to find a solid answer on which one to get.

I was in the same boat. It seemed half the people liked the jet burners and the others didn't. I have 26gal kettles, might convert to 55, so I bought burners that wouldn't be complete overkill for what I have now but could handle the future kettles.

They do have 10, 23, and 32 jet burners, I went with the 23 and it works great. Huge flame when only one is on but the flame is still sufficient when all three are on. They adjust easily with the 1/4 turn ball valves I have on them now.

Check out my gallery and you can see the natural gas setup I have.

If you are planning to stay with 5 gal batches I would find a natural gas banjo burner or comparable to that. They would probably be fine for a Keggle system as well or you can bump up to a 10 jet burner.

Ask for help if you have never ran gas lines before.....

I am good with plumbing the gas lines and fittings.

I am planning to stay at 5 gallons now and maybe 10 gallons down the road. I have been looking at maybe getting a keggle and taking back my turkey fryer kit since I will have to buy a new burner. I can fabricate a stand out of steel to fit the burner.

I have looked at the 10 jet burner and the banjo/hurricane burners. Not sure which way to go on these.

I will take a look at your gallery.

Maybe something like this?

Jet Burner - 6" diameter

I went with a 23 jet burner. i have it all plummed... I just don't know what to do for a stand. works great sitting on the ground.:cross:

beyonder74 said:

Maybe something like this?

Jet Burner - 6" diameter

Click to expand...

oh hell NO.... that guy is selling his burners with a 500% markup.

here is where you need to buy the jet burners.

http://www.cpapc.com/store/23-Tip-Round-Nozzle-Jet-Burner-natural-gas-P469C244.aspx

I ordered mine from here, fast shipping and in Texas.

search for jet burner on these forums and you will see how well the preform.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/na...onversion-build-91020/index2.html#post2417477


-=Jason=-

Flomaster said:

http://www.cpapc.com/store/23-Tip-Round-Nozzle-Jet-Burner-natural-gas-P469C244.aspx

search for jet burner on these forums and you will see how well the preform.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/na...onversion-build-91020/index2.html#post2417477


-=Jason=-

Click to expand...

I have been through that thread and many others. Looks like for some the 23 tips are too much and some have capped them down to 10 tips or so. The 23 tip is much more economical from cpapc.com, which I have looked at before. It just seems like there are people who like and hate those jet burners.

Jason - Are you just using a ball valve to control the natural gas on yours, nothing else?

yes at the moment I just have a ball valve to control the flow. I just cooked some corn tortilla chips and the valve was barely open keeping my oil at 375. my first brew day is going to be this Sunday, but thus far once I get up to temp I just back way off and it takes very little to maintain.

so far I've used it for frying thanksgiving turkey and cooking tortilla chips and it has worked much better. I'll be using it to fry wings as well.

I might plug a few jets, but for now I don't see the need not much soot at all after my 1 hour turkey fry.

I originally purchased the turkey fryer for frying a turkey but was on the hunt to convert it to NG. found HBT and the rest is history a $1000 later and I haven't even brewed any beer yet.


-=Jason=-

I use my 23 jet burners from a gas tube, thru a 1/2" 1/4 turn ball valve, and it works great. I barely have it going once the boil is rolling.

keithster said:

I use my 23 jet burners from a gas tube, thru a 1/2" 1/4 turn ball valve, and it works great. I barely have it going once the boil is rolling.

Click to expand...

exactly what I experienced the two times I've used mine.

-=Jason=-

Ok, maybe this is the route I will go. That burner looks quite heavy. I might have to reinforce the turkey fryer stand if I keep it and want to fit that burner to it. Otherwise I might be building a stand and I have seen a few on this site that I have bookmarked that I liked. Maybe put a bar running under the burner in the same direction as the straight black pipe and another at 90 degrees to support the burner, then use some u-bolts to hold it down.

I ordered the burner from cpapc.com and it will be here today. Hopefully I can get it hooked up this weekend.

this burner really throws some heat thats fur sure.

let us know how it turns out.


-=Jason=-

Well, not getting off to a good start. I opened the package and one of the tips were broken off the burner. I called and they said they will get UPS to do an inspection. The outer package was not damaged, so it must of happened in the original box. I don't know how long this is going to take, but I will post an update when I do get moving on this project.