First outdoor LP Brewday Failure - Eastman 90314 burner

Well my first attempt at brewing outdoors was a failure. I have an Eastman 90314 burner (65,000 BTU), and used the 30 qt pot that came with it.

Outdoor Burners & Stock Pots: Eastman Outdoors Revolution Propane Burner

I was attempting to boil 5 gallons of water. Initial temperature was ~50 degrees farenheit. After two hours on the burner, the temperature had only risen to ~150 degrees. At this point, I gave up and moved the brewday inside.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on why the burner wasn't heating the water? The burner flame was small and blue. I have a few theories:

1) Burner was too far from the kettle. As you can see from the picture in the link, there are 3 brackets that hold the kettle. There was a few inches between the kettle and burner flame. However, this is the kettle that comes with the burner. Shouldn't it be designed to space the flame and kettle at the optimal distance?

2) It was too Windy. I realize that the wind may have played a role in decreasing the efficiency, but the flame never blew out and remained blue.

3) There was a way to increase the flame output that was not apparent to me. The valve on the top of the propane cylinder was completely open. the small valve after the HP regulator was completely open. Is there a way to turn the HP regulator (Red Knob looking item) to increase the output? I tried but it did not seem to turn. I played around with the air inlet, but that didn't seem to have much effect.

Anyway, I appreciate any advice the forum members could offer. My first inclination will be to remove the brackets, bringing the kettle closer to the flame.

Fickle

Wind will play a big part in your outdoor boil. The first one I did the wind was blowing moderately strong and I could barely maintain my boil. That's with the 165,000 btu sp10.

I suspect that you inadvertently tripped the OPD valve in the cylinder. Here's the fix. Close the tank valve and open the burner valve. Next, close the burner valve and open the tank valve. With the cylinder valve open you should now be able to open the burner valve and ignite the burner. When shutting down, close the cylinder valve first and then the burner valve.

This problem can occur if you have the burner valve open before you open the tank valve. The sudden rush of propane will often trip the OPD valve and reduce the flow rate drastically with the result being the small flame you reported. This is a safety feature that cuts the flow in case of the burner hose getting cut or burned through. The idea is to prevent a huge blast of propane exiting the tank which would make the situation much worse. If this isn't the problem, you may have a defective regulator. Normally, most regulators are preset and not adjustable. There are some exceptions to this as adjustable regulators are available, but they are not very common.

Catt22 speaks the truth

+2 to Catt22. I have that exact burner and I have boiled 7 gallons of wort in the winter (-15C) with no problem. I suspect that you weren't getting enough gas flow. Also, it takes a few turns of the needle valve to get up to full flow so maybe you didn't have it at full throttle. That burner roars pretty good when it is chugging at full speed.

Also - make sure the air shutter isn't closed (or mostly closed) - if it's closed (or mostly) you'll have a mild flame for sure. Crack it open and you should get into the jet afterburner mode...

Thanks for all the responses. I'll check out the OPD valve fix and report back tomorrow!

Success! Catt22 was right. After reconnecting everything, the flame was 10x higher that it was over the weekend. Thanks again for the help!