Loss of flame with Banjo burner

Ok, this summer I picked up one of the Banjo burners from Bayou Classic. worked great for my first few brews. Lately however, it seems to be losing pressure as my boil goes along. It starts out full blast but the flame drops and drops until it will barely keep a boil going. At first I thought it was because my tank was low, under 8-9 lbs, so I got a full one and tried that, same thing. I can't figure out why the pressure seems to drop off so bad. I had this happen last week, used the same tank today and the same thing happened. Anyone have a similar problem? Could it be the regulator or the tank valve?

This means I'm gonna miss the start of the Jets game because it's gonna take forever to boil this down to my target volume.

Sounds like tank pressure is low because of cool ambient temperatures and regulator is undersized for burner. It worked when weather was hotter and tank pressure was high enough to get needed flow through regulator, now you probably have a cold tank and an internal pressure of about 20 PSI when it has been running for about 10 minutes. Pour some hot water over tank and watch flame, as tank heats up pressure will go up and the propane flow should increase, if so then start shopping for a higher capacity regulator or larger tank.

Regulator is 30 psi, full 20lb tank so I don't think that this is the case. I'm talking about full burn up till about 30 mins into the boil then it just drops down til I can't keep any kind of boil going

The reg could be freezing up because the temp of any gas goes down as the pressure is dropped. Try pouring boiling water on the reg as it's running. If that fixes it, you'll need a more permanent solution for keeping it warm.

Even though reg is a 30 Lb regulator the orifice that the propane passes through is designed for 50+ PSI upstream, as the propane boils off in the tank it gets colder from evaporation. Cool days will let propane temperatures drop to where internal tank pressure is below 20 PSI which is what you appear to be experiencing. Run hot water over tank to raise pressure to maintain burner output. If you are not convinced install a tee and 160 PSI gauge upstream of the regulator and watch pressure as you run burner.

I think you have a defective regulator. I bought the same 30 psi regulator from bayou classic for my brew stand. It worked great a few times then I started having the same problem you are. It got worse and I had to use the 15 psi reg off my cajun cooker and not a problem since. Derek

I've had similar problems with one of my propane cookers. I think this depends on the quality of the regulator. The fix is easy. Some regulators don't behave properly if they are already turned on and you then open the tank valve. They'll flame for a minute and then peter out. At this point the fix is to close the tank valve, unhook the hose, close the regulator valve - you want to bleed of any gas in the line. Now reinstall the hose, make sure the valve is closed. Now open the tank valve. Now wait about 30 seconds for the pressure to equilibrate. Now open the regulator valve and light. I read somewhere that it has to do with letting the pressure behind the valve to equilibrate with the tank before opening the regulator valve.

This is more of a problem with full tanks.