I had made the mistake of buying a propane burner from Academy a few months ago. It looked good on the shelf, was made of stainless steel (frame) and was the most expensive burner they had at $59.99. I made one batch of beer with it, and though it was plenty hot, you couldn't adjust away the orange flames. It made one hell of a nasty, sooty mess out of the bottom of my new stainless boil kettle. Needless to say, it went back to Academy.
So months pass, and as hot as it's been here in Texas, I haven't been in a huge hurry to brew another batch. However, my reserves are running low, and I'm once again feeling the itch to make wort happen. I had two gift cards from Cabelas, so I went there hoping to snag a Bayou Classic which they used to sell. Well, they don't sell those there anymore, and what I was left to choose from was all typical Chinese crap quality burners with castings identical to the one I bought from Academy. I decided to give it a go, bought the cheapest one they had (since they all looked to have the same burner castings and regulators) and grabbed one that was marked down from $59.99 to $49.99.
On my way to the checkout, I decided to scan it on one of the sales floor price checkers to make sure that it would read $49.99, and to my surprise, it read $29.99! I went to the checkstand, paid up with my gift cards, and headed to the house. I opened the box which read "Cabela's Fish Cooker" and found documentation for King Kooker. The casting had a bit better finish machine work than the Academy turd I already took back, so I put it together and hoped for the best.
Well, it works as good as I have any right to expect for $30! No excessive yellow/orange flames, was able to make it burn lean, even when cranked up a bit. I'm satisfied, if not outright impressed with this purchase. I checked my boil kettle to make sure it would sit flat. As luck would have it, the tri-layer kickout on the bottom of the kettle fits snugly inside the ring of the burner frame. I can modify this if need be, it's built out of 3/8" steel bar, but I think it'll be fine the way it is. I've got enough money left on my gift card that I can buy another at this price! I highly recommend anyone just getting started or who just wants a spare burner to jump on this! I bought mine at the store in Buda, TX.
Best of luck,
BK