Black residue to my brew pot from gas burner is becoming a hassle

I tried searching for an answer for this stupid question but didnt find anything on the subject. Its becoming a hassle to clean my brew pot because the gas burner leaves a very difficult to clean black residue on the outside of the pot. Cleaning it can be easy enough but it sticks to everthing it touches and getting it from off of my skin is even harder. Plus it damages my sponge after each is and the cleaning process becomes a mess.

Who else has this problem and can offer me some tips on mitigating this issue. Is it that im turning the gas on too high?

I have the same problem. The fuel/air mixture is off but I can't figure out how to fix it. I will soon be changing to natural gas. No more tanks to fill.

Subbed, Same issue. Soot is all over my apartment.

Too much fuel for the available air causes incomplete combustion and thus carbon/soot. You're making a mess while wasting gas. Increase the air supply or decrease the gas flow. The flames should be bright blue and not yellow. The yellow flames are from carbon burning off.

Clean the orifices too, sometimes carbon and ash deposits form in it, reducing pressure, which prevents good mixing with air.

The air fuel ratio isn't "off," it's just that the jet on the carb isn't capable of supplying fuel at stoich through the entire range of throttle. But air/fuel ratio aside, the boy scouts have had a solution for this years before we started brewing beer on turkey fryers

http://boyslife.org/outdoors/askgearguy/1811/ask-the-gear-guy-6/

Bar soap. Hitting it with a garden hose will wash the soot right off (prior to rinsing, you still have to remember not to set it on your kitchen counter or anything else your wife has a right to yell at your about for getting dirty)

For our camping pots we rub the outside down with a bar of soap. They still get black, but the soot seems to come off easier. I have never tried it with my boil kettle as I don't get much soot. I would anticipate that the soap trick may not work due to the amount of heat and the duration, but it may be worth a shot.

You need to find where the air vent is on the burner and open it up. I had this the first time I brewed until I realized that by opening the air valve up all the way would give me the ideal blue flame instead of yellow. Look at where your hose line comes in, usually there is a circular slide collar there that controls the oxygen/fuel mix. Play with it until you get the right mix.

I don't know if this thread is too old, but I just wanted to add that I had the same problem using an old and rusted Bayou brand burner that had pretty much been neglected (not by me). Like IslandLizard says, clean the orifices. Spiders and other insects love to take up residence in the Venturi bell and under the burner itself. Organic matter in the gas path absolutely will throw off the mixture leading to yellow flames and result in soot.

I've since bought a new Darkstar burner, which I love. I've gotten into the habit of taping up the openings with masking tape when storing to keep the critters out. After attempting to clean a spider nest out of a rusted Bayou burner, I decided I was not going through that again.

Yep that's the problem not enough air or restriction in venturi. There should be no black soot on the pan. You can spray down the burner with wd40 if it has sat outside. If it has sat too long just un screw the bolt and take apart to clean. I have a couple that have hardly ever seen the inside of a building and they work great.

I have a sp 10 style burner, the "cup" style, the same burner as a Dark Star has. When I first got it, it was really dirty burning; orange flame, lots of soot etc., no matter what the setting on the regulator. It dawned on me that part of the flame was blue and clean and part wasn't. I took out the center piece and knocked some burrs off of the back/bottom, and set it back in, and it was better. With the bolt slightly loose I rotated the center piece until the orange flames were gone, and it stills burns clean a year later. If you have a banjo type burner, I suggest making sure the holes are all even and free of burrs especially on the inside.
I also agree with the above posters regarding air fuel mixture; something is definitely wrong.

I keep my SQ-14 burner in the detached garage. Spiders seem to flock to it so I just blow it out with the air hose before I even connect the propane. I always get a clean blue flame this way.

MindenMan said:

I took out the center piece and knocked some burrs off of the back/bottom, and set it back in, and it was better. With the bolt slightly loose I rotated the center piece until the orange flames were gone, and it stills burns clean a year later. If you have a banjo type burner, I suggest making sure the holes are all even and free of burrs especially on the inside.

Click to expand...

The thought of lacks factory machining had not occurred to me, but I will know to watch for these in the future. My Darkstar was clean burning out of the box and I barely even needed to adjust it. Thanks for adding burrs to the list of possible causes.

Yep. Thoroughly clean the orifices, especially if you have had a boil over. I had to take the entire burner assembly apart, soak it in Sodium Hydroxide cleaner then scrub everything after a major boil over. It worked like a charm.
Spray on oven cleaner removes carbon from keggles or pots.

Regarding the soot; I use liquid soap, rather than bar soap. Spread it on with my hands proir to placing it on the burner--- it washes right off easily. But the real issue is the manufacture of soot. I got out my drill out and made more air holes in the 'venturi area'? that area that has the airflow control. Finally I have a soot-less burn. I had complained to Northern Brewer about this and they suggested all the cleaning ideas posted here. I do think it is a design flaw-- not enough air.

Good luck and Hoppy Brewing