King Kooker 4" or Bayou 10" Banjo?

[Gadjobrinus]

OK guys, I have searched through the forums but I haven't seen quite this comparative query - if so, mods, I apologize and understand if you want to delete the thread.

Quick one:

3 x 20 g vessels with brew lengths up to heavy gravity 15 gallons bitter wort. Up to, let's say, 18 gallons sweet wort in to the BK.

1. Knowing the above specs, I'm getting a recommendation for the 4" high pressure King Kooker, over the 10" high pressure Bayou banjo I'd planned to commit to.

2. Again, until I change over from photobucket, I apologize for the lack of photos, but I've built a 1/2" black pipe manifold, which I intend to feed in to 3 x 3/8" flare needle valves; then 3 flare hoses out to the burners. The manifold is fed by a 0-30 psi hi pressure regulator.

I've been told this regulator won't work with King's banjo - it will blow the flame out. Advised to go to a 10 psi regulator. Does this mean the King banjo is low pressure?

I know there can be a freezing issue here, and trying to read up more here, but can I get a check on the manifold, assuming one or the other above high pressure burners - King's 4" or Bayou's 10" banjo?

Many thanks, guys.

 

[swampbrewcrew]

Anything above the standard pressure to household appliances is considered high pressure in the propane world. It's measured in water columns but works out to roughly 1/2 psi.

I don't have any experience with king cooker products but I am familiar with Bayou Classic stuff. The burner you are talking about should be the same as the Bayou BG10. While it's sold with 10psi hoses I can tell you from experience they work fine at 30psi. If you are ever considering converting to natural gas I would get the 10" banjos.

The tanks freezing is directly related to how much propane your pulling out of the tank. Either run 1 burner per tank or buy a larger tank.

 

[swampbrewcrew]

Also if you decide to go with the 4" burners Bayou has cast aluminum ones available now. Same heat output, and you wont have to deal with rust issues if the burner gets wet.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

OK great, thanks Swamp, that's a lot of help. So it seems they're saying, go with something like the BG10 over the 10" banjo, and I'm not clear why. I will say the small (BG10 style) rocked my former keg system out at 14 gallons pre-boil wort, with no problems. Just wondering if with the 20 g vessels and somewhat bigger brew lengths, I'm right at the line where the banjo makes better sense.

On the tank size, perfect, many thanks.

edit: Just caught your note on the aluminum. That does give some pause, as my former burners rusted like crazy. It would be great if the option was there for the banjos, too.....

 

[swampbrewcrew]

Max BTU output is based on psi and orifice size. The 4" burners put out roughly 60k/hr at 10psi and the 10" banjos put out roughly 180k/hr at 30psi. If my math is right, 30psi will put the BG10's in the 100k-120k BTU/hr range. Which isn't a huge drop off from the 10" banjos.

I have a handy spreadsheet that I can post later. It isn't very helpful unless you know your orifice size, but it will also calculate burn times on different sized tanks.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Awesome, thanks Swamp. Do you happen to know if you actually can hook up a 0-30 to the BG10, without issue?

Edit: Just saw their aluminum burner on Amazon. Goes for $31, plus the orifice, so total would by $40, more or less. Given the banjo goes for $46, a closer call than I thought. Still, aluminum is compelling and thanks for that.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Just got confirmation the aluminum 4" specs are identical in every way to the SP10. The orifice is included, unlike the SP10 burner.

Anyone else have any opinion on this burner, v. the 10" banjo, for these vessels and liquid quantities?

Edit: Swamp, wanted to apologize as I just caught you already said above the output is the same - sorry! Would still love a "I'd recommend X over Y, because.....", from any of you engineers (like swamp)!

 

[day_trippr]

You might want to ask "How loud will a pair of SP10 burners get when cooking 20 gallon batches?"...

Cheers!

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Oh, yeah, have experience with that, since my first rig was with SP10 burners. Can you feel the burn....! Houston, we have ignition!

No, just asking as my usual brew length will be as before, 14 gallons into the kettle; but want the flexibility of really high gravities (my keg system was a limiting factor), or larger brewlengths, as high as 18 gallons or so, all on 20 g vessels. So, rocketry aside, which is the better fit? Or I should better say, which is a more optimal fit for output/brewlength. Seems from most opinions I read here and elsewhere, I'm right on the cusp between the SP10 is not enough, and the 10" banjo may be overkill. (?)

 

[Gadjobrinus]

A few more questions on this one if I might, guys - still undecided as I cannot determine which would be best for this "crossover" brewlength potential. I have looked on the site but haven't found exactly this issue; apologies if I've missed it.

So, obviously - 10" banjo or 4" aluminum high pressure? Both pushed with a 0-30 psi reg through a 3-valve manifold, on a single, larger propane tank;

How far from a flat bottomed kettle should one set the burner? Is it the same for both types above?

Finally, I'm hoping to use needle, and not ball, valves. Kingkooker offers one (seen it in HD and Amazon, more), but then they caution "Not For Use with King Kooker Brand 2 and 3 Burner Manifolds," so I don't know if that means these are meant for low pressure only. I queried KingKooker several days ago but haven't heard from them. Anyone know if these needle valves are safe at the high pressures in this system?

Thanks for any and all help, guys.

 

[swampbrewcrew]

Gadjobrinus I'm sending a PM