Banjo Burner

[Surlyday]

Who has experience with the Banjo Kick A? I've read how powerful they are and how much propane they use. Just set one up and tried to boil about 4 gallons of water. I've got it set pretty low and my water temp is about 125 after 45 minutes. How high of flames do I need? How high is too high and just inefficient?

 

[ScottSingleton]

I use a high-pressure LPG Banjo with a 30PSI regulator. When raising the temp quickly, like at the start of my boil, I crank it up enough that it gets pretty loud and the flames are 3" tall (or more). I've never timed it but it doesn't take me but 15-20 minutes to raise 7 gallons of mash temp wort to boiling.

Once I achieve boil I crank it way down.

These things do suck down some propane, which is why I just got 3 low pressure versions in the mail this week for my new sculpture. Going to give those a try and see how they go.

Don't get me wrong -- I love the high-pressure version. but it has a tendency during hot days to freeze the tank over.

 

[Surlyday]

Thanks for the info. I'll crank it up a bit and let it loose. An average, how much propane do you think you use for a 5 gallon all grain brew day?

 

[ScottSingleton]

I have big 40# tanks now that I salvaged off an RV... but back when I used the smaller grill sized tanks I could get 2.5 to 3 brews out of a tank.

What really kills me is on windy days. Even with the burners wind shield the flames will be blown to hell and back and take forever to get to a boil.

 

[Surlyday]

Yea. I tried to fire it up one other time and the wind was killing me. Just want to get a feel for it before committing to a brew day. Did read that you could put a propane tank in a tube with warm water if it's freezing BTW. Don't know how effective it is.

 

[Surlyday]

Correction tub not tube.