Burner orifice size and control

[Acrosp1re]

I'm putting together a single burner system for a recirculating BIAB setup. I took the Bayou Classic burner and added a Honeywell gas valve and 11" WC regulator at the propane tank. I haven't tried boiling water on it yet, but I wonder of the flame is big enough to boil 10 gallons in a keg. I'm wondering if I need to drill out the orifice at the end of the hose to the burner (the silver one). The current size is about 0.04".

I also wonder if I need some way to modulate the size of the flame. During mashing, I wouldn't think I'd want as much heat as during the boil. Should I put in a manual valve to trim the flame up and down? Located downstream of the Honeywell valve?

 

[Croesius]

I'm no expert, but I'd definitely try a test boil. I've always brewed on an old crawfish boil burner, and it only has a single wee hole for a single flame, and it'll bring a boil no problem!

I'm also very wary of enlarging the gas hole. Seems the hole would be tailored to the proper amount of gas the burner needs to work, and it is almost assuredly set up to be able to boil liquids.

 

[calgary222]

Agreed - there are several thread on enlarging the hole to switch from propane to NG, but not to get more out of a smaller burner. I would be concerned about fuel mix. I would do a test run as suggested, if too slow, look at investing 50$ in the red home depot burner, I had that on my old propane system for the BK and a big BG-14 on the HLT, the BK came to temp just fine with that. Good luck!

 

[day_trippr]

That flame pattern is singularly unimpressive.
Unless you're doing very small batches I don't see that bringing anything to a boil in a reasonable time.

I would expect the orifice diameter needs to be increased to compensate for running a bg12 burner on the 0.5 psi that regulator provides versus the 0-10 adjustable reg that burner usually comes with. But once you do that you may find the air shutter holes aren't large enough to provide sufficient air.

There are a few videos on Youtube showing bg12s on natural gas, which would be the ball park for 0.5 psi propane.
The most successful one I've seen claimed 1/8" orifice bore - and the complete removal of the air shutter...



Once you get there you'll definitely want to stick a valve between the cylinder and the burner.
I'm fairly sure it doesn't matter where wrt the Honeywell valve - could be on either side of it...

Cheers!

 

[Acrosp1re]

I drilled the orifice out from .04 to about .06, and got much improvement in the flame. I had to open the air shutter all the way, which makes sense. I added a ball valve downstream of the Honeywell valve, but haven't tested it out yet.