HELP can't boil, regulator freezing

[arturo7]

I have a Bayou Classic KAB4. It's about 6 months old.

Brew day was going fine. There were no problems heating the strike water, or heating two decoctions. Comes time for the boil and the burner won't work. It will light but only run for a minute or two before freezing.

What can be done?

thank you

 

[arturo7]

disappearing post syndrome

 

[arturo7]

Catt, I tried your suggestiong of putting the tank in a tub of warm water. Unfoortunately, it didn't help. The valve on the tank is close to ambient, the regulator is still freezing off.

I've got a hair dryer blowing on the reg, this at least keeps the gas flowing, but there's not much pressure. Not sure if I'll be able to hit a boil or not.

Any other suggestions would be welcome.

 

[schweaty]

Is the stove top an option? How large of a batch are you doing?

Perhaps split the batch in half and bring one to a boil on the stove, the other on the burner. Then combine and turn down your gas so you get a nice rolling boil.

I honestly don't know what else you could do. Best of luck!

 

[arturo7]

Up to 200. We might just get it...

 

[arturo7]

A boil-over would make me very happy.

 

[arturo7]

Strike up the band.

WE

ARE

BOILING!!




finally time for a cold one

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

Strike up the band.

WE

ARE

BOILING!!




finally time for a cold one

so what was the problem? whatd you do?

 

[arturo7]

behold my ghetto fu

 

[Catt22]

Catt, I tried your suggestiong of putting the tank in a tub of warm water. Unfoortunately, it didn't help. The valve on the tank is close to ambient, the regulator is still freezing off.

I've got a hair dryer blowing on the reg, this at least keeps the gas flowing, but there's not much pressure. Not sure if I'll be able to hit a boil or not.

Any other suggestions would be welcome.

Did you give it enough time? It doesn't work instantly. Good to hear you got it to boil. Weigh that tank. I bet it's nearly empty.

 

[LeadFarmer]

your bottle or regulator has a leak we had this happen when we went camping last weekend need a new regulator i think.

 

[lumpher]

another possibility is sometimes when you screw the hose on, it doesn't open the valve. sometimes you have to unscrew it, then screw it back on so hard it makes your teeth clench

 

[Cellarbrau]

Good job with the Ghetto Hairdryer setup! Last time I dealt with a frozen propane regulator I had to urinate on it to get the truck running and out of a farm field. True story.

 

[Simphoto02]

The big question is do you need the gas flowing that fast? When the regulator is freezing it usually means that the gas is flowing too fast out of the bottle. can you throttle down the gas flow a little? Do you get that many more BTU's from having the valve all the way open? I would also consider making sure you have the correct regulator. If you do then I would re-evaluate your burner/regulator choice. A more efficient burner that gets more BTU's from less gas will prevent this and make your gas last longer.

 

[Catt22]

The big question is do you need the gas flowing that fast? When the regulator is freezing it usually means that the gas is flowing too fast out of the bottle. can you throttle down the gas flow a little? Do you get that many more BTU's from having the valve all the way open? I would also consider making sure you have the correct regulator. If you do then I would re-evaluate your burner/regulator choice. A more efficient burner that gets more BTU's from less gas will prevent this and make your gas last longer.

+1 Very good advice. Also, I am doubtful that the regulators are actually freezing up. There shouldn't be any water in the gas that could possibly freeze. What I think is actually happening is that the temperature of the liquid propane in the tank drops radically which in turn radically drops the vapor pressure of the gas. I suppose this could happen anywhere between the tank and the orifice, but I don't think there is actually ice forming inside of the regulator. It just doesn't make sense. I suspect that in the above case, the tank was nearly empty. Smaller amounts of gas in the tank would chill down much more rapidly and that's why this problem did not occur when the tank was full or mostly full. Those burners put out a hell of a lot of heat and use a hell of a lot of fuel in the process. I've had 14 gallons at a roiling boil with the burner set about as low as it would go when I used one awhile back.

 

[arturo7]

The regulator came with the burner. Throttling down the burner = boil takes forever. Plus it's usually open no more than 1/4 turn.

As for the freezing regulator, I'm not sure how else to describe it. If it ain't froze it's pretty damned cold. The tank was full. The decoctions were done on another tank.

A normal 10 gallon brewday uses about 2.5 gallons.


We got through it. Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[Catt22]

Well yes, the regulator can get very cold when the gas is flowing at a high rate and so can the tank. My point was that the propane vapor cannot freeze. The freezing point of propane is -310 F. There is no way that the regulator could get that cold. Perhaps the cold temperature interferes with the regulator in some other way, like maybe the diaphram becomes stiff or the needle valve sticks closed. I really don't know, but the one thing I'm fairly certain of is that the gas itself is not freezing. Where is Hank Hill at times like this?

 

[arturo7]

I'm guessing that in real life, Hank and his buddies are homebrewers. For the show they must drink beer from a can so they don't offend corporate sponsorship.