Problems with bayou burner

[Eggoth]

I just made the leap to all grain after several years of extract brewing. Yesterday while using my new bayou burner I wasn't able to get my water or wort to boil. Seemed like it took almost 45 minutes just to get up to 170s needed for sparging. I had a full propane tank hooked up. I would start with the regulator closed, open the tank valve full, then open the regulator 3-4 turns until gas started to flow. Once lit I adjusted the air flow to get blue flame. After that I wasn't sure how high to turn the regulator up. Seems like I could turn it 20-30 times to full blast. The more I opened it the louder the roar would get and it seemed like the burner was throwing a ton of heat. No matter how much I opened it after a minute or two the flow would always cut back to a low level. Then no matter how I adjusted the regulator I couldn't get the gas flow higher. Pretty frustrating. I did get mashing temps and my new cooler system worked great, but once I had the wort I couldn't get it to a boil. I kept turning the stove off and back on to try to reset the regulator to higher gas flows but it would always reset to the low flow within minutes. Then to my surprise my previously full tank was empty, all without any boiling and probably only 2 hours of run time. I ended up brining my 15 gallon pot inside but even 2 burners on the stove couldn't bring it near boiling. I then went to siphon some of the wort into my old 4 gal SS pot but stupidly grabbed the wrong plastic hose (had just bought some from home depot for making the connections to my immersion cooler) and it melted in the wort. My lawn got an expensive watering and I was left with an empty propane tank and fermenter.

What happened?? I've been reading around about the propane burners and I can't tell if I was using it right? Are you supposed to open it 20 times to full blast? I've read other people are only doing 1-2 turns after lighting. I'm also reading some people are boiling 5ish gallons in 20-30 min, while others are saying it takes an hour. It was pretty windy out yesterday, and I didn't have a wind shield. Could that affect it that much? I'm still lost how I blew through a full 20lb tank in 2 hours with no boil temps reached. The tank sat all winter (bought as backup for grill last August but never needed it). Could this have been a tank issue?? Any help or thoughts would be great. It's a shame about the plastic melting I've never had to trash a batch before and the mashing experience had gone so smoothly.....

Thanks,

Newbie

 

[SpottedDogBrewing]

I just made the leap to all grain after several years of extract brewing. Yesterday while using my new bayou burner I wasn't able to get my water or wort to boil. Seemed like it took almost 45 minutes just to get up to 170s needed for sparging. I had a full propane tank hooked up. I would start with the regulator closed, open the tank valve full, then open the regulator 3-4 turns until gas started to flow. Once lit I adjusted the air flow to get blue flame. After that I wasn't sure how high to turn the regulator up. Seems like I could turn it 20-30 times to full blast. The more I opened it the louder the roar would get and it seemed like the burner was throwing a ton of heat. No matter how much I opened it after a minute or two the flow would always cut back to a low level. Then no matter how I adjusted the regulator I couldn't get the gas flow higher. Pretty frustrating. I did get mashing temps and my new cooler system worked great, but once I had the wort I couldn't get it to a boil. I kept turning the stove off and back on to try to reset the regulator to higher gas flows but it would always reset to the low flow within minutes. Then to my surprise my previously full tank was empty, all without any boiling and probably only 2 hours of run time. I ended up brining my 15 gallon pot inside but even 2 burners on the stove couldn't bring it near boiling. I then went to siphon some of the wort into my old 4 gal SS pot but stupidly grabbed the wrong plastic hose (had just bought some from home depot for making the connections to my immersion cooler) and it melted in the wort. My lawn got an expensive watering and I was left with an empty propane tank and fermenter.

What happened?? I've been reading around about the propane burners and I can't tell if I was using it right? Are you supposed to open it 20 times to full blast? I've read other people are only doing 1-2 turns after lighting. I'm also reading some people are boiling 5ish gallons in 20-30 min, while others are saying it takes an hour. It was pretty windy out yesterday, and I didn't have a wind shield. Could that affect it that much? I'm still lost how I blew through a full 20lb tank in 2 hours with no boil temps reached. The tank sat all winter (bought as backup for grill last August but never needed it). Could this have been a tank issue?? Any help or thoughts would be great. It's a shame about the plastic melting I've never had to trash a batch before and the mashing experience had gone so smoothly.....

Thanks,

Newbie

What model burner?
Sometimes the burner doesn't need to sound like a jet engine to work properly... or to bring beer to a boil...

If you have your regulator turned on full blast and only propane running out of it with minimal flame; your pushing to much propane thru it. you need to slow the amount of propane thru the burner and make sure the entire burner is lit...

 

[Butter]

That sucks. I'd get a new regulator if it were me. There's no way you should be using a full tank for one batch. We're on our 4th or 5th batch of beer for one tank fill. Not trying to be a d*ck, but your propane tank was full when you started? That's the only other thing I can see that would be an issue. BTW, it takes us around 45 min to bring our 6.5 gal of wort to a boil.

 

[Eggoth]

Burner is a KAB4.

The tank was an exchange from home depot and I didn't touch it all winter. Felt full when I picked it up yesterday....no scale so who knows....

 

[SpottedDogBrewing]

Burner is a KAB4.

The tank was an exchange from home depot and I didn't touch it all winter. Felt full when I picked it up yesterday....no scale so who knows....

Ahh, I do have the KAB6. It is unnecessary for it to sound like a jet engine to work. I make sure it has the entire burner lit and the entire stream of propane lit above the burner and not a huge gap between burner and flame. You may have pushed more propane thru the burner than it could burn, wasting alot of propane.....

 

[Eggoth]

Ahh, I do have the KAB6. It is unnecessary for it to sound like a jet engine to work. I make sure it has the entire burner lit and the entire stream of propane lit above the burner and not a huge gap between burner and flame. You may have pushed more propane thru the burner than it could burn, wasting alot of propane.....

Hmm okay. What would you say your boil times are, and how many burns do you get out of a tank? Sounds like I was trying to blast my kettle into space. Thanks for the help!

 

[SpottedDogBrewing]

Hmm okay. What would you say your boil times are, and how many burns do you get out of a tank? Sounds like I was trying to blast my kettle into space. Thanks for the help!

I do 15-30 gallon boils with my KAB6 and it takes about 1/2 hour-ish ( could be up to 45 min, dont think to much of it) to get to a boil from mash temps. And I usually get 2-3 boils out of a tank.

 

[ImperialStout]

Not to hijack the post, but am thinking of getting the KAB4 using the same burner as the KAB6 but with a 16" stand. Please post what you did to get it working.

My concern is the 10" burner in either the KAB4 or 6 will let flames lick up the side of a 14" pot, scorching the plastic ball valve handle and affecting the pot mounted thermometer. Please let me know if this has been a problem for either of you.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I have a KAB 4 that I have yet to use ( waiting for warm outside temps) I had heard in reading through these forums that many people raise the burner so it is closer to the pot to conserve fuel. I have rigged a steel wind screen to acheive the same.

 

[Nierika]

The tank was an exchange from home depot and I didn't touch it all winter. Felt full when I picked it up yesterday....no scale so who knows....

Keep in mind that if the tank was an exchange from HD, you are not getting a full 20# fill. You probably got 15# max, but that should have still been enough.

 

[BeerDoctor5]

I have the SQ14 (square one) and I used a new tank to bring a full volume extract to a boil in an hour followed by another hour of boil. I then used it Saturday for an AG batch and it got my 7 gallons to a boil in around 10 min. Once there was about two gallons of Wort in the kettle I turned on the flame low to heat up the wort during the sparge (2xbatch). Once there was more wort in the kettle I opened the regulator more. It was a windy day also. I definitely don't have the regulator going full bore. Tank still has propane. Good luck

 

[processhead]

Don't rule out the possiblility that you got a near empty tank when you purchased it. Mistakes do happen.

Also, full tanks can and do develop leaks, and your tank may have leaked some propane since you bought it.

I have gotten in the habit of comparing the weight of my empty return tank with the full one I am purchasing, just to make sure I am getting a tank of "something".

Get another propane tank and try to bring a kettle of water to a boil before condemning the burner.

I can recall one time I did have a similar problem that was burner related. A previous boil-over had dripped sticky goo over the burner orifice, partially blocking it off and preventing full flame.

 

[C_Von]

I had something like this happen to me on a SQ14 this past weekend. It lit fine and had a decent flame and not too long after it would barely have a flame. What my problem ended up being was that a fitting had loosened where you regulate the air flow. Propane had been escaping from the loose fitting, once I tightened it up everything was back to normal. Take a look and make sure these are tight, I'm feeling pretty lucky that nothing bad happened with all of that propane leaking into my garage.

 

[foos-n-brew]

If your propane tank is icing heavily you will benefit from putting it in a Rubbermaid container about 1/2 full of water.

The valve on the inside of the tank is inhibiting your flow. You are using propane faster with the bigger burner which is what causes this issue.

I had this issue with my Blichmann burner and haven't had a problem since.

 

[Turner5]

I have the exact same burner and had this issue when I first used it. For me, it happens when the propane tank gets really cold and starts getting a lot of ice on it. The first time I was able to just periodically shake the tank to get a little more heat out of the burner. Now, I just use one tank until it reaches a boil and switch to another tank for the rest of the time. I haven't had any issues since.

 

[Eggoth]

If your propane tank is icing heavily you will benefit from putting it in a Rubbermaid container about 1/2 full of water.

The valve on the inside of the tank is inhibiting your flow. You are using propane faster with the bigger burner which is what causes this issue.

I had this issue with my Blichmann burner and haven't had a problem since.

Yeah the tank was definitely icing. Sounds like I was trying to turn it up to high, resulting in the regulator or valve inhibiting the flow of gas. I figured if the regulator knob keep turning then I should keep going till I hit max (really wanted to see fast boil times) Compounded with the wind this probably resulted in the poor performance.

I had some left over flashing that are the perfect size for makeshift wind guards. Well see how it performs once I get some propane!

 

[foos-n-brew]

The Rubbermaid with water will keep your propane at a more consistent temp do the gas flows much better.

I figured this out brewing in garage in MN in the winter!

A wind guard is nice too but secondary to your problem.

Good luck!