Stove Burner "ghosting"

[Logzor]

During my first brew I noticed the gas burner on my stove doing some crazy stuff.

Typically you can see the flames coming right out of the burner.

At some points during the boil the flames would come out really far, like they were completely disconnected from the burner. The best way I can describe is that they were ghosting out.

I tried blowing at the flame and it would reset to normal, but shortly after it would begin ghosting again.

Can anyone explain what was happening?

I was thinking, maybe the pot is so huge (it's giant) there isn't enough oxygen getting down there, so I opened up the kitchen window. That seemed to help a bit.

Anyways, I'm kind of concerned this could lead to impartially burnt gas and lead to death.

I have a detector that can sense explosive gas / smoke / etc. It went off during the boil (also a reason I opened up the windows). The thing is is that it's super sensitive, if I were to spill a beer across the room, it will go off about 5 minutes later. Setting down a glass of bourbon near it will set it off almost immediately.

 

[helibrewer]

Are you able to span the pot across multiple burners? Maybe you are covering too much of the burner for good airflow, there should be a nice blue flame.

 

[GASoline71]

Anyway to start brewing outside?

Gary

 

[conpewter]

Yeah the pot is too big for the burner, but don't worry about it. I don't like it happening because it can start toasting parts of the stove that are not supposed to have direct flame on them.

To fix it you need to lift the brewpot up a bit higher to let more air circulate down to the burner. Not a lot of great ways of doing this though :/

 

[Logzor]

Are you able to span the pot across multiple burners? Maybe you are covering too much of the burner for good airflow, there should be a nice blue flame.

Yes, I can get it about half-way across the back burner.

Anyway to start brewing outside?

Gary

Definitely, once winter has passed. I could do it out in the garage I suppose. I would need to purchase a burner, though.

 

[GinSlinger]

Yeah the pot is too big for the burner, but don't worry about it. I don't like it happening because it can start toasting parts of the stove that are not supposed to have direct flame on them.

To fix it you need to lift the brewpot up a bit higher to let more air circulate down to the burner. Not a lot of great ways of doing this though :/

One method is to use a metal trivet over the burner to gain a little more space.

Another option, depending on your stovetop, is to adjust the vents on the gas ports. Some gas stoves have adjustable vents for each burner. Lift the top of the stove (after removing all the grates) and if your lines are adjustable, you'll see "air shutters." Adjust the one you'll be using a little more open. This also cures yellow flames when done in reverse. Just adjust back to normal when you're done.

 

[Logzor]

Yeah the pot is too big for the burner, but don't worry about it. I don't like it happening because it can start toasting parts of the stove that are not supposed to have direct flame on them.

To fix it you need to lift the brewpot up a bit higher to let more air circulate down to the burner. Not a lot of great ways of doing this though :/

Yeah it gets pretty close to the plastic knobs, I watched them closely to make sure they didn't melt....

Perhaps I could run a small fan to help deliver air to the burner?

 

[GASoline71]

Definitely, once winter has passed. I could do it out in the garage I suppose. I would need to purchase a burner, though.

I do it out in the garage with my turkey fryer burner. It also heats the garage while you brew.

Just gotta be real czareful with boilover...

Gary