Would a bigger regulator improve my burners?

[jasonclick]

I've built my brew stand and went on the cheap for burners. I've used it a few times and found it takes forever to boil and the flame is very dirty... soot all over the bottom of the kettle.

Here's what I'm using:
http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/outdoor ... =578846088

It comes with a adjustable 10 PSI regulator. Would a higher PSI regulator give me a better flame or should I just scrap these and buy a Banjo Burner?

[Ozwald]

:shock: I've built my brew stand and went on the cheap for burners. I've used it a few times and found it takes forever to boil and the flame is very dirty... soot all over the bottom of the kettle.

Here's what I'm using:
http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/outdoor ... =578846088

It comes with a adjustable 10 PSI regulator. Would a higher PSI regulator give me a better flame or should I just scrap these and buy a Banjo Burner?

Did you set the air damper correctly? A larger gas regulator will give you better boil times, to an extent. Some smaller burners just can't handle a large regulator. It's usually not a problem to step it up 5 or 10 PSI, but I wouldn't put a 30 PSI regulator on a burner that came with a 5 PSI regulator on it. That won't help your soot issue, it may even make it worse. You have to balance the fuel & air with the damper for the quality of the flame, the regulator affects the quantity of flame.

[westcoastbrewer]

I used to use that burner and had good luck with it doing 10 gallon batches, it was supper efficient as well. Something is definitely wrong if you are getting a dirty flame and soot. I would recommend trying to adjust the air control vent as well, it sounds like your mix is off.

[jasonclick]

I tried adjusting the damper from fully closed to fully open. Fully open gets better but still not a nice flame. Looks like it needs more O2. Maybe I'll rig a computer fan up to the air intake and force some air into it and see if that improves the flame.

[Ozwald]

What does the flame look like? Is it just yellow & weak, or is there a 'grumbling' sound with yellow flames jumping off the nozzles?

[jasonclick]

It's blue on the bottom. Yellow on top. Maybe it's the best this burner can do.

[Kbar]

Blue all around is the goal..........

[Ozwald]

Some burners have a really narrow sweet spot & you can pass it really easy, not knowing if you're running rich or lean. Hard to say, but my first thought would be to play with the damper a bit more. Of course this is overlooking the other issue you stated, taking a long time to come to boil. This burner will work, but it'll take a lot of tweaking & I highly doubt you'll see seriously significant improvement... noticeable, sure, but nothing drastic. I also don't think putting a bigger regulator on them is going to help either. You can either spend money trying different setups, maybe get lucky & shave 10 minutes off, or live with what you've got & see if you can get it dialed in a bit more, or spend that money on a new burner that's a little more suited for what you're trying to accomplish. Obviously you're the only one who can answer that question. I will say that the amount of money you spend, in the long run, is probably better invested in upgrading to a new burner instead of trial & error or frankensteining the one you have now. That being said, I wouldn't give up on it right away, I'm guessing there's a sweet spot you just don't have quite dialed in yet... and finding that only takes time & not money.