Brewframe Bloody Hot!

[snoozer]

Hey fellas, I've finally just about finished my single tier 3V build. I've done a few test boils pumping water around to get the hang of it and test for leaks.
A mate convinced me to do a brew on the weekend to christen it and iron out any teething problems. It all went fairly well and only had a few minor problems such as temp loss when recirculating the mash (need to cut a styrofoam disc and wrap in alfoil to sit on mash?)
The major problem was that when I use the italian spiral burners (I have 3) the amount of heat they pump out heats up the frame (made from dexion angle) to the point you cant touch the frame for even a second! My 18G kettle is too hot to touch even at the top and you can see the heat shimmer travelling up the keg. I tried turning the flame down but the boil dropped back to a simmer . I have SS plate heat shields underneath the ball valve and sightglass elbow so they only get warm but my mash tun and HLT are wrapped in 2 layers of that foil-backed foam sheet insulation from clark rubber and I've noticed it gets soft around the bottom of my kegs and starts to smell . I'm using 15L galvanized buckets trimmed down to shroud the burners and contain some heat, I think they do work on the MT & HLT burners, but struggles with the kettle burner as it throws out serious heat. Yeah the gal has all burnt off so I'm not breathing fumes...anymore... .
I've bought some adhesive foil tape capable of withstanding 270c on Ebay and plan on wrapping the bottom 3 inches of the MT & HLT to try and protect the insulation from melting. The boil kettle is another story tho', the insulation won't stand a chance during a 90 min 60L boil! so currently its not insulated.
So my question is what do you guys do about heat? surely its a common problem but I could find too much on it from a search?
I was thinking of getting this flameproof insulation: http://www.morganthermalceramics.com/produ...ire-protection/ to wrap my boil kettle with, I bet its exe tho!
Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

[Bizier]

I do a 50-80L boil with a spiral in a 100L Al pot and I shield it from ground to top of pot and I can get a good boil with only a tiny flame (compared to the capacity of the burner) due to the lack of interference with the flame and all residual heat being channelled up the sides of the kettle. I use discarded A1 printing plates riveted together, they just happen to sit about 10-20mm away from the kettle when joined in a circle. It is ghetto, but it works well. Because the air intake is at the end of the stem of the burner and it pokes out close to the edge, all the O2 comes in from outside and it does not impact the burner.

I think you will find most boilling kettles too hot to touch mate.

 

[snoozer]

I do a 50-80L boil with a spiral in a 100L Al pot and I shield it from ground to top of pot and I can get a good boil with only a tiny flame (compared to the capacity of the burner) due to the lack of interference with the flame and all residual heat being channelled up the sides of the kettle. I use discarded A1 printing plates riveted together, they just happen to sit about 10-20mm away from the kettle when joined in a circle. It is ghetto, but it works well. Because the air intake is at the end of the stem of the burner and it pokes out close to the edge, all the O2 comes in from outside and it does not impact the burner.

I think you will find most boilling kettles too hot to touch mate.

Yeah i guess most kettles would generally be too hot to touch but its the frame I'm really concerned about. I suppose i could wrap the kettle in some insulation and then lower the heat input while still maintaing a boil (and lower gas consumption as a bonus!), this would also lower the wasted heat going into the frame I assume. kettle insulation is key to my problem I think. Maybe that cement fibre sheet would work if screwed to the frame around the kettle burner?
Cheers!

 

[pk.sax]

Put up a picture of your rig? Someone might have an idea from looking at what you've set up.

 

[snoozer]

Yeah OK I will do that when I get the chance, ta