Burner Questions

[Enerjex]

Hi all, I know burners topics have been done, then done, then done again, I have read a heap of them but just have a couple of questions that are because of my current budget (no job!).

I'm planning to get a 3 ring burner for $28 down the road. I plan to use it with my standard bbq reg which is 2kg/h. The store with the burners have 2.5kg/h standard regulators (non adjustable) for $14, is the 2.5kg/h gonna be any better than my current 2kg/h or is it going to be more different standards of testing and both will be the same?

My other question is on the NASA burners. I don't have $90 for a Nasa and an adjustable regulator. I've read that the nasa is not recommended with a standard 2kg/h reg like what I have. Is this recommendation purely because it won't reach it's potential, or it plain doesnt work?

My thinking here is I get either a 3 ring with or without the 2.5kg/h non adjustable reg, or if the nasa does actually work with a standard 2kg/h reg I'll get it if it will offer better performance than the 3 ring.

Pheww glad I got that out

edit: I'm planning on doing 30litre boils, no bigger.

 

[ausdb]

Hi all, I know burners topics have been done, then done, then done again, I have read a heap of them but just have a couple of questions that are because of my current budget (no job!).

Main question is what size and type of kettle do you have?

A flat bottom pot works ok with a 3 ring, I use a 50cm stockpot with a 4 ring and have successfully boiled 70L in it. A keg kettle is not so good with a 3 or 4 ring burner as the chimb (ring) around the bottom of the keg keeps it too high above the heat plus it also traps a lot of unburnt gas leading to sooting. If your kettle is big enough to fit over it I would get a 4 ring as it give you the ability to boil big which you will probably want to do later (even though you don't think you do now ) and it is quieter than a nasa.

A nasa tends to work well with kegs but the keg still needs to be raised up for good combustion but a Nasa also need a high pressure reg if it is to have any chance of working properly.

HTH

 

[Justin]

Hi mate.

In your situation I'd get the three ring and just try your reg. I think mine was a 2kg/hr reg and it used to be fine on that sized boil. I don't think you'd see too much gain from the 2.5kg reg but maybe you would. If you find the 2kg one not cutting it you could always buy a better reg down the track. Use a good wind shield and you'll be fine on 30L boils.

The NASA wont perform with the low pressure reg, I actually thing the 3 ring would have a better output. The NASA's are good but if your only doing a 30L boil I'd say the NASA would be over kill.

Keep the wind away from your three ring and it will do fine. I used my for nearly two years or more with great results. Only really struck problems on one or two very windy cold days.

Cheers, Justin

 

[jayse]

I'll add another third voice.

My 3 ring works fine with a keg kettle and as ausdb said there is a small amount of sooting but if the airvents on the end are opened right up its not anywhere enough to be a worry about, its not like soot flying into the air and brew etc just get some black around the bottom. The keg kettle I used is wide enough to fit fully over the burner nicely so haven't experienced what ausdb mentioned with a more narrow one.

It does work fine with your BBQ reg for the boil, bringing water to temp for the mash takes a little while but you can shorten that time by starting with water from your hot water service. I have my system plumbed to the hot water system.

Although I did move over to the 'nasa' burners it wasn't actually that I needed to because the old 3 ring burners on BBQ reg did the job perfectly fine, by the way that price for a 3 ring is very good as I paid a hell of a lot more for the two I brought from bunnings.

So in a nut shell I'd say go for it.


Jayse

 

[Steve]

My 3 ring also works well under a keg kettle. No soot if the air vents are fully opened.
Cheers
Steve

 

[T.D.]

Go the mighty 3-ring!!! :super:

When I recently converted to natural gas I had the choice of getting a swanky NG mongolian burner or converting a 3-ring over. I chose the 3-ring simply because its all you need to get the job done. Its no fuss, cheap, simple and built like a brick *********. Can't go wrong. If your 2kg/h reg is not satisfying you then you can always get a 2.5kg one later, or even go for an adjustable reg which will give you heaps of control and potentially a heap of extra grunt.

 

[Darren]

You only need nasa etc if you are time poor. If you can handle waiting for a three ring to boil, as jayse said, Go for it.

cheers

Darren

 

[Beejay]

Go the mighty 3-ring!!! :super:

When I recently converted to natural gas I had the choice of getting a swanky NG mongolian burner or converting a 3-ring over. I chose the 3-ring simply because its all you need to get the job done. Its no fuss, cheap, simple and built like a brick *********. Can't go wrong. If your 2kg/h reg is not satisfying you then you can always get a 2.5kg one later, or even go for an adjustable reg which will give you heaps of control and potentially a heap of extra grunt.

Hey T.D.,

Did you need to convert anything on the three ring burner in order to make it do what is required whilst using natural gas? I am about to grab a burner myself and have the BBQ on natural gas so I was hoping that I could simply disconnect the reg for the BBQ and connect the 3 ring. Is it that simple?

Cheers,

Beejay

 

[T.D.]

Beejay,

You need to get the jets replaced. From memory it was a ~$20 job to get that done, and any gasfitter should be able to do it for you. But get some advice on how it works in your situation as I know of some situations where special NG regs are required in addition to the jets being changed, and other situations where they are not. Definitely worth looking into though, beats the hell out of swapping gas bottles all the time!

 

[Keifer]

whats with the limit of 30litre boils?
Im looking to expand from 45l to 80-100... Less brew days and more prodction for my common beers = me happy

 

[Fents]

space requirments for me unfortuantly. i'd be brewing big if i had the room and storage.

 

[Enerjex]

Hi all just thought I'd follow this thread up with what I ended up doing. I went down to grangers today to get a 3 ring for $28.95, they were all out of them as were their other 2 stores. So I decided to fork out $50 for a 4 ring. Gave it a test run before with standard reg. I only have a 12 litre stock pot I've been making my extract and partials in at the moment, the boiler is the last piece I need for my AG setup. Anyway inside on the biggest burner on our hotplate 10litres from 15c took 40 mins to boil, this is the burner i've been using for my partials. On the 4 ring with 3 rings going (3rd ring 1/2 power to stop it climbing around the pot) it took 17 mins to boil. So very happy at this stage will be interesting to see how it goes with all 4 rings boiling 27-30 litres in my nice shiny 50 litre stockpot which is coming in a couple of weeks

 

[PostModern]

Mobrien posted a video here http://www.brewerhood.com/burner.wmv of his experiences with the recently "bulk bought" adjustable regs that Phrak organised. Might give you an idea of what a three ring can do with extra pressure.