Like most brewers, I am interested on always finding a better way to do things. I own a Banjo burner along with several jet burners and have been tossing around my opinion of what really is a better burner. I have yet come to any conclussion. I have, however, reached an opinion on where the High Pressure Banjo burner might work better.
This test was done with the interest of boil in mind. I wanted to know how quick I could reach a boil after mash out. I ran the test using a low pressure jet burner at .5 psi and a high pressure Banjo burner at 10 psi. Both propane burners were ran fully open and had their own propane source.
Two very similar stainless converted kegs (kettles) containing 6.5 gallons each were used. I started this test at 166 on both kettles. Altitude for my testing location was around 980 feet. I monitored the temperature of both kettles using a laptop, BCS460 , and two temperature probes.
When I made this video, I broke it into several different segmants. Excuse the redundancy in advance!
Without spoiling the results from the video, it is my opinion that the high pressure Banjo burner would make a great burner for your boil kettle or possibly your hot liquor tank. It is a little hot to be controlling your mash tun and takes adjusting if you want to reduce the heat. After around twelve and a half minutes, the Banjo burner had the Jet burner by around seventeen degrees.
I have bought my jet burners from topfoodservice.com. When they arrived, I needed to tighten some of the jet as they were leaking. The order process was not what you normally would expect. You order and then call some guy with a heavy asian (of some sort) accent to complete your order. I had wasn't sure if they were going to arrive due to the process but they did. Right on time!
First thank you for gathering all that great information.
I am in the process of building a brew sculpture and I was wondering what is the exact model of jet burner you ordered from TopFoodService.
I have placed an order last week for this jet burner P/N KECABJ005 ( http://tinyurl.com/3a83geo ) but Mr Zhao, their sales Rep is telling me that it's a high pressure burner. I agree with you that the buying process isn't really standart !
I would rather have your opinion on the burner I should buy (specific model with P/N).
How long did it take before you got your burner ?
I am planning on using mostly the same component that you are using ( Valve, pilot…) I really like the safety feature in case of a pilot light off.
Some pics of your valve, pilot, thermocouple and burner installation would also be greatly appreciated.
Overall, the banjo burner will heat up more quickly. For starters, I initially purchased the 23 tip burners because they were reasonably priced at Topfoodservice.com. They were the least expensive jet burner I could find at the time. Controlling the jet burner is simple if you are using low pressure propane. When I first started this, I was running a high pressure jet burner and felt I had no control. The burner control depends on what valve you chose to regulate your gas flow. Needle valves seem to offer the best control.
I like using the jet burner because you don't have to adjust the "air damper". The down side is if you turn the jet burner down to low, it can change the flame to yellow.
Have you considered automation? If you are looking at any sort of automation, a Rims Tube would work well for your current setup.
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Like most brewers, I am interested on always finding a better way to do things. I own a Banjo burner along with several jet burners and have been tossing around my opinion of what really is a better burner. I have yet come to any conclussion. I have, however, reached an opinion on where the High Pressure Banjo burner might work better.
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