Brewing outside, soot sucks!

[xenomaniac]

I have a roommate that refuses to let me cook inside. So I made a deal where I can cook the first half inside but, once I get to the hops, I go outside and use my burner. Everything works great except one problem. Soot. It is such a pain to clean it out of my tub. Setting the pot down to change angles isn't greate because you'll get soot everywhere.

What can I do to make this easier?

 

[mjdonnelly68]

Move.

 

[MrBrown]

Are you able to adjust the height of the pot to flame? That may help.

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

Adjusting the flame, and the height of the brew kettle over it, should reduce the amount of soot left on the kettle.

How large a BK are we talking about? If you are brewing AG, then I would think that it would be easier to do the whole thing outside given the amount of pre-boil wort you would produce.

 

[cluckk]

It seems you are able to boil outside, so why start inside? If the only problem with soot is transferring it to other surfaces during the move from inside to outside then simply start outside. As for the rest of the situation: move.

 

[duboman]

You need to adjust your flame so it is nice and blue, no red/orange, this will produce a much cleaner burn of the propane and minimize if not eliminate the soot

 

[spenglerp]

An old Boy Scout trick you might try is to soap up the outside bottom of your kettle BEFORE you heat. When finished, cleanup should be much easier. Rather than messing with soap I just accept that my pot bottom will be black.

 

[stoneyts]

I agree w/ duboman. Try lighting the burner w/o the pot on it. Observe the flame for a few minutes. Is there much yellow/orange flame? Adjust the air shutter on the end of the burner where the gas line connects to the burner. You should be able to turn it clockwise/ counter-clockwise to get an all blue flame ( or very close to it ) This will eliminate most or all of the soot.

 

[ajf]

And if you can't get a blue flame by adjusting the air-flow, you may want to try cleaning out the inside of the burner (if the burner is old, and hasn't been used regularly).

-a.

 

[DrinkingLounge]

would a piece of foil between the pot and flame help?

 

[duboman]

would a piece of foil between the pot and flame help?

Sure

 

[xenomaniac]

I never thought of using foil, that's a great idea. The burner I got is new but I got it from academy for 30 bucks so I don't think I can get the flame blue flame but doesn't mean I cant test it.

 

[xenomaniac]

And move as a suggestion? Come on man, lol. I'm sure some people are married and the significant other doesn't like the smell of hops unlike me.

 

[HopinJim]

Definitely too much air in the mixture...does your burner have an adjustable shutter? If so you can clamp it down a little at a time til the flame goes all blue...then no more soot!

 

[xenomaniac]

Ah, I was wondering what that was for. I'll probably still use tin foil though, good idea.

 

[flars]

I hope your roommate doesn't enjoy any of your brews.

 

[Britinusa]

If you adjust your flame you will get a more efficient burn and maybe use less propane.

 

[Nuggethead]

I have a roommate that refuses to let me cook inside.

Some women are like that.

Definitely too much air in the mixture...does your burner have an adjustable shutter? If so you can clamp it down a little at a time til the flame goes all blue...then no more soot!

HopinJim is correct. I've never seen a burner that did'nt have a shudder and have never had soot problems on any of the 3 types that I have.

 

[stoneyts]

If adjusting the shutter doesn't clear it up the other thing to try is to remove the burner from the frame work and turn it over. Tap it a few times to try to remove any crude that may be in the burner. Reassemble and try again. I had one that had rust particles in it from over the years. Cleared up to blue w/ an adjustment after that.