Greetings fellow brewers! Also, a burner-reg connection query

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Permalink Reply by Tilt on March 2, 2012 at 12:52pm

Welcome James and good on ya for kicking of the AG brewing.  You'll have heaps more options going from scratch and your beers'll likely be tastier too. 

Re your burner question. - what diameter is the barb (the brass bit the reg hose attaches to) on your burner.  It looks larger than the internal diameter of my reg hose - but you might be right and able to fit it and clamp it with a decent hoseclamp.  This is what I'd try assuming you've got a reg with a bare hose end - no fitting on the end.  If you have a fitting then cut it off.

• make sure the outside diameter of the narrowest part of the barb is somewhere  close to the internal diameter of the hose.  (if not you might have to take a trip to Bunnings and buy a new reg - or go to Tank Test or the like to get it changed over)
• If they are about right then carry on
• Place a decent stainless hose clamp over the hose first
• Soak the tip of the hose in boiling water for a minute to soften it.
• Slide the reg hose on and tighten up the clamp. (use a gob of spit to lubricate it)
• connect up the reg and turn your bottle on a wee bit (but not the burner taps - and don't light them!) then spray a bit of soapy water on the new join. 
• If you see bubles tighten the clamp a tad.  If there's still bubbles you might have to get someone to look at it for you
• No bubbles - all good.

Cheers and good brewing.

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Permalink Reply by Ralph on March 2, 2012 at 12:54pm

From my experience, where that fitting screws into your burner is usually a pretty standard thread size. If you have a regulator + hose +fitting on the end it may just thread straight into where that fitting is currently screwed in??

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Permalink Reply by mattd2 on March 2, 2012 at 1:35pm

I agree with Ralph, from the looks of it just unscrew the barb fitting (might need a bit of WD40 first) then take that to bunnigns and find a fitting to go from that thread to a standard regualtor hose coupling... hopefully they have the bits you need, otherwise a gasfitting would probably be able to supply it.

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Permalink Reply by James Millar on March 4, 2012 at 4:05pm

Cheers for all the help guys. Despite that barb looking like it screws in to the burner on the photo, I think it's welded/rusted on - I've WD40'd it and try unscrewing with a crescent wrench but it's not budging. The reg that came with the burner has a fitting which I'll cut off and try Tilt's method. If that doesn't work I'll have to try tank test to maybe get a new reg.

Cheers!

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Permalink Reply by Pilgrim on March 4, 2012 at 8:06pm

The manifold is Cast Iron and the fitting is Brass, so definitely not welded in, could be brazed, but unlikely and it doesn't look like it from the photo. You could try heating the manifold (around the joint) with a blow torch, if you have one, that should break-down any araldite or similar compound that may be stopping it from turning. Then try a ring spanner rather than a crescent. That's how I got mine out.

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Permalink Reply by James Millar on March 5, 2012 at 10:17am

Cheers, might try that (as far as I can with a lighter as I don't have a blowtorch) and see if I can unscrew with a ring spanner.

Got the reg connected last night with no leaks - worked to cook dinner over, however it's barely putting any heat out when I fire up all 3 rings so I think I need a higher flow reg. It came free with the burner so is probably a cheap low-pressure one

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