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

[James Millar]

Hey guys,

Having got my head around kit brewing last year I'm making the step up into all grain brewing. I'm slowly acquiring all the bits I need for brew-in-a-bag system, and I've found these forums great for some advice on making an immersion chiller (thanks, brass123!) and for steering me towards buying a better quality pot.I thought I'd say hi and share my latest problem which I figure someone will be able to help me with! Apologies in advance for not knowing what various things are called, I'm new to this. I would normally search before posting (good forum etiquette, right?) but since I'm not sure of the terminology this makes searching a bit tricky.

I bought a 3-ring burner from trademe, and the bit the regulator connects to (does this have a name?) looks totally different to any of the ones I was looking at in Bunnings. How do I connect my reg to this? Do I need to go to a gas fitter and get this done 'professionally' or will a bit of kiwi DIY skill be alright? I'm in Auckland (Kingsland) if that's relevant.

Once this is sorted I'll try the recipe on the brewer's coop website as a first all-grain brew, as the guys there recommended it as a good one to cut my teeth on, before eventually moving on to making an Epic Armageddon or Hallertau Beastwars clone. I thought I'd try dry-hopping it as well as I like hoppy, aromatic beer and I feel fairly comfortable dry-hopping from my kit-brewing experience. Can anyone recommend a good hop style/amount to dry hop this recipe with? The recipe uses 56g pellets (I thought I'd use cascade pellets as I've found them good so far), so would dry-hopping with ~30g cascade cones be a good bet?

Thanks in advance, I'm looking forward to learning lots about all-grain brewing on these forums.

James

[Tilt]

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.

[Ralph]

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??

[mattd2]

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.

[James Millar]

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!

[Pilgrim]

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.

[James Millar]

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