I brew using a 15 g aluminum kettle outside over a propane burner. Works great, but the outside is covered in a black "char" that is a pure pain to clean. Does anyone have any tips on how to get the "char" off of the kettle easily.
Adjusting the air intake damper on your burner should make the propane burn more efficiently and you may get less soot on your kettle. Just turn it while it's on and your kettle is sitting on the burner until the flame is mostly blue.
I took a pressure washer to all my equipment last week (except the plastic carboys). Got it all nice and perty, even the outsides of the boil pots*. *but they don't really get very dirty if your flame is nice and blue
I'm also pointing to the burner. It's not running efficiently. You should take it apart, clean it, dry it, and put it back together. The air intake should be adjusted until you get a BLUE flame, not yellow/orange. You should run lean on gas, not rich on gas.
I brew with aluminum on a natural gas burner and have never seen this. I used to use propane. So I think the people who are suggesting you might solve the problem by adjust your burner are on to something. How to Brew suggests that PBW can be used, and oxalic acid can be used for especially difficult residues on stainless steel and aluminum: http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixB.html . So, you might try rubbing a paste of PBW or Barkeepers friend on the charred areas, giving it some time and elbow grease to get the job done?
kinda echo what hopsandmalt said, i thought it was paint when it happened to me..turns out its carbon, from what hopsandmalt pointed out.
oh and if it gets all in your tub, or counter etc...barkeepers friend; that sh*t works wonders on that soot/paint stuff
Blue flame on your burner will help, yellow flame means that you don't have an efficient enough amount of O2 to burn all those other heavier gases that are in propane.
If it continues to be a problem after flame adjustment, you can smear some dish soap on the outside of the kettle before brewing. The black stuff will wash right off. Just don't get any IN the kettle. A tip remembered from Boy Scout camp!
When I was a Boy Scout, we rubbed soap on the bottoms of our kettles/cookpots before putting them over a fire. The soot came off easily at cleanup. However, as already mentioned, soot shouldn't collect on the bottom of your kettle if your burner is working correctly.
My burner does not have adjustable air intake. It's just about a perfect blue flame unless I turn the valve down to nearly closed (the only way to keep ten gallons from boiling over). When I'm done brewing, I turn the kettle over and hose it down. It's not sparkling clean, but it's good enough. It gets stored in the shed, so it's not a problem for me.
Thanks all for the advise. I've cleaned it before and its a pain - black char everywhere. I think i'm going to put it in the back of my truck and run to the car wash and pressure clean it. After that I'll try the soap trick and work on the burner.
I like this idea. I'll advocate sunglasses or eye ware during pressure washing. I didn't use any eye ware when I pressure washed the side of my brick house. I scratched both my eyes and was miserable for a couple of days. Now, I'd rather try to look around the water drops on my glasses. I'll also call everyone, and myself, out on the air to gas ratio. I get an orange flame when the air intake is all the way open. I use this to light the burner. After this I close the air down quite a bit. Little air + Lots of fuel = Blue flame. You'll fuss with it and see what works best, I'm sure.
oven cleaner. EZ Off, or better yet go to your restaurant supply and get the magic stuff. $5. also, adjust your flame. black is slightly less efficient than clean metal and you shouldn't care for even one minute. Cheers.
