cast iron burner

[bbaker2001]

have found this on Amazon. any ideas
I have a standard camp chef high output camp stove, but when I need to boil water, it turns everything bright red. worried it might melt. we boil crab when in Oregon, takes quite a while on 2 burner stove. each side is 14000 btu. this show as 150000, but really more like 50000.
some units show a 20 psi regulator, others at 5 or 10. what does this mean.
which do I really need.

also I see some have stainless cable. I pulled out my rubber for New Years, and it was so hard. is stainless better

[Oldtymeflyr]

We have used that for fish boils and brewing beer. Put a cast iron griddle on it and cook a steak, I bet it would taste great.

[dons2346]

bbaker2001 wrote:
should have asked how long do you steam them?

Been steaming for about 10 years now. Bring your water to a boil and then put in the crabs, put lid back on. Now cook for 18 minutes.

I should say that I clean the crabs and only steam the cleaned half's, I do not cook guts

[Ole_Man_Dan]

GramaofAAAA wrote:
We hunt so we use something like this to heat water for our outdoor shower....but, I think it's a "turkey fryer". Instead of oil we use water....

I have one. I couldn't turn it low enough for most cooking.
SO...
I had a buddy at a local welding shop cut me a 9.5" circle out of 1/4" steel.
(Heat Diffuser)
The Diffuser spreads out the heat much wider, it takes it longer to heat up, and temps. don't get quite as high. Tames down the High Pressure Burners...
Cooks good with the plate in place, or remove it and boil a huge pot in 10 minutes...

[bbaker2001]

should have asked how long do you steam them?

[C_Schomer]

I like the one on top. The needle valve should give good heat control. I'm guessing the 5,10 or 20 psi reg means the input pressure required to get high fire btus... only a tech support person from the mfgr can tell you for sure. My old Olympia camp grill used the small bottles on the reg/control and I had to supply a minimum of 15 psi to the control to get high fire output when I hooked it direct to the RV system. Craig

[Super_Dave]

bbaker, your original post showed a prime example of the power of a variable regulator. The burner is rated for 150,000 btu but with a 5 psi regulator, it may max out at say 12,000 btu. Turn up a variable regulator and you will get a lot more out of the burner. Using the variable regulator in conjunction with the burner control knob will give you a wider range of control. One controls pressure and the other controls gas volume.

[bbaker2001]

while looking, I see some that say low pressure or low pressure.
then the variable.
is the pressure coming out of a 5lb tank high pressure? and then what is the pressure coming out of the RV regulator.
how do I know if my camp stoves need high or low pressure.
if I adjust the regulator down, is that different than using the valve on the burner.

[bbaker2001]

awesome, looking on amazon now.
I wonder if I could replace the one on my weber to get a little more heat

[Super_Dave]

bbaker2001 wrote:

variable regulator, they com with 20,,10,,5. do I remove the factory one. after 45 yrs of camping, still learning. what a great site

Many regulators have a set psi such as the 5, 10 & 20. But there are also regulators that are variable 0 - 25. That means you have control of how much pressure is being delivered. The pressure delivered will translate to btu's being delivered. If you want to melt a pot or boil water in minutes, turn it up. If you want a slow simmer, turn it down.

Yes, you would replace the factory regulator if you weren't happy with the level of control.

[bbaker2001]

thanks for steamer info, will try

variable regulator, they com with 20,,10,,5. do I remove the factory one. after 45 yrs of camping, still learning. what a great site

[Super_Dave]

bbaker, I have both of the units that you have posted pictures of. Both will produce much higher output than a standard, green Coleman camp stove. Get a variable regulator. Flame control on the cast iron single burner is pretty limited with the stock knob. The variable regulator will help you control flame from high to low much better. The burners in those 2 units are virtually the same.

[Carl_n_Susan]

bbaker2001 wrote:
steaming
do you put a grate or something on top???

No, we use 3 tier steamer pots like this. Water in the bottom pan and crabs in the two upper pans. Depending on the size, we usually can fit 8-10 good sized Dungeness in it.


Here is a link to steamer pots on Amazon. Clicky We have a local Asian market that carries them.

[bbaker2001]

steaming
do you put a grate or something on top???

[Carl_n_Susan]

As others have said, you are looking at a turkey fryer. At least that was the original use. Now they are used for lots of activities which require lots of heat quickly. I use mine to deep fry turkeys, cook in my wok (actually a little too much heat for it and hard to control), steaming a big batches of tamales for a crowd, and cooking crabs. The stainless steel flex lines stay that way down to low temps.

P.S. try steaming your crabs and you won't go back to boiling!!!