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[Rustybrew]

I have one of the 21 tip jet burners hooked up into our house natural gas. Based on some recommendations I found I have my kettle about 7" above the tip of the jets. It does a good job most of the time, but doesn't perform very well on windy days.During a recent very windy day I moved the kettle to about 3" of clearance from the tip of the jets and it did a fantastic job. I noticed some scorch marks on the bottom of the kettle after I was done though. It didn't appear to scorch the brew, but I want to make sure it isn't getting hot enough to actually damage the metal. I am going to be doing some experimentation to determine the height that work best for my setup. I am curious what heights from the tip of the burners are other people using.

[stellarbrew]

As long is the inside of the kettle stays pretty clean and unscorched, and as long the kettle is is holding water or wort, it would be unlikely for you to damage the metal from overheating. Your pot will conduct the applied heat into the water (an excellent heat sink) as fast as you can give it. The scorch marks you are seeing on the bottom is probably a deposit of combustion products that are rapidly condensed by the relatively cool wall of the kettle. High velocity flame impingement over a long period of time can cause damage to waterwall tubes in boilers, but it is relatively rare, and most times the damage is cause by sudden quenching when it is blamed on impingement. Only if you start to see any scaling of the surface metal, would I worry about it.

Edited by stellarbrew, 11 May 2009 - 12:41 PM.