Chowhound Gone?!?
4 years ago
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Hacking a Wolf stove to increase BTUs??
Comments (15)The gas jet, sometimes called a "spud" or "orifice" sits between the valve and the feed tube that supplies the burner. Its job is to increase the speed of the gas flow right before it passes by the mixture "shutters" resulting in a venturi effect. At max open valve, the orifice serves to limit the gas flow to achieve optimum mixture and pressure at the burner ports. If the orifice is too big, the gas flow can blow itself out at the burner. All of this is a balance. Burner port angle, if mostly horizontal, will just shoot the flames out from under the skillet if you turn the burner up too high. If the burner ports are too few, or too small in diameter, then an overly large orifice will cause "jetting" at the burner and could result in poor mixture/inefficient burn, or even extinguishing of the flame. On my RCS, the burner was designed for double duty, either as a 22K burner, when paired, with a #47 drill size orifice, or as an 18K burner with a #48 drill size orifice. I did some experimenting and settled on a 46 gauge orifice, which yields me around 24K BTU/hr performance and still a decent blue flame and great performance with my cookware. It is important to note that the Bluestar burner configuration is like a commercial unit in that the gas ports in the burner arms are angled up toward the pan and not horizontally out away from the center. I get a nice pile of fire when I light up the big boy, it rocks a wok about as well as I could ask, and it will never heat a pan as fast as Gary's induction cooktop. So it is always good to keep things in perspective! As far as the griddle, grill burner performance, I simply cannot answer without seeing the range and examining the flame pattern. I do know you do not want to increase the spread of flame outside the design limits of the system without a careful evaluation of danger. Are there wires in the flame path? Gas piping? Plastic, insulation, frequent contact surfaces you will burn yourself on. The list is endless. I am comfortable engineering stuff around my house because I have a long history of doing that. All I would say is that if you are interested in hotrodding your range, do it carefully, in small steps, and make sure that what you are doing 1. Helps. 2. Won't burn your house down....See MoreVitamix Pro 750 or Blendtec Designer Series?
Comments (62)Herring, how is the Breville? Any other Breville owners? I would prefer not to have the VM counter space concern. Breville with a 20% BBB coupon seems to be a possible solution. Are there things the VM or BT can do that the Breville cannot. Such as make soup? Do I need a blender that can make soup? Thoughts? Loved reading through this thread. My trusty Oster of 10 plus buttons and 10 + years did not make it through the second can of garbanzo beans for hummus the other night and gave up in a blaze of glory (or at least a spark!) It worked so well and I keep wondering if I had just let it rest a little...My children keep telling me I should not blame myself but honestly who else? It feels like the end of an era but I amazed it has made it this far given what I put it through, weekly sometimes daily smoothies with any and every vegetable I could find. I tried a juicer but I the juice without the fiber made me too hungry. I still have the juicer which my kids actually like using for apple juice when they are in season. Supposedly I can make nut butters with it but I have never tried. So now I seek an Oster replacement. When I first started emulsifying fruits and vegetables (I make a beet shake that I swear by during cold season) in summer 2011, I went to a Blendtec demo at a Costco an hour away. I really thought I would buy it. I went just for the demo. However, the one issue I had with the Oster was raspberry seeds. I was surprised that in theBlendtec sample they made, you could still feel the seeds. They lost me after that, plus I did not want the expense or counter space clutter. Especially when my $25 Oster seemed to do the job. My smoothies until two nights ago, were smooth!I have been expecting the Oster to give up eventually and I am surprised it took this long. If I had not done the garbanzos I think it would have been fine. I originally thought of just getting a new Oster but I thought why not get something more. However, I am still not entirely sure what more I am getting. I mostly blend whole frozen fruit like mango, leafy vegetables (yes the ubiquitous kale), and garbanzo beans for hummus. I was also blending sweet potato type soups however I will no longer need that I hope. To tide me over I have already bought a Breville immersion wand and chopper bowl (one limitation is it only has one blade so seems to chop everything one way!) Which I used to puree soup and make a smoothie yesterday. So far ok although the smoothie took longer than I would like. One thing I am curious about since I have been making a lot of mung and azuki bean soups lately (feel free to put this in the kale category, I had never heard of either before a year ago!) I did try the Blendtec 3 ingredient soup at the demo. For those who own either machine, how often do you use it to make the type of soup they hype at the demos? Not to blend ingredients before or after but to actually cook the soup in a short amount of time?I would not imagine the Breville can do that or can it? Do I even need that feature? Thank you for any thoughts and opinions...See MoreAgonizing over decision between Bluestar 48" and Gagg/Therm Induction!
Comments (20)My Electrolux has settings between 0 thru 9 and with half steps in between those numbers, IE 4, 4.5, 5~~~~~etc. I can't recall the last time I needed one of those "Half steps". Changes in temp that you make happens faster with induction, as you don't have to wait for the gas burner, and its grates to heat up or cool down to the changes you just made. Also you can always go to the "Exact Temp" that you want, (time and time again with induction), IE "4" will always be the same temp, where as with gas, and the way the knobs are marked, (or more the case, "not marked"), it's hard to set the temp to "exactly what you had it set to", last time you used it. Of course the above isn't really a "Big Deal", as just about all cooks look at the "action in the pan", and adjust the temperature based on what's going on inside the pan, alto those that use gas may peer underneath the pan, just to get the temp in the "ball park range", but what's going on inside the pan is what really determines the heat settings, for both gas Induction and even conventional electric. What I would do, is google Induction griddle, or induction capable griddle and see what you can find, and find reviews on same. With gas or induction, a "Quality Pan or griddle" in this case, is More Important that the source of the heat. (IE a cooking vessel that transfers heat evenly and fast), is going to do more to get your pancakes "even", than will the choice of heat used. I say that based upon using just "El Cheapo" aluminum pans on my gas cooktop outside, where as I mentioned, I have to keep stirring continuously, versus using better pans, (All Clad knockoffs)" with the induction. I have tested for the evenness of temperature across the better pans, plus no constant stirring required when I use the better pans. I think the copper in the "All Clad Knockoffs" (Emerilware) contributes to the even heat distribution across the pan. OK, I just followed my advice as far as googling for "Induction compatible Griddles", and I found this thread, which You may find "useful". http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/827956 Hope this helps! Gary...See MoreWebsites, forums, chats, where else do you hang out?
Comments (48)I appreciate your comment, Lukki. I guess the difference for me is that the nature of Hot Topics is going to draw spice, feisty, opinionated people who can sometimes go a bit far and become mean spirited, and I think that is why GW keeps HT pretty separate from all of the other threads, i.e.: it doesn't show recent comments made to that thread on the front page, that sort of thing. It's really hidden, so I don't think anyone really has much of a right to complain or be critical because it's not in anyone's face at all. One has to deliberately go there. If it's not one's cup of tea, they don't have to even know it exists. But again, it IS "Hot Topics", after all. I think it's the one place where people can and should be allowed to express a little more "heat", so to speak. GW has very professional moderators, as well, and I think gets that about HT. But HD Conversations, for example, is out front and it is not inherently meant to be heated, and I've seen some shocking and vicious attacks on people, serious ganging up, much worse than anything I've seen on HT, where, again, it's to be expected to a certain degree. I can keep my wits there, and elsewhere (thank you for that, btw), because I try to keep my eye on the ball and not get or make things personal, which is a big mistake a lot of people make (and don't get me going on passive/aggressive behavior. Ugh. I loathe it). If I really have a personal animus for someone here or there, I simply ignore them and don't engage because my personal feelings about another are completely irrelevant and certainly of no interest to anyone else. So no, it's not for the thin skinned, but I think that is okay to say about a forum called "Hot Topics". I don't think, though, that such a thing should have to be said about a forum called "Home Decorating Conversations"!...See More- 4 years ago
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