When I added a tap and converted my generator to NG after Ida in 2022, I've wanted to get a NG crawfish burner. I've always heard that propane is far superior and that NG is difficult due to the low pressure and heat capacity. The last few weeks I started researching and looking into the options, both existing and possibilities.

Previous TD Threads on the Topic:
H&G Thread from Feb. 2023
OB Thread from 2018
F&D Thread from 2020

I also researched the commercially available options:
St. Romain Cooker - $600
Tejas Smokers - $400+
G4 Natural Gas Burner - Discontinued
King Cooker 5 Jet Burner - $225 - This one is a cheaper option, but has a very low heat output so I wasn't sure about it. Wanted something similar to the above burners as far as BTUs/heat.

I started looking at individual burners, and found these were pretty common. For example, the same website had this 32 Jet NG Burner available for fairly cheap.

I ultimately decided to build my own!

I was going to mimic the Tejas Smokers overall design with a 32 jet NG burner. I figured I could buy the burner, angle iron, and all the material for <$200. A couple days of cutting and welding and I'd be ready to go. I already have the 3/4" nominal ID hose and 3/4" quick connects from my generator setup.

I started with this 32 Jet NG Burner from Amazon.

I wanted an idea of how many BTUs I could have, so I did some math to estimate it for this burner. Based on my minimum regulator pressure of 8inWC and 32 1.3mm orifice tips, I came up with 260k BTUs. Which is pretty damn impressive, if even half true.

One of the primary concerns/issues/discrepancies that I was reading was the distance from burner tips to bottom of pot. While this burner did not explicitly list any recommendations, similar ones on the internet mentioned anywhere from 10-12" away. The reasoning was both for optimum burner operation and to prevent damaging the pot.

Once it arrived, I decided the first action was to test it out. The test apparatus was not ideal, but it gave me an idea of the burner's ability along with some idea on spacing. The wind absolutely ate me up, but it was a successful burner test.

Once I had the burner tested for functionality, I decided to start building the final burner stand. I decided on 8" tip to bottom spacing based on the previous test results and the information found online. The idea is this is enough space to get full combustion, but not too far to lose a ton of heat.

The initial top frame:

Assembly and tacked together:

Burner Mocked up:

In this semi-finished mockup, I decided to run the test again. I had a baseline with my single jet propane burner of 24 minutes to boil, so anything close to that would be successful.

It boiled in just under 20 minutes. The wind started to pick up quite a bit at the end, but it was still a very successful test. You can see it got red hot under the pot, along with the shroud getting fairly hot as well.

After this successful test, I disassembled everything, cleaned it up, painted with 1200°F paint, then reassembled it. It's now ready to go for the next crawfish boil!