Question: I presently have a Weber Spirit natural gas grill on our concrete patio. I am trying to determine if a Outdoor Stir Fry natural gas burner with a 16″ wok could be used sitting on the cast iron grate with the grill lid open. The dimensions of the grate are 20.5″wide by 18″ deep. The grate surface is 32 inches above the patio. The sides of the grill are 5″ higher than the grate to provide wind resistance on 3 sides. Can you please recommend a burner from your product line which would be a good fit for what want to do?
Answer: How about https://outdoorstirfry.com/?page_id=321#EF13SQN50? Since the stove is fairly short, you might need to use a few bricks to stand it up from your grate.
Question:
Thanks for the quick reply. I noticed that the natural gas burner is only 23,000 btu max. Would wok cooking performance be better if I set up to use a higher BTU propane burner for a 16″ wok”? What is the maximum BTU you really need for a 16″ size wok? I want to make sure I purchase the right burner, and will invest in propane tank if this fuel will give better results.
I am confused, since Chinese restaurants in the U.S. use natural gas and their woks can be fairly large.
Answer:
Our natural gas stove is about 1.5 times powerful as compared with hottest stove in house. Typically you will need to wait for your wok to heat up a little longer using natural gas stove. Wok range in restaurant uses much bigger burner which is much heavier, consumes much more gas and is usually in thousands of dollars.
If you go with a propane gas stove, you will have much higher in heat. One good choice is PF13S160. It is tall enough that you do not need to use bricks underneath.