Copper/Aluminum Plate for Propane Burner

Question

I have a propane burner I recently purchased to do my boils. It works great, however I noticed some minor scorch marks in my stainless steel brew pot afterward. I read somewhere that a copper or aluminum plate placed between the burner and the brew pot would help with this issue. Any ideas where I can find such a plate?

Update

I was not able to find a copper or aluminum plate as other posters have suggested. However, I did find a Heat Diffuser at a local cooking supply store. It's made of iron with a ceramic cover and measures 7 inches in diameter. Its made for simmering pasta sauces, but worked fine boiling wort. The scorch marks on my brew kettle were much smaller and easily removed after boiling a stout. The draw back is the heat diffuser is meant for kitchen gas stoves, not outdoor propane burners. When I vigorously stirred the pot, it would wobble a bit, but my pot never seemed to be in danger of tipping.

I have two issues with the heat diffuser. It has small rounded touch-points on the outside, and the diameter is only 7 inches, where as my brewpot is closer to 14.

Answer 1

Try kitchen supply stores. I bought a while ago at a Williams-Sonoma a disc that matched our cookware (and it was somewhat expensive), but I'm sure a lower-end cooking store would have a simple steel/copper/aluminum plate. If your stove is gas, they work wonderfully in the kitchen as well!

Answer 2

Aluminum is cheaper and easier to find, copper is a better conducter of heat. So I would probably go with aluminum and I would look at the Home Depot or Loews. They should have some sheets there. Then I would cut it to size and throw my pot on it the next time I brewed. Worst case, you can only find five inch wide strips, I would cut the strip into the desired length and then lay them side by side on the burner to form a plate. Good luck man. Happy hunting.