After getting used to my keggle and propane burner this summer, it has been hard to go back to stovetop brewing this winter. Last week it almost hit -40, and brewing outdoors just isn’t very attractive right now. So I have been back to the stovetop, mostly only 3 gal batches because I haven’t worked up the energy to do my old split-pot boil routine (i.e., half the wort in each of two 5 gallon pots on the stove).

The problem with my stove, which is a problem shared by many, is that a single burner doesn’t throw enough heat to boil all my wort from a 5 gal batch in one pot. Previously, the best I could do was about 3.5 – 4 gallons in my flat-bottomed stainless pot (uncovered). However, I think I have this problem licked. Tonight I easily got 6.5 gals to a rolling boil in one pot on my stove.

First, I used my cheap 30 qt aluminum pot that came with my propane burner in a cheap turkey fryer kit. I am a big fan of aluminum because it transfers heat better than stainless (see here), and in a water trial, I was able to get 5 gals to a rolling boil in it (significantly better than the SS pot).

Second, I added a reflective foil blanket to the pot (similar to what many guys drape over their keggle MLTs to keep the heat in). The idea is the same here – the reflective insulation helps prevent heat from escaping out the sides of the pot. It was enough to get 6.5 gals to boil instead of only 5 when I used the same pot on the same burner but without the foil blanket.

Here are my old and new pots respectively:


I made the reflective foil blanket out of reflective insulation found at Home Depot. I used two wraps around the pot, and secured everything with foil tape. I cut notches for the pot handles, and then tucked the top and bottom ends under and taped them in place, leaving a good inch gap at the bottom (I was worried that plastic part of the insulation would melt if too close to the burner). I also did a couple of wraps of foil tape around the bottom of the blanket to reflect away heat from the burner. The nice thing about the blanket is that I can easily slip it on or off, e.g. if I want to use this pot outside on the propane burner again. The materials for the blanket cost about $14.