This is an awesome idea. Do you think I could boil 6.5 gallons on my ceramic top stovetop using a SS pot with a foil blanket?
Possibly. It will all depend on the output of your stove and the bottom of that SS pot. If the pot has a flat bottom (especially if it is a copper or aluminum sandwich to help conduct the heat), then that will help tremendously. But those flat-top burners are notoriously inefficient. The insulation will help some, but the pot bottom and burner are the critical elements.
Possibly. It will all depend on the output of your stove and the bottom of that SS pot. If the pot has a flat bottom (especially if it is a copper or aluminum sandwich to help conduct the heat), then that will help tremendously. But those flat-top burners are notoriously inefficient. The insulation will help some, but the pot bottom and burner are the critical elements.
Quite true. I like my stove because it's easy to clean, but it takes forever to warm up.
I guess my other alternative if I wanted to brew inside would be to use a 1500 Watt heat stick with the stove. That might be enough power.
I found that on an ordinary electric stove, if you line the bowl shaped piece underneath with aluminum foil, my pot heats up quite a bit faster (5 gals to boil in 20 mins instead of 30). Plus, there's the huge cleanup benefit (wad it up, toss it out). If I ever get my hands on a bigger pot, I will probably wrap in the foil bubble wrap and do my boils on the stove still, at least the indoor ones.
Flyguy...you are the bomb. I made this reflective blanket for my 30 qt SS turkey fryer pot and worked like a charm...I was doing 5 gal boils and it would boil but wouldn't get to a good roiling boil...with the blanket i'm now boiling close to 6 gal and getting a nice good roiling boil. Thanks for the great idea.
So I'm trying this out with my new 36 qt SS pot on my gas range. I brought a full 5.5 gal to a boil in about 15-20 mins, which rocks, but i hit a bit of a snag. The inner plastic bubbles of the foil blanket melted in the lower half of the pot. I need to look for something that is flame retardant as mentioned in previous posts.
I should have just read the specs on the damn package, where it lists the max operating temp of 180 degrees F... There's a heads up for those of you shopping for the stuff. I didn't see any other kind when I was at Lowe's yesterday.
I still give props to FlyGuy for the original idea. It definitely works and I am enjoying a nice rolling boil right this minute!
So I was searching around online and found the stuff that I should have used on my pot for the stovetop. If anyone's interested, here's a link to a site to buy online:
FIRE RATING: Class A/Class 1
MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY
STANDARD 302: Zero surface burn rate
How does that stuff look? There should be enough in there for multiple layers too...
I was also thinking, if you lined the bottom edge with aluminum tape it will probably help protect the stuff from direct flame off the side of the pot.
FIRE RATING: Class A/Class 1
MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY
STANDARD 302: Zero surface burn rate
How does that stuff look? There should be enough in there for multiple layers too...
I was also thinking, if you lined the bottom edge with aluminum tape it will probably help protect the stuff from direct flame off the side of the pot.
If you check the contact temperature range (which I didn't do the last time) it lists a max contact temp of 180 degrees. The tape will protect the bottom from the direct flame, but the 212 degree pot of boiling wort is what melted my last blanket. The walls of my SS pot are pretty thin, so that may have had something to do with it as well.
Maybe if I wrapped the pot first with an old towel, that would provide enough of a buffer for the insulation. Yeah, I'll give that a trial run this weekend.
There's a heads up for those of you shopping for the stuff. I didn't see any other kind when I was at Lowe's yesterday.
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