Faster Boiling

Ok so I just started brewing my own :cross: and I'm having a problem with the boil. I first bring the temp to 155 to steep the grains and then try to get it up to boil with about 3 gallons of water in a 5 gallon kettle. My stove just doesn't seem to have the power to be able to do it I could only get up to about 202F and couldn't get a full boil. Plus that took a couple hours to get that high. What can I do to improve this speed or what products work best for boiling? (Electric heating elements, etc.) Thanks.

Greg

Get a propane speed burner (turkey fryer). I can boil 6 gallons of wort in no time.

You aren't boiling the grains are you? Alton Brown is THE MAN...but not in respect to brewing.

No I just bring the water to 155 and steep for about 20-30 mins then take the grains out and then bring to boil. When I got close last time I took it off burner and added the LME then went back to boiling. I never got to a full boil but was real close, had bubbles but not a rolling boil. Curious to see if the batch turns out any good but it was too late to turn back at that point.

What type of stove do you have?

If electric, get a "Canning element" - I boil 7-8 gallons in a 10 gallon pot on my electric stove with one of those. Not terribly fast, but it certainly does boil.

Then again, if you are having that much trouble with only 3 gallons and it is electric, you might even want to have an electrician check the wiring to it - could be a poor connection somewhere in the line, and that could do bad things to your house.

Thank FlyGuy for this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/improved-boiling-stovetop-53683/

Yea, there might be something wrong with the burner. I used to boil 3-4 gallons of water from 155 in about 30 minutes. I never got the huge rolling boil I get with my propane burner, but it was sufficient.

Get a kettle with a sandwhich bum (alum/copper/ss) and use tinfoil. I've done 3-4 gallon partail mash beers on a gas BBQ grill that came out fine. I barely got a boil going but it was enough. Walmart sells those Tramotina 22qt pots that are great and IIRC $40.

You should be able to get a nice thick aluminum commercial-grade 40 qt pot at a restaurant supply for the same $40. But if your stove is having problems boiling 3 gallons, the pot is not likely to be the problem.

Ecnerwal said:

You should be able to get a nice thick aluminum commercial-grade 40 qt pot at a restaurant supply for the same $40. But if your stove is having problems boiling 3 gallons, the pot is not likely to be the problem.

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Actually, the pot can make all the difference in the world. I highly recommend aluminum pots for the stovetop because they transfer heat better than anything except copper pots, yet they are inexpensive and very lightweight (makes it easier to haul around your hot wort).

Olllllo posted the link above, but I played around with a few things and went from a 3.5 gal max boil to double that by just switching to an aluminum pot and making an insulated jacket. I have a gas range now, but I had absolutely no problem boiling a full 6.5 gals on my stovetop with the modifications to my boiling equipment.

How did you keep it from burning? I read your other post Flyguy and you never said how you fixed it as it was starting to get bad on you.

Berserker said:

How did you keep it from burning? I read your other post Flyguy and you never said how you fixed it as it was starting to get bad on you.

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It never did burn, but it did start to melt slightly with each use. Some foil tape at the bottom did help, but not a perfect solution. Had I kept using the reflectix insulation I would have probably needed to replace it every 12 - 15 brews, which isn't bad given that the stuff is very inexpensive.

My problem was ultimately solved when I moved this summer into a new(er) home that had a beautiful natural gas stove. I don't need the insulation anymore.

i too have the boiling issue as i live in an electric apartment. takes almost an hours to boil but i have noticed a significant decrease in time if you simply just put a lid of some sort over the pot. i just use an old plastic barrel lid from work and it works like a charm. surprised it hasn't melted yet but i guess the pot doesnt get hot enough for that particular grade of plastic. one of these days i guess i should go down and buy the lid for the pot.......one of these days.