Stove top boil issues.

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sethP

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Hey guys, I've been having trouble reaching a really good rolling boil on my electric stove top and it's not really an option at this point to get an outdoor gas burner. After reaching a boil and adding LME (that I've warmed in a hot water in the sink) it takes a good 15 min to get back up to temp.

So my question is: using the same setup I have now, Should I not count the time it takes to to get back to a boil in the total boil time ESPECIALLY with late additions of LME?

2-2.5 gal volumes so far.
 
This will probably mess up your hop utilization a little, but it probably won't matter much if you're making something like a stout or anything else that only has a bittering charge. I would try to add the LME only twice - before the boiling begins and the rest at flameout. That way when you're making something with several hop additions, especially something with large flavor and aroma additions, it should preserve the volatiles as much as possible.
 
I would try to add the LME only twice - before the boiling begins and the rest at flameout.

Great, I hadn't thought of that, so added LME at flameout shouldn't really affect the flavor in any way?
 
I had issues with my stovetop to only realize it was my kettle. This may seem obvious, but check to make sure you have a perfectly flat-bottom kettle. Mine was slightly indented around the edge meaning no direct contact was happening with the top. That was a simple fix that only cost me the price of a new kettle, and now I have two! Hope that helps.

Mark
 
This

Switching to a bigger kettle allowed me to do stove-top boils much easier because it allows me to use two burners.

I use propane in the summer though...don't want all that excess heat torturing the AC!
 
Not big enough for 2 burner sadly, it's definitely flat too. I'm really liking the heat stick idea even though it seems like a little bit of a pain in the ass. I'm all about making stuff myself to save a penny.
 
Put your LME container in another pan of water and heat it on a different burner. Being surrounded by water keeps the LME from scorching but lets you get it nearly to the boiling temperature so you won't be adding cold LME.
 
Put your LME container in another pan of water and heat it on a different burner. Being surrounded by water keeps the LME from scorching but lets you get it nearly to the boiling temperature so you won't be adding cold LME.
Boiling the LME in a seperate pot is the way to go. You can cool it seperately too for faster overall cooling. After I get my main boil pot going I throw on the second pot of water for the extra LME, add the LME and then bring that up to a boil and boil it for 10-15 minutes. I can start cooling long before flame out of the main pot and get it extra cold to help get to pitching temp faster.
 
UPDATE: So I kept the LME in a separate pot for this last batch and had the water around 180 and it really did the trick, much better boil, didnt take much time at all to get back up to temp. Thanks guys!
 
No. Treat it the same as if it were still boiling.

If you wish, you can gently heat your LME in a separate pot before you pitch it.

But #1, you're not adding a lot of LME at 15 minutes, and #2 very slight cooling is caused by stirring so the temp. loss should be minimal. When you remove the spoon, it should return to a vigorous boil within a minute or two.
 
Hey guys, I've been having trouble reaching a really good rolling boil on my electric stove top and it's not really an option at this point to get an outdoor gas burner. After reaching a boil and adding LME (that I've warmed in a hot water in the sink) it takes a good 15 min to get back up to temp.

So my question is: using the same setup I have now, Should I not count the time it takes to to get back to a boil in the total boil time ESPECIALLY with late additions of LME?

2-2.5 gal volumes so far.
I had the same concern when I did it this way, the late addition of LME killed the boil. So my solution is to use a seperate pot for doing a short boil of the extra LME. It also has another advantage in that I can get everything cooled a lot faster. I get my second boil pot going once I've got the main boil underway, then I can get it cooled early so that I'm not waiting for it cool.

Edit: just realised I already answered this thread before! Anyway looks like you've had good results from trying this approach.
 
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