Full volume boil on stovetop, help!

Hey Guys,

I am having trouble getting 6 gallons of wort to boil on my gas stove. I can get up to around 205 degrees. This is an 8 gallon kettle sitting across two burners. I have looked into insulating the kettle but this would be expensive and a potential fire-hazard. I am in a third floor walk-up and have limited electrical service as it is. When I use my electric tea kettle the lights dim. So I think adding additional heat with an element might not work.

Is there anything I can do to limit the heat loss from the sides of the kettle? I had been boiling with the kettle lid almost closed but I am pretty sure I was getting off flavors from DMS.

I have been doing partial mash/boil and would rather do a full boil. Does anyone have any advice on how I can get more heat in my pot?

Some reflectix insulation shouldn't be too expensive to wrap the kettle in...

Reflectix

make sure that you run your fauset for a little while so you can get hotter water to add to the brew kettle when you filling it so you can get a total volume. or pre-heat water that you be adding this will hellp you a little. do what Gfei say but leave the insolation like 2-3 inches higher than a bottom of the kettle use aluminium tape to secure it good.

You actually don't want to use hot tap water. Mineral deposits build up in water heaters and it can mess with your water chemistry.

I am looking for another pot to do some tests with. I have a megapot from northern brewer and the pot is a bit wide. I think using a taller/narrower pot might have less heat loss.

Search for "Heatstick" and build one.

If you have shyte electrical service, you might not be able to use it on the same circuit as your stove, (in fact, you probably won't be able to without tripping a breaker/blowing a fuse). In this case, figure out another circuit in your house, (kill the circuit breaker to your stove, then hunt around for an outlet that still has power), get a heavy duty extension cord, (14 gauge maximum, 12 or 10 gauge better), and use that to run your heatstick from a separate circuit from your stove.

What I have done in the past is to get my first runnings on full whack and by the time I'm ready to start sparging it's usually up to the boil. I sparge pretty slowly so I gradually add the collected wort and once I get about 4-5 gallons in my brew kettle I start adding the rest of the collected wort to a second brew kettle. Once both are at a rolling boil I add the contents of the 2nd to the first and usually my stove will keep all 7 gallons at a rolling boil without having to use a lid.

Eric

I have similar problems, tried a different size pot that was aluminum to conduct heat better, it didn't make much difference. I've decided to just deal with it for now. I cover the pot until it boils to get a decent hot break, also I boil for 90 min to reduce DMS with the lid half off. I'm going to buy a new stove with a 18k burner to "fix" my situation.

Take a look behind your stove, most builders put in a 240V plug in even if your stove is gas, then you can put an element directly in your kettle. Also you have a vent hood right there to pull out moisture.

I am going to try out my 30quart aluminium turkey fryer pot tonight, with just water. It is 3 inches shorter in diameter and 3 inches taller. I don't want to use aluminium as it is a little higher maintenance but I am interested if the size of the pot makes much difference.

dmaraio said:

Is there anything I can do to limit the heat loss from the sides of the kettle?

Click to expand...

ROCKWOOL it is a high temp insulation for furnaces stoves stovepipes etc.

I had been boiling with the kettle lid almost closed but I am pretty sure I was getting off flavors from DMS.

Click to expand...

If the cover is only partially on, you should be OK.
Should being a sort of, in a way, kind of, ya know, not terribly specific expression.

I have been doing partial mash/boil and would rather do a full boil. Does anyone have any advice on how I can get more heat in my pot?

Click to expand...

Have you considered using more than one pot?

Most residential stoves ( especially the "builder's grade" crap that end up in apartments) don't put out very many BTUs.
Hell you can't get a toaster any more that will actually toast a slice of bread.
The safety nerds have made us all so safe from ourselves.

I spoke to my landlord and there is a 20 amp circuit that my fridge runs on. The fridge runs about 6 amps. I picked up all the goodies to make a 1500w 120v(12 amp) heat stick. This seemed like the path of least resistance right now. This should be built for the weekend and I will be able to perform some tests. I will let you know how it goes! Thank you for all the suggestions.

I have a 7.5 gallon aluminum pot and I couldn't get it to boil on one burner (gas). Put it over two and now I get .8 gallon boil off per hour. Try the aluminum and you should be okay. Takes a little while to get it going, though.

Edit: didn't see the two burners part.

dmaraio said:

...This is an 8 gallon kettle sitting across two burners...

Click to expand...

Is the pot covering either of the burners completely? Or are you only partially covering them? I have the same pot, and can get to a boil (eventually) on my gas stove. I found it helpful to have the pot cover one burner completely, and than partialy cover the other for some additional BTUs.

Hope that helps...

dmaraio said:

I spoke to my landlord and there is a 20 amp circuit that my fridge runs on. The fridge runs about 6 amps. I picked up all the goodies to make a 1500w 120v(12 amp) heat stick. This seemed like the path of least resistance right now. This should be built for the weekend and I will be able to perform some tests. I will let you know how it goes! Thank you for all the suggestions.

Click to expand...

you might need a little more wattage than one heat stick. You can of course use the stove and the immersion heater combined. But immersion heaters are definitely a way forward. In the industrial world no one calls them heat sicks. Immersion heater is the term used.

If you can figure out which other outlets in your kitchen are on another circuit you can use two immersion heaters. Two should plenty for a 5 gallon batch. I recommend you buy heavy #10 multistrand 3 conductor cable from the BORG instead of using extension cords. It's expensive but will last you forever.

Hey Guys,

So I made a simple 1500W heatstick and was able to get 6.5 gals up to a hard boil. I highly recommend this option over insulation. It was simple to build and if you take the proper precautions it is very safe.

dmaraio said:

Hey Guys,

So I made a simple 1500W heatstick and was able to get 6.5 gals up to a hard boil. I highly recommend this option over insulation. It was simple to build and if you take the proper precautions it is very safe.

Click to expand...

See how much more awesome it is when you use insulation WITH the heatstick...

The only thing stopping me from using insulation is the fact that I have a gas stove. I am a little paranoid about starting a fire or even catching the insulation on fire. We are bird lovers and have 5 parrots. Their lungs are VERY sensitive to contaminants. If I end up going fully electric I will definitely insulate the kettle.

Use this stuff with aluminium tape: