all grain on electric stovetop, is it possible?

im ready to move to all grain. im feeling pretty confident about the process, except boiling the wort. Is it actually possible to achieve a full boil w/ 6 gallon wort on an electric stovetop? does it just take really long? are there any cons to the way your brew turns out waiting this long to achieve a boil? i'd like some opinions of people who have attempted an all grain full boil on electric stovetop. im only interested in doing a 5 gallon batch and i'd hate to waste all the time doing the all grain process if i cant achieve a full boil or compromise the quality of my brew. i was looking into using a turkey fryer, but thats last resort if i cant achieve the full boil on the electric stovetop(low on fund$). if i have to get a turkey fryer, is this one legit?-

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002913MI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I had a hard time boiling 4 gal of wort until I went to the hardware store and bought some vent duct insulation. It was a dense foam with foil on one side and sticky on the other. I double it over sticky sides together and wrapped my 8 gal bk with it. Had no problem getting 6.5 gal. to a vigorous boil (lid half on) over one burner with that setup. Got the idea from someone else on this forum. BTW my stove top is the tempered glass type.

Yeah. I insulated a 6 gallon kettle for 3.5 gallon batches. It takes a long time to get going but my stove will keep a good boil going once I get there.

It must depend on your stove. I can get 6.5 gallons going on my eletric stove to a full boil in about 40 min

i recommend this...less $ more btu and free shipping. I have one and love it...


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000291GBQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It may depend on your stove top. I've been able to boil 6 gallons of wort in about 35 min. Ofcourse that's from 170 out of the mash.

Stove element wattage does differ from model to model and some glass tops will cycle the element to protect itself.

If you have an older stove you can change out the element for a 2600W (the highest available) for under $15. Older stoves can vary from 2000W to 2600W for the large burner. This is a difference of 6824 BTU to 8872 BTU. Propane burners are 30,000 BTU or so, but do loose a lot to atmosphere.

It can be done but rent some movies. I use mine when it is a cold @$$ blizzard outside but have to get my brew on. I have a glass top range and a 10 gal mega pot. I have to sit the pot on two burners (both on High) and even then, it takes about an hour to get boiling.

A great guy on this forum, DeathBrewer, has a pretty good tutorial for all-grain stovetop brewing. I haven't dont it yet but I definitely would take his word for it.

Here is the link:

Easy Stovetop All-Grain Brewing (with pics)

rwinzing said:

It must depend on your stove. I can get 6.5 gallons going on my eletric stove to a full boil in about 40 min

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me too (10 characters)

Yes, you can certainly do all grain indoors on the stovetop. I do it every winter when I am too much of a wimp to boil outside in the snow.

See my post here on some tips for stovetop boils:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/improved-boiling-stovetop-53683/

Another option is to split your wort to two pots and boil them independently. With half the volume each, most stoves have no difficulty. It is a bit more work (especially for chilling), but not too bad.

I use canning element on the stove + heat stick and I am good

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/im-noob-brew-apartment-some-pics-163256/

goose1873 said:

i recommend this...less $ more btu and free shipping. I have one and love it...


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000291GBQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Click to expand...

I second this. Very similar to the one you linked & $40 shipped. I have one as well and it's a beast!

As to your original question, though: depends on the stove, depends on the pot. I couldn't even get a 3 gallon partial boil batch to a serious boil with my particular combo (glass-top electric stove with an enamel canning pot that was way too wide to use the element efficiently, and also slightly raised in the middle of the bottom resulting in poor contact with the heat). If you want, I would try boiling 5.5 gallons of water and see how it goes, rather than risk getting stuck in the middle of a doomed AG brew session with a set-up that refuses to boil.

How long does a standard size propane tank operate one of these things for at a boiling temp?

My stovetop can handle five gallons without breaking a sweat, but I'm thinking ahead to summer when I spend hours outside smoking various delectable meat products.. Might as well brew while I'm waiting on a rack of ribs for six or nine hours... Right?

artguy said:

I second this. Very similar to the one you linked & $40 shipped. I have one as well and it's a beast!

As to your original question, though: depends on the stove, depends on the pot. I couldn't even get a 3 gallon partial boil batch to a serious boil with my particular combo (glass-top electric stove with an enamel canning pot that was way too wide to use the element efficiently, and also slightly raised in the middle of the bottom resulting in poor contact with the heat). If you want, I would try boiling 5.5 gallons of water and see how it goes, rather than risk getting stuck in the middle of a doomed AG brew session with a set-up that refuses to boil.

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thanks for all the responses. so i guess it is possible on the electric stove, i was just worried about the lag time possibly effecting the brew in some way. i will be picking up the Bayou Classic that was recommended by goose1873 when i get the cash(i just bought a bunch of kegging equip. + fridge + 7.5g kettle). i also will try just getting 6g of water to a boil to see how long that takes. i really wasnt happy w/ my last extract batch(s). my buddies love em and even some brewers i know said they were pretty damn good for extract. seems like i just taste that "twang" everybody talks about and i hate trying to compare it to my friends AG. just bought a cooler and now going to home depot to pick up supplies to build a mash tun

pernox said:

How long does a standard size propane tank operate one of these things for at a boiling temp?

Click to expand...

I haven't been scientific about it, but I would say that I'm getting about five 5-gallon AG batches out of a full tank (including the boil, as well as heating the water to mash-in and batch-sparge twice).

pernox said:

My stovetop can handle five gallons without breaking a sweat, but I'm thinking ahead to summer when I spend hours outside smoking various delectable meat products.. Might as well brew while I'm waiting on a rack of ribs for six or nine hours... Right?

Click to expand...

I can't think of a better way to spend a sunny summer day.

You could split the boil into two (or three) pots. It will boil faster and make them easier to handle when you take them off the stove.

I'm not really sure that electric stove elements are designed to hold the weight of 6-7 gallons of water/ingredients. Even if they are, you still have to move almost 50 lbs of boiling liquid unless you have a chiller.

I've since bought a turkey fryer, but, here's a video I made of my old process. I made quite a few beers on the kitchen stove that turned out pretty well.

Good Luck,

One thing I haven't seen yet on this thread. If you have a glass stovetop, you MUST have a completely flat bottomed kettle, otherwise you'll risk cracking the stovetop and won't likely get everything boiling.

I've wrapped towels around my kettle, making sure they were away from the burner, and could easily get 4 gal going.

It's hard.. I get a real gentle boil for 4 gallons in an 11 gallon pot. If I use my 5 gallon pot it works a LOT better. The pot is much wider so more area is off the burner (and more pot to dissipate heat)
Consider a heatstick?? I have thought about building one.

I have done 6 gal boils on a stovetop. I have a gas stove and a 1200watt heatstick. Once I get the boil going I just turn the stove off. Heat stick puts out plenty to heat. I get a nice rolling boil.

The heat sticks work so well that I'm considering going all electric instead of using my gas stove.