Boiling 5 Gallons on Stove Top

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SmoothSmoke

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I'm looking to buy a 5 gallon brewing kit. Just wondering if others are successful in using their stove top to handle such a load. My stove is gas, hopefully it can do the trick.
 
I'm looking to buy a 5 gallon brewing kit. Just wondering if others are successful in using their stove top to handle such a load. My stove is gas, hopefully it can do the trick.

I got just about 4 gallons to boil nicely on a cheap Ikea electric stovetop. If ikea can handle it anything can.
 
I do full boils on my gas stove. I start with 6 gallons to allow for the wort to boil off. My gas stove isn't the strongest, but it can handle it.
 
I boil 6.5 gallons easily on my electric stove top.

Wrap my brew kettle in 2 layers of foil, add 5 gallons of water, and set the knob to the highest setting possible. Then, I add 1.5 gallons in a separate pot, set that to the highest setting until I hit my desired temp for my steeping grains. I steep my grains for the required time. In the amount of time it takes to finish that, the 5 gallon pot is almost at boiling - maybe 3-5 more minutes max. Adding in 1.5 gallons doesn't seem to phase the temperature. I believe the amount of time the 5 gallons is going for combined with the foil (insulation) both aide in my electric's ability to handle the load.
 
Yeah I think you'll just have to try and see. I can get 7 gallons to a rolling boil on my gas stove, but lots of people have trouble. Keep it covered until it's boiling, and consider loosely wrapping the top part of the kettle with some heavy duty aluminum foil to keep the heat in there. I do all grain, so I start with hot wort and it brings it up to a boil in a little over an hour. If you're starting with cold water it'll take a lot longer.

But remember there's no shame in a partial boil, and most extract:mug: recipe kits are designed for one.
 
you might want to put some foil on the adjacent counter surface. I scorched the granite next to the burner. I think the heat flowed along the base of the kettle and heated the granite counter top. SHMBO noticed it but did not continue the conversation. Enough said, I will protect the counter and count my lucky stars that it was not worse. It was a full 5 gal boil on a gas stove with the high output burner.
 
I also have done 7.5 gallon pot boils (6.5 gallons wort) with an electric range. If the issue is in doubt I put the lid on almost completely (so I can still see into the pot to watch for hot break) until I get to the boil and it will maintain it thereafter.
 
I use my builders special gas stove to boil 7.5 gallons of wort. But I get the pot to straddle two burners. Next stove is going to have a high output burner. good luck, Mike
 
Whats the BTU output of the burner you use to boil 6+ gallons of wort on an indoor gas stove/rangetop? My Blichmann Floor Burner is 72,000 BTUs and it takes a good 20-30 min to boil that kind of volume. I thought most gas ranges were around 12k to 18k BTUs.

Cheers!
 
I think the big burner on the stove I use is in the 16-17k range. Like I posted earlier, it takes a little over an hour for my already hot runoff to boil. I have found that loosely wrapping the top of the pot in foil helps, it makes a little tent to trap more of the burner's heat as it escapes around the pot, and I like to think that the shiny surface helps reflect the heat back inwards.

edit: I just looked it up, my big burner is 16,000 BTU. And this is with a 10 gallon aluminum stockpot. I think you start to get diminishing returns with bigger burners, so much of the heat is wasted to the air. This is why heatsticks/e-brewing can be so much more efficient and cheaper than gas, even though per BTU electric heat is much more expensive than gas heat.
 
I just did a definitive test on the times to boil 6 gallons of water on my gas stovetop. This is a plain jane gas burner stovetop in a rented apt.; estimated BTU per burner is 5k BTU.
From front to back, my burners are 12" apart measuring from the outer edge of each burner. I put my 10 gallon pot which is 13.6 inches in diameter across both as evenly as I could, filled it with 6 gallons of tap water, placed foil around the edges of the lid to get the best possible seal, then cranked the gas on both burners, and checked the temp of the water at 15 minutes intervals.
Time Temp
0 minutes 80 deg F
15 minutes 120 deg F
30 minutes 155 deg F
45 minutes 182 deg F
60 minutes 205 deg F -piddly boil
75 minutes 212 deg F -rolling boil

So what does all this mean?
1) Yes, you can get a full boil on the stovetop with 6 gallons of water.
2) Probably, a wider pot would catch more heat and boil faster. About 1/3 and maybe even 1/2 of the flames from both burners were actually riding up outside of the pot and not underneath.
3) I will be upgrading to a kettle that is 15.25 inches diameter. And that will catch more heat from the burners underneath the pot, boil faster, and allow for ridiculously big 5 gallon batches without spillage.

Boom. Upgrade time.
 
So what does all this mean?

Given enough time you could probably boil on one burner and save a little gas. Back in my stovetop days I remember fashioning a partial lid with aluminum foil on the brew pot to maintain a nice boil...not pretty but it works. Or build a simple heatstick and likely do ten gallon batches stovetop. I have found there is usually a work around if your willing to spend a little time and money.

I also have a hunch that an aluminum brew kettle might be more suited to stovetopping due to better heat exchange. I also have a hunch that tri-clad bottom kettles waste a bit of energy and may boil less volume for a given heat applied, perhaps not the best choice for stovetopping.

YMMV...cheers!
 
Time! Who wants to wait? This is America!!

As a follow up study I filled up this same brewpot -BC 40qt tri-clad- up to 9.5 gallons, it's maximum. And cranked up the heat again.
Starting from 140 degrees; it had a rolling boil at the one hour time point.
So, two burners on a regular gas stovetop can provide enough energy to get 9.5 gallons up to a boil.
Sure, it makes sense to get a heatstick. But that's an 'add-on.'
It's complicating my mojo.

The question is answered so much as:
One pot over 2 burners on a gas stove can boil 5 gallons with the lid on for a tri-clad 10 gallon pot. Also, 9.5 gallons can vigorously boil with the lid on.

I did not see how it would boil with the lid off. My assumption is that a 5 gallon vigorous boil with the lid off is possible.
Noobs Unite!!!
RDWHAHB
 
Boil separate pots of water. Like 1.5 gal. One they boil add them to the pot. 1.5 gallons in 2 other pots, that's 3. The rest in the large pot. Dump in when they boil.
 
Never have an issue with my induction stove. I start it full blast with the first runnings. Its practically boiling by the time I do my first sparge and boils for a couple minutes before my second sparge is added. I got a megapot which is skinner but no insulation, no nothing, just high heat
 
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