extract brewing pot size?

I've been brewing extract brews with half boils in a 4 gallon bot for about a year now. This Christmas though, Santa dropped off a Northern Brewers 9 Gallon Italian Kettle.

My main question is whether or not this pot will reach a boil (in a reasonable amount of time) on a regular oven eye. I'll eventually try all grain brewing but for the moment I'd like to use this larger to pot to do a double batch and split the wort into two primary fermentation tanks.

I might eventually upgrade up to a propane system but right now I'm living in an apartment and I don't have a garage or any covered area to do a propane boil.

Does anyone have any experience(s) that might help?

-Lars

Yes, it will boil but it will take some time to get it to a full boil. In the range of 30 to 45 mins.

Keep in mind it's going to take longer to cool 5 gallons of hot wort unless you have a chiller. That's how these upgrades go,.

When I was doing full boils on my stove top, I'd place the pot so that it was across two burners instead of just one. That helped quite a bit. It's not a propane burner, but it helps.

Also, keeping the pot covered until you achieve a boil helps. ...and keeping it partially covered after adding extract too.

rdwj said:

Also, keeping the pot covered until you achieve a boil helps. ...and keeping it partially covered after adding extract too.

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I got flamed a bit when I talked about doing that, because people are so worried about DMS being allowed to escape. Then, I heard an interview with one of the malt extract people, where he indicated that almost all of the DMS is driven off during the manufacturing of the extract. So, I feel vindicated! I'd be interested if anyone has done a side-by-side comparision.

If you do a partial-covering, just be VERY vigilant about boilovers - they can happen in a heartbeat, it seems.

Thanks!

Yeah I'll probably buy or build an immersion cooler so I can get the temp down fast enough.

Another thing though, this pot is nice but it didn't come with handles. Are there any handles already out there that I could mount that wouldn't bend? I could possibly rig one up but I'd obviously rather have the real thing.

The only time I had a boilover was with the lid partially on the pot. Thank god it was outside on a propane burner. The only bad part was it went all over the deck and the burner. What a mess!

cyboLARZ said:

Thanks!

Yeah I'll probably buy or build an immersion cooler so I can get the temp down fast enough.

Another thing though, this pot is nice but it didn't come with handles. Are there any handles already out there that I could mount that wouldn't bend? I could possibly rig one up but I'd obviously rather have the real thing.

Click to expand...

Not that I've seen. That is a disadvantage of these Italian pots. If you get yourself an immersion chiller, so that you chill the wort right in the brewpot, it'll be a non-issue. It'll also make for a better beer, since you'll be chilling a lot quicker than you can with an ice bath.

Then, too, you're just a propane burner and mash tun from going AG, once you get in a place where you can brew outside. You'll have pretty much everything else you need.

Hey Lars, if your pot has a spigot, you can go right to a counterflow chiller which will cool the wort as it drains into your fermenter. Of course, this is a shameless plug cuz I'm selling one. See here, make me an offer:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=175512