An hour and a half to boil water? Grrr

I have a 36Qt Bayou Classic that I intend on using as my brew kettle. I'll probably be doing 5+ gallon boils. I had hoped to do 7 gallon batches, but we'll see if this can handle it.

I wanted to do this on the gas stovetop (it's got a "power burner" whatever that is) as I want to keep things indoors and really didn't want to mess with electrifying the kettle at this stage. Looks like I might have to, though.

I did a test boil and it took about an hour and a half to hit 200+ degrees. Not even quite a rolling boil.

Now, I don't know exactly how much water I had, since I haven't measured it or installed the sight glass. But I filled it to just under the handle rivets. I figure it was between seven and eight gallons.

Is that just too long? I was taking the temp right at the surface with a candy thermometer. It hit 170 at about an hour. I am building a larger Countertop Brutus, so I would pump the mash water up to the MLT and hold it until I recirculated it. After that, and draining it into the kettle, it would likely take another 45 minutes to achieve the really good boil. It should be able to do it. Time is the issue, I guess.

I suppose I can look to see if I have two different 120V circuits in the kitchen (I should, just need to identify them) and put two 120v 2000w in it. I just didn't want to tackle that build before my first scheduled brew day at the end of the month. Blah!

I am assuming you are using the cold water from your tap. Why not use hot water? Many people say it doesn't taste as good, but honestly I can't tell a difference (fill one cup with hot water, and one with cold. let them sit for 5 minutes to equalize in temp)

If you have that much of a problem getting up to temp, then you will have a hard time boiling. I suggest you use a propane burner outside, or build a heatstick (or put it right in your kettle) You probably won't NEED two if you use your stove also. But hey, whats wrong with imitating Tim Allen??

I can't really say much about this, but I would say take the hit and get yourself a propane burner.

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

<$40 free shipping and no tax...8 gallons boiled in 15min...how much is your time worth? Also with the summer coming, boiling anything for hours and hours indoors sucks...IMO

Do you know the BTU's on your stove? Or a model number to look it up?

I used to have a 4 gal pot that I'd boil for crabs, and my stove wouldn't handle it. Then I used some exhaust header wrap and wrapped my pot. That worked miracles, got all 4 gallons to a rolling boil in about 40min when I couldn't even get a boil in almost 2 hours before it.

You can find the stuff at a autozone, etc. I believe that home depot also sells a foil insulation that is heat tolerant that can be used. It's what I plan on doing when I get a 40qt pot to go full 5gal+ boils.

My stove is 12,500BTU's on the largest burner...so if yours is close to that, it should work.

I set my kettle across 2 burners so it basically sits over half of each burner. I then tent some aluminum foil over the burners up to the sides of the kettle and that seems to help. Make sure that the aluminum doesn't have the flame hitting it directly or it will melt. I've never timed my boil, but it's less than hour to boil 6 gallons.

Well, I guess I'll be doing my brews outside with a propane burner.

I'm not really keen on setting the kettle across two burners and letting the flames lick up the side (where I'll have a sightglass and spigot). Also I doubt the insulation would make too much of a difference.

My only real space for doing this is on my wooden deck. If I place a big paving stone down, shouldn't be too big of an issue, right? I also have a BBQ mat (flexible cement on a webbing of some kind) to place underneath.

Oh well, $50 for the burner and another $50 for the propane bottle? Blah, again.

Don't buy a bottle. Go to a Blue Rhino and get a filled bottle then fill it up at your local propane place for 1/4 the price.
FWIW, I am more than glad I moved outside. And so is my wife.

My very first batch was a 5-gallon full boil extract batch on the stove. I had a nice boil-over in my 30qt pot around the time I got hot break. The wort that spilled over cooked onto the stove for a full hour and we still haven't gotten all of it off a year later. Since then I've been doing all my batches on a cheap 10-year old turkey fryer. It puts out enough heat to do all grain batches in a converted keg. It does take 45 minutes to get 8+ gallons up to mashing temperatures, but it works well enough. Partial boil extract batches are easy now! Definitely go with the propane burner. You won't regret it.

Have you read this thread yet? https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/improved-boiling-stovetop-53683/

I've brewed two batches in the last week and started off with water from the tap at about 109 deg. That was a little over half way toward the hot side from the tap and had boil within 20 min from my propane burners. I have an electric stove which had trouble bringing 4 gallons to a boil, period, let alone a rolling boil. The money I paid for my propane burner has been worth it... check this one out...

170,000 BTU cooker for $30 (no stock pot)

Well, I put in an order for the SP-10. $40 for the burner, not bad. I looked at a few Blue Rhino stands locally and a new bottle (without exchange) is about $50. Ishoulda sold my guitar for $100 more than I did. ;P

LOL - yeah, getting the first Blue Rhino tank takes biting the bullet a bit but aweful convienent getting a spare. I have one Blue Rhino and one of my own just in case.

goose1873 said:

Also with the summer coming, boiling anything for hours and hours indoors sucks...IMO

Click to expand...

oooooooooooh good point, didn't think of that! Jersey summers blow goats too! I just ordered this one too. Thanks :rockin: