I live in an apartment without outdoor space and only a ceramic/glass-top stove (my kitchen only has about 16 square feet or less of open floor). I am able to bring 3-3.5 gallons to a boil on my stove and have made some good beers but I'm thinking about moving to full boil. I am going to try splitting my batches into 2 pots and that will likely work in the short term but it has its obvious drawbacks.
Assuming I will quickly tire of this I have started looking into a new electric heat source. From what I see, there are heatsticks, electric brew heaters and convection heat plates amongst a few others.
Heatsticks seem to have a limited lifespan according to some and don't seem to be sold in ready to use format. It seems many are not standard U.S. voltage or require a dedicated outlet?
Electric brew sticks seem to cost about $150-200, which I don't mind paying but I have never seen reviews of them.
I saw in a couple of places that the convection heat plates have difficulty with big volumes.
Is there any good solution? In a nutshell, what I'm looking for is a powerful electric heat source that I can use in my tiny kitchen to create rolling full boils and end up with 5.5 to 6.0 gallons after a 60 to 90 minute boil. And I'd like to buy it ready-to-use for under $500. It this possible? Or is this what everyone on here is looking for?
Assuming I will quickly tire of this I have started looking into a new electric heat source. From what I see, there are heatsticks, electric brew heaters and convection heat plates amongst a few others.
Heatsticks seem to have a limited lifespan according to some and don't seem to be sold in ready to use format. It seems many are not standard U.S. voltage or require a dedicated outlet?
Electric brew sticks seem to cost about $150-200, which I don't mind paying but I have never seen reviews of them.
I saw in a couple of places that the convection heat plates have difficulty with big volumes.
Is there any good solution? In a nutshell, what I'm looking for is a powerful electric heat source that I can use in my tiny kitchen to create rolling full boils and end up with 5.5 to 6.0 gallons after a 60 to 90 minute boil. And I'd like to buy it ready-to-use for under $500. It this possible? Or is this what everyone on here is looking for?