AG stovetop brewing in two pots...How to cool both.

I am just starting to get together equipment to start AG brewing, however due to my living situation in an apartment I will be brewing indoors, luckily on a gas stove (however I am moving in August and could end up with an electric stove). I am building a 5 gallon MLT and currently have one 4 gallon enamel-ware brew pot. For my first AG batch I will buy an identical 4 gallon pot so I can split the batch into two and boil them in separate pots and combine them in the carboy. I have an immersion chiller that I can use in one pot, but while that is running what would be the best technique to chill the other pot of wort? Put it in the sink with an ice bath? This would likely be difficult as I would have my IC hooked up to my kitchen sink. Maybe an ice bath for the second pot in my bathtub? Any advice would be extremely helpful

Should I account for more wort loss due to steam from boiling in two pots?

Cool one first and then the other. It will be pretty quick to cool down a half batch. Another option would be to get a large rubbermaid tote and fill with ice water and cool the second batch it that.

Perhaps freezing a few bottles of water before hand and spraying them down with Star San before putting them in the second pot? At first I was thinking of combining them in a plastic brew bucket and cooling them together with my IC, but I doubt those things can take that much heat.

If I were to do a two pot boil i think I would stagger the two boil times so I could cool one, and then cool the next. Just stagger your hop additions by 30 minute.

The bathtub will work well also. Oh, just cool w/ a tapwater bath until you are around 100 - 120 or so...unless you live next to an ice factory or course??

+1 on the bathtub.

Could you combine them into one pot before chilling? Even if it's not big enough for boiling, if it will hold all the wort and the chiller you are good to go. That is what I did for my first AG brew, since my stove can't keep 7 gallons boiling at once.

I could if I ended up buying a larger than 4 gallon pot. Something to think about I guess. Maybe I'll fork out the cash to get a 40qt pot online so when I one day switch to a propane burner I'll already have the pot.

+1 to buying the bigger pot.
When I was starting out, my helpful SWMBO bought me a 6 gallon pot. It's a very nice pot, but 6 gallons is a pain for working with a full batch.

I started on the stove with 2 pots,a 5 and a 3. good times

get a bigger pot.



my wife kicked me out of the house for brewing long ago.

I did two pots for a while and brewed great beer. Your hop utilization will be down. I would say cool one than the other. I would try and have it timed so one pot finished about 30 minutes before the other. Then I would also have ice on hand in the sink to cool off the second pot quicker. It seemed to do it for me.

Otherwise it is...

+ 1 for new pot.

Although things to consider on an electric range -- enough power to reach full boil with new pot...

Good luck!

Cheers ,

Joe

I've brewed quite a few all-grain batches on the stove in two pots. I didn't have a chiller.

I put one pot into the sink with ice water.

And for the other, I used a rubbermaid type storage tote. (The same one I soak my bottles in.) Just make sure to add water first. That way, when I put the hot pot in, the water absorbs the heat and not the plastic. Then I add ice and chill.

Just be careful handling those big pots with the scalding hot wort.

I use two pots on a gas stove. I cool first one, then the other. Since I batch sparge, the first pot is put on the stove with the 1st runnings, and starts heating immediately. The second pot gets my second and third batch sparges, so it's 25mins behind anyway. Really, this means that both pots get the same boil time and I only need one IC.