Help Going to a Full Boil Kettle

I live in a loft/condo. 3 flights up! I want to go to a full boil, but don't have a lot of options. I could:

a) do it in the loft. It is a big place, 18 ft ceilings. Wood floors, kind of scares me.

b) go outside, carrying everything down 3 flights of stairs, then carrying it all back up afterwards.

c) try to figure out some way to do it in 2 pots on my electric stove at the same time.

What do you think?

jklotz said:

a) do it in the loft. It is a big place, 18 ft ceilings. Wood floors, kind of scares me.

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Im going to catch hell for this, but I would do it in the loft. ONLY if you have good cross ventilation. Also hopefully you have a good ceiling fan, and if it's a drywall ceiling, it may darken over time from open boiling. I've done 20 batches in my garage with no ill effects to the ceiling yet, but I boil under a ceiling fan and have a fan blowing on the boil from the side.

I wouldn't take the chance. If something goes wrong, its not only your home thats going to be destroyed. I'm going to assume you have no balcony. Did you plan to use a gas burner for this??

As much of a pain I am sure it is, I would just drag everything down and do it outside.

You could also go the electic route that some brewers are going, where by the adding a heating element to the kettle.

There have been alot of creative people in the homebrew community that have came up with ways to brew inside such an enclosed space.

I'm a frail weakling so carrying it around would be right out for me, I have trouble maneuvering the pot as it is.

How big is your pot? If it's a decent size you shouldn't be too worried about boil-overs on an electric range, they are usually kind of weak... just watch it like a hawk.

I've done my last three brews full boil in my kitchen on a gas stove. 30qt turkey fryer pot. I usually put the pot on two burners at once to get it going really well. No boil overs yet but I watch it closely!

Do you have a wort chiller? Chilling a full boil without one is tough.

Or you can do this....https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/improved-boiling-stovetop-53683/

I would;

1.) Buy a BIG assed Fire Extinguisher. (But small enough my frail weakling ass can still lift and point it)

2.) Buy a largish square of 1/16 to 1/8 Aluminum (Small enough to still fit under a bed) to place under the burner system as a psuedo heat shield and boil over mat.

3.) Get a CO detector

And do it in the loft. (40) ±212º pounds of syrup is a LOT to carry 3 flights of stairs.

People have been cooking on open flames indoors for centuries without incident so, why oh why with todays technology is it so infeasible to even consider such a thing.

Just don't be an idiot and leave the thing burning and un-attended. And for gods sake don't do this over carpet or linoleum. Wood, eh, okay. Ceramic = Perfect. At least 5 foot from any walls.

fretbrner said:

You could also go the electic route that some brewers are going, where by the adding a heating element to the kettle.

There have been alot of creative people in the homebrew community that have came up with ways to brew inside such an enclosed space.

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Thats the route I'd go if I were you

IrregularPulse said:

Thats the route I'd go if I were you

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+1 Missed that. And would be ideal.

Mebe even look at the heat stick, IIRC, Austin Homebrew Supply (welcome Forrest) or Williams are pedling.