How long does it take to get a rolling boil?

I have my first batch going right now. I mixed the extract and now trying to bring my pot to a rolling boil. It has been going for over an hour already. How long does it take you guys to get the wort boiling?

I have a 1 year old gas stove and using a 17 quart stainless steel pot.

I am guessing that I may need to invest in a turkey fryer.

The answer is... "it depends".

Using a 16k btu burning on a stove, it used to take me as long as 30 minutes.

With a big burner and a keggle, I'm usually there in 5-8.

Me thinks if after an hour you're not boiling, you stove is not powerful enough.

IrregularPulse said:

Me thinks if after an hour you're not boiling, you stove is not powerful enough.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that is my opinion as well. I can get 13 gal rolling from sparge temps in about 20 minutes.

I multi-task by putting about 3/4 of the wort on the burner after sparging to start heating up while I do my last sparge to get the remaining wort. It gives about a 10 minute head start and I only have the gas about half way up because it could start boiling in that time if I really wanted to. At any rate once I have the final volume in (usually 7.25G) it takes about 10 minutes to boil.

This is with a turkey fryer burner, but I also have a wide surface pot on it so there is more area being hit with flames than the standard skinny frying pot.

If you cover the pot it will get there a lot quicker although you should uncover when it starts to boil

I brew on my kitchen stove all the time. It usually takes me about 45 minutes to get ~7 gallons boiling. I use a 32 quart kettle that is large enough for me to cover 2 of the stove burners. So you might try that, see if you can position it so that you can get flame from 2 burners on it.... It doesn't need to be anywhere near centered, one of them can be right on the edge of the kettle and it will still help.

Update - it took me about 75 minutes to get it boiling (and I wouldn't exactly call it rolling). Next time I will have to use a propane outdoor burner. Can anyone recommend a good one which is not too expensive?

I paid 70 I think for my KAB5 which I don't think they sell anymore, But the KAB4 is the same I believe. Bayou Classic is the brand. I love the thing.

Amen to the KAB4! It will suit you for a long time in your brewing adventure!

It took me 35min to get 3gal boiling on my electric flat top range and it wasn't a violent rolling boil. I'm moving it outside next time. That was my first and last attempt on the new stove.

KAB4 here I come!

it took me over an hour to get 2.5 gallons to boil on a 10K btu gas cooktop.

once i got some solids in there though, it boiled very easily.