Upgrade my equipment?

Hey fellas. I wanted to start making my way into all-grain brewing so the first step in doing so is to invest in a bigger pot. I live in an NYC apartment so I cant buy an outdoor propane burner. Will my gas range be able to handle heating and maintaining 6 gallon boils? Will it work but simply take like 10 hours to get it to boil? All of the videos I watch of people doing all grain are cooking outside so it got me thinking. Thanks.

I really prefer a propane burner, but back in the old days I occasionally put my big pot across two burners and turned them both on. It worked, but it took a really long time...

Brad

bulleitb said:

Hey fellas. I wanted to start making my way into all-grain brewing so the first step in doing so is to invest in a bigger pot. I live in an NYC apartment so I cant buy an outdoor propane burner. Will my gas range be able to handle heating and maintaining 6 gallon boils? Will it work but simply take like 10 hours to get it to boil? All of the videos I watch of people doing all grain are cooking outside so it got me thinking. Thanks.

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As long as your pot fits under your range hood, you'll probably be ok. Have the pot straddle across two burners, which should help. And watch out for boil-overs - they would be a b!tch to clean up.

It's possible to get it to work. There are some tips and tricks floating around the forum about how to use two burners on a larger pot, or place some heat resistant insulation around your pot to heat it indoors.

Disregard the link I posted earlier, it was for an electric stove.

Build a "heatstick", plug it into a GFI outlet and use it to supply additional heat to your kettle on the stove. Will save time, otherwise "if" you can boil on the stove, it will be like watching grass grow!

It depends on your stove. I can do it, and it doesn't take too long. I think that my stove (a wonderful gas stove) is more powerful than most. You could give it a try just by grabbing your biggest pot, and filling it with water and see how it does. If it takes forever to boil 4 gallons, then you know it won't.

wilserbrewer said:

Build a "heatstick", plug it into a GFI outlet and use it to supply additional heat to your kettle on the stove. Will save time, otherwise "if" you can boil on the stove, it will be like watching grass grow!

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This is probably your best bet. Otherwise there are people that have split their boil between two pots. But you already have the big pot, so I would go with the stick

I know on our gas stove if you pull the burner knobs off and look in the center of the stem for the knob, I have a small slotted head screw that allows me to adjust my flame height. I cranked up the burner I was using when I was boiling on it and it makes a difference. It's worth checking to see if this is an option on yours.

Yeah, it really depends on the BTU output your stove is capable of. My stove has "power burner" that is just capable of getting 5 gallons to a boil but it takes a while. Do a test with water and see what your's is capable of.

Maybe look into building an electric brew kettle. Try the search and some threads will come up. I know there are a few people on here with all electric brew rigs. Otherwise I have heard good things from the heat stick (but have not used one).

I used to do full boils on my electric stove back in college. It took about an hour to get to a boil, but what did I care, I was drinking and talking with friends, with no job or house payments to worry about!