Electric stove issues
- Thread starter sime13w
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It's generally not a good idea to keep a lid on the BK,due to DMS issues. But some say it doesn't matter with extract. I got some new elec burners off amazon that get hotter quicker than the old GE ones did. I can now boil 3 gallons in my 5 gallon kettle quickly & easily. Wouldn't do it before with the old GE burners.
I have brewed quite a bit on my electric stove.. full boils. The thing that helped the most was wrapping the pot in 2-3 layers of aluminum foil.. kinda loosely wrapped so there are air pockets between for insulation. Bring the foil all the way over the top rim of the pot and fold it over into the pot. I am careful to not let it get into the wort.. some disagree but thats another thread...Then put the lid on to get things boiling and then remove the lid and boil the full time with no lid. Try this with a pot of water first to make sure you can boil it before starting your beer.
With a 7.5 gallon pot, if you stay close you should be able to do full boils if the stove will handle it.....I will let you know this however with the luminum foil, if you get it too low on the pot to where it traps the heat at the bottom...the entire top of your stove will be scalding hot...or at least mine got that way. I tried straddling 2 burnrs also but the best way was centered on the biggest burner cranked full blast
So I got a nice rolling boil going after like 2 hrs...(Midwest kit says to remove kettle from burner when adding LME, which I won't do ever again) that is also with out the aluminum foil and the lid off. Hopefully the end result will be delicious! Thanks for the advice.. I will try the aluminum foil trick on my next brew day.
You need to take the bk off the heat when adding LME since it'll go straight to the bottom & burn otherwise.
Since your heating element has a lot lower heat output than most of the propane burners, go ahead and leave the lid on while heating the water. When you approach the boiling point take the lid off so the DMS precursors can boil away. If you can't keep a boil with the lid off, partially cover the top of the pot but leave space for steam to escape readily. If you leave the lid on during the boil you will get condensation on the lid which will drip back into the pot and you will never get rid of the compounds that you need to.
revco
Well-Known Member
I have a POS stove that won't give me a boil in a 5G pot without the lid on. I've been doing it for years without trouble. Once I get the boil, I remove it and the stove will maintain the boil well enough. Sometimes I had to put the lid back on after adding extract (and stirring well), but again, once I saw boil, the lid came off.
I never tried the foil trick. Figures I'd learn about that NOW...when I've finally had enough and am moving to all grain AND an outdoor propane burner.
I never tried the foil trick. Figures I'd learn about that NOW...when I've finally had enough and am moving to all grain AND an outdoor propane burner.
sime13w said:
I had the same problems. I ended up burning up all the burners on my stove, forcing me to upgrade from the pos coils to a ceramic hybrid induction. I am not allowed to brew inside anymore, courtesy of SWMBO only on the propane burner. Take it from me, get a cheap turkey fryer burner you won't regret it. I'm $900 in the red from delaying spending $50 on a propane Cooker
