Shaken, not stirred?

I read a comment earlier today that surprised me. Is it true that you don't need to stir AG wort? If that's true it for me would be a huge reason to go all grain. 50 minutes to an hour of stirring extract brews can get to be mighty tedious.

And another thing: if it's true, it seems like in bad weather it would be easy to move an AG boil inside by splitting it into two pots. A big reason I don't do full boils inside now with extract brews it that I wouldn't want to have to stir two pots at a time.

Why are you stirring your wort 50 minutes to an hour? Are you talking during the boil or after it is cooled?

I just stir the extract in--2-5 min. No need for more stirring, in my experience.

monk

I have an electric stove. When I brew inside, I have a choice: my wort can just sit there and barely simmer without being stirred, or it can boil while being stirred. If I turn up the burner enough to boil the wort, but don't stir it, it boils over.

When I was doing extracts, I would heat my water to a boil, then turn off the heat and stir in the extract. Bring back to a boil... no further stirring required. A vigorous boil keeps everything stirring on its own.

mmditter said:

I have an electric stove. When I brew inside, I have a choice: my wort can just sit there and barely simmer without being stirred, or it can boil while being stirred. If I turn up the burner enough to boil the wort, but don't stir it, it boils over.

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When the wort first comes to a boil it will foam up but that should dissipate after a few minutes.

mmditter said:

I have an electric stove. When I brew inside, I have a choice: my wort can just sit there and barely simmer without being stirred, or it can boil while being stirred. If I turn up the burner enough to boil the wort, but don't stir it, it boils over.

Click to expand...

Sounds more like a case of needing a bigger kettle and/or better heat control. I do some of my brewing on a solid surface electric stove and it can be a real PITA to get the wort in the right temp zone to get a good rolling boil. I start it off covered to bring the temp up quicker and then uncovered for the remainder of the process.

Yeah, that's my problem. I keep telling SWMBO that we need a gas stove instead of the glass top electric we currently have. That thing is really a PITA. I'm pretty sure with a gas stove I could find the proper temp and hold it there.

Go with a larger pot on a burner outside if you can. Maybe just a larger pot still boiling the same volume so you don't boil over, or as much as you can while still getting a vigorous boil and not boiling over. A spray bottle of water and a little diligence untill you get the hot break (and after hop addditions) will help knock the foam down.
I've heard of some people using a single electric burner that has a higher heat output than their stove.
Or if you still need to use your current setup and aren't to worried about color consistancy of your brew, try liquid extract. I've noticed the DME foams a lot higher. I have to pay a bit more attention with DME on 11 gallon boils in a 14 gallon kettle.

The single best move I ever made in my brewing career was moving everything outdoors--weather be damned...

My turkey fryer should be here tommorow... NO MORE ELECTRIC STOVE!! Man, that thing has been a PITA.