Brewing on stovetop

Just wondering how long it would take to do a full boil on the stovetop? I was thinking about getting a 26 qt stainless steel pot to do full boils on my stove... but if its a pain I guess I will have to do partial. Would it be ok to still use the 26 qt for partial boils?

Unless you have a monster stove, lots of BTUs, it may not be an option. I'm graduating to a turkey fryer soon, my stove (which is new and fairly decent) has trouble maintaining a boil on 3 gallons. If you can brew outside, look into a propane turkey fryer, they are fairly cheap (just remember that you also need to invest in some kind of wort chiller). Or, just stick to partial boils, it's still a perfectly good way to brew.

You probably wont be able to maintain a rolling boil on the stovetop, but if you have the opportunity, I would go ahead and get the bigger brew kettle for future upgrades.

- magno

I have an electric stovetop and I've done up to a 3.75 gallon boil, which is the maximum for my 22 qt pot before I'm afraid of boilover with LME. I do smaller boils with DME because it seems to have a greater boilover potential. It takes a long time to get to a rolling boil but it will do just fine once it gets there. I can't use a turkey fryer where I live because of the prohibition in my city of gas grills on apartment patios, especially with a decent chance I'll have to pay a $500 fine. If you have a good gas stove, maybe you'll be able to do a 5 gallon boil, but probably no way with an electric.

Im stuck in apartment too. we can have gas grills but they have to be 10' away from any wall... 10' from my wall would put me on the sidewalk in front of the building. My stove is electric :-( So I guess I will have to do partial boils.

Thanks for all the great info.

What are you doing? Extract....AG....? I do AG on my stove, but I use two pots. If your doing extract there really is not too many benifits to doing full boil. What kind of stove do you have? You could actually damage some stoves with the weight of a full boil.... In your thoughts of things you need to do a full boil, the pot is just one thing you understand... you need some way to cool it quickly.

Cregar said:

Im stuck in apartment too. we can have gas grills but they have to be 10' away from any wall... 10' from my wall would put me on the sidewalk in front of the building. My stove is electric :-( So I guess I will have to do partial boils.

Thanks for all the great info.

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We were posing at the same time. Check this place out

http://www3.telus.net/sockmonkeysandbeer/beer/HowIBrew/howIbrew.html

This is how I do AG and it works great! Some people here put it in the "looks like a pain in the A$$" category, but I can't really say that. Have a lot of fun with it and it keeps me inside using my own kitchen. Since I live on the second floor of my apartment I kinda like being able to stay in the kitchen.

Cregar said:

Would it be ok to still use the 26 qt for partial boils?

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If you're planning to do 5 gallon batches, consider getting a larger kettle. A 26 qt pot with 20 qts of water, then add a bunch of LME, DME, candy sugar, hops, or whatever, it doesn't leave much room.

Prost! said:

If you're planning to do 5 gallon batches, consider getting a larger kettle. A 26 qt pot with 20 qts of water, then add a bunch of LME, DME, candy sugar, hops, or whatever, it doesn't leave much room.

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Thats a good point actually. I use a 20 quart for extract.

I will be starting extract for now (till I get a house). So would a 28 or 30 quart pot be better. Now, what about splitting the extract between 2 pots and boiling them at the same time... then cooling and combining in the carboy? Anybody try that?

From what I have been reading, it sounded like it would be better to do a full boil with extract (color, taste, etc.). Is there really that much differrence in color and taste between full or partial?

Cregar said:

I will be starting extract for now (till I get a house). So would a 28 or 30 quart pot be better. Now, what about splitting the extract between 2 pots and boiling them at the same time... then cooling and combining in the carboy? Anybody try that?

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Yup. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=10396

I use a 24qt. stock pot. Boil 4 gallons, dump remaining water that has just been boiled at end of boil to fill er to 5gal. then chill. Wish I had a bigger pot. Buy the biggest one you can afford.