Brewing on a natural gas stove

[BugAC]

I am brewing my oatmeal stout this weekend. However, mother nature is sending a tropical storm/hurricane towards the gulf coast, and we will inevitably get doused with rain and some wind. I'd like to brew inside the house for a change.

I have a 4 burner natural gas stove in my house. About how long would it take to get 6 gallons of wort boiling? also, does brewing in the house smell everything up? I would like to not piss off the wife if i decide to brew inside.

 

[Facinerous]

Bringing 6 gal of liquid on a stove takes a bit of time. I would expect an hour and a half or so to bring to a boil. If you have any extra pots you could split the batch into two pots and combine when boiling to reduce time.

The boil smells delicous imo, and have received "SMELLS LIKE CAKE" comments from the ladies. Have fun this weekend.

 

[BugAC]

I may just bring the mash water up to temp inside, and do my boil in the garage. Typically i brew outside on the patio.
I'm brewing an oatmeal stout too, so it's going to smell like malty chocolatey goodness. However, the wife might disagree.

 

[supermoth]

I have a gas stove, and I can get 5 gallons of strike water up to 170-180 in about 45 minutes with the pot spread over two burners.

Doing your boil in the house will result in a real steambath unless you open every window in the house, and considering you're doing this because of a tropical storm, boiling in your garage does sound like the better plan!

 

[OaklandHills]

I get 4 gallons of wort boiling in ~45 minutes on top of the stove. The house will smell great to you. Your wife, may not like it so much. My wife is particularly adverse to the smell of cluster hops.
However, be real careful to NOT allow a boil over. The stove top is hot, once you get wort on it during a boil, it will never come off.

 

[stevehardt]

I have a four burner gas stove. I spread out the aluminum pot across 2 burners. It takes about 20 minutes (guessing here) with the lid on to hit strike temp of 169, and about 30 minutes or more to get to a boil. I barely get to a rolling boil.

Never really had issues with the smell. Boilovers are a PITA

 

[tennesseean_87]

Humidity is an issue. Splitting into smaller pots helps, and I've found that making loose blankets for the outside of pots from those aluminum disposable dishes helps the stove's efficiency a noticeable amount.

 

[autiger]

I spread the pot over both burners too, however I recommend covering the space between the burners or surrounding them with aluminum foil in case of boil over or if your stove is white to avoid discoloring the paint.

 

[woodenbuick]

If you have a stove with "Power burners" that helps a lot. I can get 5 Gal boiling in about 45 minutes. My wife loves the smell for the most part.

 

[Quixoticosis]

The stove top is hot, once you get wort on it during a boil, it will never come off.

Oven cleaner works great for getting the black, burned schmoo off the stove top. Lye is your friend. Just make sure you open the windows and turn on the fan.

 

[fartinmartin]

I started with a little water in the pot on the stove, then continuously topped up from boiled kettles 2L at a time ( I loaned two kettles so I had three on the go) that way you at least get efficiency from the kettles ( 3 times 2.7kW plus the gas ), they are doing what they are designed to do.
At the end of the process clean the kettles with the appropriate descaler cleaner returning as good as new.

 

[dcbw]

Getting a good, rolling, timely boil on my 4 burner stove with power burners an full 6 gallons boils was impossible. I leaned large pot lids around my kettle. I tried two burners. It all sucked. So I went electric instead. Stoves are simply frustrating and don't work well.