Stove brewing?

[arwelsh]

I learned the hard way during my first brew that my parents flat surface electric stove will not boil 3 gallons of wort. I had to transfer the bot outside onto my dad's fish fryer halfway through in order to see an actual bubbling boil.

That was months ago though and I now have a fish fryer of my own (oddly enough it was given to me for food not beer). I haven't gotten a tank yet though and just moved so am quite poor right now so I'd like to avoid having to go out and nab one. Also, I live in Columbia, SC where standing outside (without football) for more than about 10-15 min is utter hell until mid-late October.

The house I just moved into has a GE Profile gas range and the biggest burner has a "turbo boil" setting on it. I've boiled pasta in what must have been well over a gallon of water. Does anyone have experience brewing on a gas range? Logic would seem to dictate that the process wouldn't be much different from a gas burner outside but I wanted to check just incase.

 

[Carlscan26]

The only way to know is to try it. Good luck!

 

[hotspurdotus]

I've brewed exclusively on a GE gas stove. Works fine for me, and I don't have a 'turbo boil' setting. I think the big burner is rated at 9600 BTU.

Edit: I do 5 gallon AG batches, BTW.

 

[billl]

The rapid boil burner on my stove has no problem boiling 7 gallons.

Just FYI though, not all burners are created equal. The outdoor burners designed for brewing can throw off 10 times more heat than even a "turbo boil" stove burner. The fryer type burners are usually in the 3x as powerful range.

There is a really easy way to check your stove. Just put a pot of water on there and let her rip. If it boils, you are good to go. If not, you'll have to spring for the propane tank.

 

[CarboyBoy]

Best way to find out: give it a shot! I boil 3 gallons in a 5 gallon pot on my gas range's power burner with no problem.

 

[bobbrews]

I can get approx. 5 gallons boiling on my home indoor stove quite vigorously. If I use my commercial kitchen burners, I can handle double that volume.

BTU's will differ depending on the unit. If yours are weak, you could try doing a double 3 gallon boil in two pots, then combining the wort in one carboy later.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I brew inside on my gas range exclusively. My pot is wide and fits over 2 burners which helps and I have gotten up to 7 gallons to boil and know it could handle more. My only complaint is how long it takes to heat up my strike and sparge water and then getting up to boil after collecting my runnings.

 

[evrose]

I do all my brewing on a GE gas range that has a "power boil" burner. I'm easily able to heat and boil 3.5 gallons of wort, no problem. It does take a bit to heat up, but it's not bad.

 

[KISS Brew]

I use a pretty old Kenmore gas range, which I can boil over 4 gallons on without a problem.

 

[grem135]

The power burner on my Kenmore (not sure who makes it for them) works great. I wanted to try the center oblong burner that it has for griddles and oblong pots but I got kicked out of the kitchen due to the smell. At least SWMBO couldn't complain about her kitchen being messed up . My last brew I did using my side burner on gas BBQ grill and though I could get a boil, holding a temp was very hard to control. I will get a turkey frier or something before next brew.

 

[Beer-lord]

I straddle my 9 gallon pot over 2 burners on my stove to get a faster boil. It still takes some time with 7.5 gallons in it but it does work and even though it heats the house, it's cooler than outside.

 

[Calichusetts]

I batch sparge...so I take my first runnings and throw them into the kettle on full blast (without a lid, which will help in most cases) and then gather the second runnings and add them. My first runnings are boiling by the time I get to the second runnings...and again boiling about 20 minutes later.

Just try some different techniques before you give up. As you can see, many brewers do fine on a stovetop...there is a great insulation thread out there somewhere on this site that will help as well.

 

[new2brew1221]

I too have a GE gas range, and i have made two batches on the stove. It took about an hour and a half to go from cold water to ferment bucket, using an ice bath in the sink. The GE works fine for the boil.