Stove top brewing question

[Iceman6409]

Hey boys and girls. I do all my brewing now on my stove. I have a gas ove with a good flame. I can easily get a 4 gallon pre boil boiling and putting the kettle over two of the flames at the same time easily gets my 7 gallon pre boil batches going just fine.

However I have a friend who is interested to get involved in home brewing. He is in a small apartment. He tells me he has a flat top stove. I know there is zero chance he could do a normal 5 gallon batch. But for a 2 1/2 to 3 gallon batch do any of you know if putting his kettle over two burners at the same time would be enough to bring a 4 gallon pre boil to boil or not?

 

[Jag75]

I started doing extracts on my flat top electric stove and was able to boil 3 gallons easy .

 

[ESBrewer]

It's best to make a simple experiment with plain water to see whether it boils properly and how long it's going to take. I think most stoves can boil three gallons and some effective induction cookers etc. can boil larger volumes, too. The power ratings (watts) of the stoves tend to vary as do the properties of the kettles. It is also possible to boil in two kettles. Then there is the question how long does it take to reach the full boil..

 

[RM-MN]

Your friend could buy a heat stick to add a little more heating to get the wort to a boil.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/1...7MUDz58r9Db2IX7xF8S2jpAMPHAJK728aAha_EALw_wcB

 

[bracconiere]

i boil 14 gallons over two burners on my NG range.....


(just remember this will be your friend: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Members-Ma...286185&hash=item1cb0974b57:g:hZgAAOSw~R1bNjDX )


edit: and i have a 1500watt hot plate that will boil 7 gallons...

 

[HB_ATL73]

I know there is zero chance he could do a normal 5 gallon batch.

That's not necessarily true. I started like that when I lived in an apartment. It is possible to get 3 gallons boiling pretty well. I used to make kit beers with ~3 gallon boil and top up in the fermenter up to 5 gallons. This actually saved me time cooling as well- I used to get my pot in an ice bath for about 10 min to around 150 degrees then pitch that warm wort right into a fermenter filled with 2 gallons near freezing water which got my pitch temp right at about 65-70 degrees. A very inexact science that made pretty good beer.

One thing to consider with boil volume is hop utilization- The beers I was making very early on were likely missing the mark on IBUs and overall intended outcome of the kit but they still turned out tasty. You can easily calculate the hop utilization and adjust as needed doing this method.

 

[jonny24]

Won't know unless you try. I've been boiling 6.5 gallons to make 5.5 gallons batches on my parents electric stove, smaller apartment electric stove, the old stove that was my house when I bought it, and now my new glass top GE stove. Heating takes a bit, and it's never a hugely violent boil unless I put the lid on, but all of them were capable.

I bought the avantco induction burner 2 years ago planning a switch to that, and have never actually got a plug wired up for it since the stove works well enough.

 

[Imhoppy]

Won't know unless you try. I've been boiling 6.5 gallons to make 5.5 gallons batches on my parents electric stove, smaller apartment electric stove, the old stove that was my house when I bought it, and now my new glass top GE stove. Heating takes a bit, and it's never a hugely violent boil unless I put the lid on, but all of them were capable.

I bought the avantco induction burner 2 years ago planning a switch to that, and have never actually got a plug wired up for it since the stove works well enough.

Is there a weight limit on a glass cook top? 6.5 gallons × 8.34 lb/gal = 54.21 lb, plus say 9 lb lme for extract brewing would be 63.21 lb, not accounting for the kettle weight. Sure would not want to find out the hard way. Nothing my owner's manual on any weight limit. Just curious...

 

[bracconiere]

Is there a weight limit on a glass cook top? 6.5 gallons × 8.34 lb/gal = 54.21 lb, plus say 9 lb lme for extract brewing would be 63.21 lb, not accounting for the kettle weight. Sure would not want to find out the hard way. Nothing my owner's manual on any weight limit. Just curious...

could put on some shoes, and crawl up and stand on it.....lol

 

[dwhite60]

I do 2 - 3 gallon BIAB batches in a five gallon pot stove top without issue. Pre-boil volume of 3 - 4 gallons.

Small batches rock! More variety on hand, I get to brew more often. Small batch of less than great beer goes FAST. Make something extra good you just make another batch.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I know there is zero chance he could do a normal 5 gallon batch.

If he wants to brew five gal batches in his apartment, there are a number of blogs (generally outside of HomeBrewTalk) that will get him started. Starter links available (just ask).

I talked with a guy at a May "learn how to brew day" a couple of years ago who was brewing 5 gal all-grain batches with a 120V induction cook top. Obviously getting the water to a boil took some extra time.

How to Brew, 4e has great coverage on "stove top" brewing with malt extracts. Not hard to do a mini-BIAB for "wort a".

Or, as @dwhite60 said, "Small batches rock!".

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

I regularly boil 7 and 8 gallon brews on my glass top range. It depends on the stove. Look up the model number and you can get the specs. One thing that helps me is that my BK is " tallboy" pot. It is taller and narrower than most brew pots. It's only 12 1/2" in diameter. This helps concentrate the burner energy. If all else fails, a heat stick is a great solution.

 

[Day-Day]

5 gallon all grain batches are possible on cooktops... I used to do it... and I used to run two 20 qt pressure cookers full of jars at the same time (not while I was brewing, but two pressure cookers at the same time)... those cooktops are pretty heavy duty (most anyways)... I'd def consult the manual (for the cooktop) to check any warnings, etc.

The easiest way for a 5 gallon all grain batch would be to split the wort into two pots on the stove on the two biggest burners... as someone else mentioned you'd have to do some calcuations to adjust ibu's because the hop utilization is different... but you can make it work.

If it's extract... 5 gallons is easy... just do a smaller boil (3-4 gallons)... then top off with water in the fermentor.


It's def possible...you just have to be creative and flexible with your equipment and recipes.