Stovetop is not enough

[elktaker]

I have my first try in the fermenter and that is a good thing. What I quickly realized is that doing the boil on my wife's cooktop is not the place to make my beer.
Which, what or how do I make a burner assembly that will:

1) Boil water in a micro second (well maybe less than 45 minutes)
2) Run on bottled propane

Are all the burner assemblies a uniform dimension? Will they all work in the same "holding frame"?

Once again, thank you for your help and answers.

 

[mrgrimm101]

I don't know about assembling a burner, but there are plenty of propane burners for sale for around $50-$75 that will do what you want. Bayou Classic is a good brand that many people seem to use. They make square or round propane burners. They will bring water to a boil in around 20 minutes, give or take.

 

[Zepth]

I agree that the stovetop is of limited use. Seeing as you're new to this before you go and rush to buy all sorts of fancy equipment, I'd suggest asking yourself a few questions first.

Would you prefer to brew indoors or outdoors?
Do you have space to make an electric brewing setup?
Are you using grain or extracts?
and of course:
Would a partial boil on the stove work?

I brew indoor electric, though I do have enough cord to run things outside when it isn't -30C. Planning to do that in the heat of summer to avoid steaming up the place. If you're using extracts you may well be able to get great results with a partial boil, late extract addition, and top up water.

So ask yourself: What exactly do you want to achieve?

 

[mrgrimm101]

What kind of stove is it..gas or electric? I use my electric stove and do partial boils (I boil about 4 gallons) in a 5 gallon kettle with great success. Takes a while to get a boil going, but it still works.

 

[IslandLizard]

Zepth hits it spot on, you need to answer those questions.

I like brewing outdoors, occasionally, when its warm. I hate the cold, and mosquitos (in the summer).

So I looked for indoor brewing possibilities, and having used the (glass) stove top for many years, splitting the boil between my 8 gallon kettle with 3.5-4 gallons in it and a smaller pot with 1.5-2 gallons. I could not boil 5 gallons in one pot on that stove.

Then I moved on to all-grain and needed to boil 7 gallons. In the mean time we bought a home, and our brand new stovetop (glass) with a 3-ring element barely handled that size, even with insulation wrapped around the kettle. Besides that, the sheer weight on that glass top scared me.

I found this thread on an Induction Plate, the IC3500. It needed a 240V 20A outlet, which was fairly easy to install in the kitchen and it does a magnificent job on boiling 7-7.5 gallons. I'm set, and addicted to it, as it also supports wokking and cooking large pots of soup, stew, and sauce.

Check it out.

 

[Owly055]

Consider scale...... I have brewed 49 brews since last February.... Saturday AM will be 50. Every one has been done on the kitchen stove. My brew size is 2.5 gallons. Larger than that would be impractical I think. Initial cost was quite low... A cheap Walmart stock pot, a brew bag, Walmart ice tea jug (3 gallon) for a fermenter, bottles, and not much else.


I've since added two more fermenters, and a lot more bottles, moved to a larger stock pot, bought a cheap BC crusher, built a copper immersion chiller, and made a 2500 watt floating heating element... (220V).... from a $15 element, and a cheap pan. The floating heater makes a HUGE difference in heating times. Along with the stove top, they will bring 3 gallons of wort to a boil from 160F in 8 minutes! My upgrades have been once piece at a time, and I haven't regretted any of them.

The main thing is to get started... If you have to start with extract..... do it. You don't need to begin at 5 or 10 gallons..... Lots of people brew batches as small as one gallon. I have one fermenter tied up with a lager, so my last batch was 1.5 gallons in a Yorkshire 2 gallon glass ice tea jug ($19 at Walmart).

Use what you have......... My first all grain brew was in a blue enamel hot water bath canner..... that I had............My first brews were done 45 years ago on my mothers kitchen stove using hop flavored malt syrup....... doing it all in secret. They weren't "good".... but we didn't have good materials available then as we do today.

Just do it!!

H.W.

 

[elktaker]

My first, and so far, only brew was a five gallon pale ale, all DME on my gas cooktop in two stages. Stage one on the cooktop and then stage two with makeup water in the fermenter. When I finally got the best boil, it was not what I consider a "rolling boil". I have done a lot of cooking in commercial kitchens and I did not think my boil was what I was really looking for.
In my reading on all the different forums and in the two books I read, I have come to the decision that a full boil, 6.0+ gallons in an 8.0 gallon pot, is what I think will be the best combination for my needs.
Two issues came up in my first brew:
1) Length of time to boil
2) Length of time to cool to pitching temperature.
I am going to concentrate on these two items first, then decide what other issues are important to making a really good beer.
I continue to be amazed at the information/advice that is so freely and cheerfully given on this .
THANK YOU!

 

[paul_111]

...The floating heater makes a HUGE difference in heating times. Along with the stove top, they will bring 3 gallons of wort to a boil from 160F in 8 minutes!

Owly, can you share some details of your floating heater?

 

[Zepth]

Shameless plug for the 2 vessel electric system I use in the kitchen. 10 gallon brew day yesterday took exactly 4.5 hours, that includes a 90 minute mash and cleanup.

 

[Jim311]

I picked up a used Bayou Classic for like 30 bucks yesterday. I brought about 4 gallons of water and collard greens to an insane boil in under 20 minutes with it. It puts out like 55k BTUs. Also it adjusted down to a simmer quite nicely. I recommend it, and it was cheap.

 

[Owly055]

Owly, can you share some details of your floating heater?

I started a thread on it. Here is a link to the thread..... There of course is always risk when using electricity and wort.... I'm not particularly afraid of it though. Note that the terminals are heavily covered with black silicone RTV to insulate it in case the wort boils over into the pot...(hot break).... which it has a couple of times when I wasn't watching closely. It probably is not as safe as the heat sticks people are making, but it works very well for me. I wired in a 220V outlet on the wall right behind the stove.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/2500-watt-floating-heater-494798/


H.W.

 

[Wolfairious]

My glass top stove couldn't get 2 gallons to a "rolling" boil without the lid on either. I just bought one of these:
http://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/hotrod.htm
I am going to add a 1500w element to it and use it to supplement my stove top. That way I don't have to change any wiring in my house or have dedicated breakers. The stove and the Hotrod together should get 5 gallons to boil I assume.
I have one of these:
http://www.plccenter.com/en-US/Buy/SQUARE D/GFRP115
So i basically have a GFI wherever I want it. It just plugs into any outlet and makes it into a GFI. You can also get cords with GFI built in.