First time brewer, need some equipment advice

Hello everyone!

Going to be popping the cherry tomorrow or the next day on a dry malt extract kit (Is that the right term?). Anyway, I have a conundrum. I have an enamel pot to do the boil, but I'm lacking a good way to bring it to a boil. I don't have a good solution to heat it up except for possibly using my weber charcoal grill. That probably sounds insane, but using a charcoal grill would theoretically work as a good heat source wouldn't it? Or is there something that I'm missing that would completely 'eff it up? (And come next paycheck, I'll have a turkey frier burner... I just don't want to wait till next paycheck, ya know).

So, uh, yea, any advice? Or should the charcoal grill work alright for a once off run?

 

How big are you going to boil? I did 4 gallons on my stove just fine.

 

Don't you have a stovetop in your house?

 

My stovetop is a flimsy electric and I don't think it could safely support the weight of a filled five gallon pot.

 

Consider a partial boil? I think the problem with charcoal is that you won't really be able to control your temperatures and if you boil over and it puts out the charcoal you will probably have some issues getting it started again.

 

a propane grill might work but charcoal has a lot of smoke and ash. it would "work" but may give a lot of off flavors...
try a 2.5 gallon boil and add water in your primary to top off to 5 gallons.

can you use something to support your electric stove? maybe using the grill from your bbq between the electric burner and your pot?

 

There are plenty of people on here that use an electric stove, you'll probably only get a 2-3 gal boil, but its usable.

 

Is using a stove out of the question? You may not be able to do a full 5 gallon boil on the stove, assuming the pot could handle that volume, but doing 3 to 4 gallons and then mixing with preboiled water would certainly work for the time being.

 

Do you have a buddy that your can rope into your new habit that has a turkey fryer or anything?

I would stay away from the charcoal grill too, that could turn into a really big mess in a hurry.

 

Check out this link if you don't already have instructions onhow to boil a smaller amount of wort and then top it off with water

Basic Beer Starter Kit

scroll down to the "on brewing day" section. That should help I hope.

 

Alright. I'll see what I can do with the electric stovetop. Thank ya for the responses, I'll post again once I get this thing underway tomorrow or the next day.