A Noob tests a new kettle

[Mothman]

I received my gear kit in the mail earlier today in prep for entering the homebrew world this spring (fermenting bucket, bottling bucket, 9 gal. SS pot, odds and ends) and before I had to head to work I did a quick and dirty boil test in the pot on our glasstop stove... have been worried that the stove may not cut it.

I filled the pot with approx. 5.5 gallons of hot tap water.

Set the element on high, and it got up to an approximate strike temp (160F) in about 15 minutes.

I then left it going, lid on, and it got to a boil in about 20 minutes. Once boiling, with the lid off, I was able to maintain a decent boil with the element turned down to 8 or 9.

These kinds of time frames seem reasonable to me, as a complete noob.

Granted, depending on what I am actually brewing (batch size, partial boil extract, full boil BIAB, etc), a 5.5 gal boil may not be representative... seems to me a 5 gal. BIAB would be calling for ~6.5 gal to boil.

So at true full volumes, the time to mash and time to boil may be more like 30 minutes each.

Is that still reasonable? If the only impact of slow heating time is the time lost while waiting, then no biggie... but is there any downside in the resulting beer quality to have times like I'm talking about here?

On the other end, after I was done boiling I moved the pot (still about 5.5 gallons, I only boiled for a few minutes) into a cold water bath, and was able to drop it to 80F in about 25 minutes, and that was with no ice in the water... just cold tap water, drained and refilled 4 times. So with adding ice to the bath after the first couple water refills, I imagine the kettle temp would have been significantly lower after 25 minutes.

Basically just looking for input from the experts here as to whether these time frames are reasonable for an occasional brewer?

I'm still not sure I would want to actually try a 5 gallon batch full boil BIAB with this stove... seems to me I'd be looking at this pot filled to the brim in the mash (PricelessBIABCalc tells me I could expect ~ 8.5 gallons mash volume with grains) ... and the 5.5 gallons of water I tested with, on it's own, was surprisingly heavy .... I was nervous settling it down onto the glasstop, wondering if the stove would take the weight.

Thoughts?

 

[flars]

Good heat from your stove to bring that volume to a boil in that amount of time. Are you married? I would worry about what may be said if the glass stove top cracked at some point with the weight of full volume brewing.

 

[Mothman]

Yeah that's my fear too.

 

[LostHopper]

For me the potential downside of a full volume 5 gallon batch would far outweigh any benefit for indoor stove top brewing. Things could go from inconvenient (broken glass top) to dangerous ( lifting kettle of hot wort).
Half batch is still a case of beer and plenty to start with. Plus everything is easier to move.

 

[Mothman]

Thanks for the advice.

Is it fair to say that my 5.5 gallon water test would be somewhat comparable to actual volumes and weight if I was to do a 2.5 or 3 gallon biab?

A 2.5 or 3 gallon would actually work very well for my drinking frequency.

In any case I plan on starting with extract / specialty grain kits to get my feet wet, but I see myself progressing to biab over,time.

 

[LostHopper]

Thanks for the advice.



Is it fair to say that my 5.5 gallon water test would be somewhat comparable to actual volumes and weight if I was to do a 2.5 or 3 gallon biab?



A 2.5 or 3 gallon would actually work very well for my drinking frequency.



In any case I plan on starting with extract / specialty grain kits to get my feet wet, but I see myself progressing to biab over,time.

Yes. That's a Yes on my set up brewing BIAB outdoors where the boil off rate may be different than indoors and it may be different than your setup. I really don't know. I only brew one gallon batches indoors. Everything else is outdoors. I've been happily married for 40 years and brewing outdoors keeps it that way. Wife doesn't mind indoor bottling.

The 2.5 gallon batch is convenient for recipe calculation. And when I do brew 5-5.5 gallons I usually split it into two 3 gal carboys. I can try different yeast or dry hopping. But just the convenience of moving 2.5 gallon is a plus.

From my experience don't buy too many extract kits if your plan is to go BIAB. Both methods can make good beer but I've found BIAB to be more tolerant of imperfect brewing technique and there always seems to be a hiccup somewhere in the first few batches and the beer is still good.

 

[Mothman]

Great input, thanks. I realize my exact process and equipment would change the volumes, but good to know that I am at least in the ball park in my stress test.

Neither me or my wife would be happy with the expense of replacing a glasstop that I broke. >_<

For some reason I have a wall up in my mind about brewing outside... not sure why.... I think the idea of being in the kitchen with everything close at hand, counter space, it's clean, etc, seems simpler to me than hauling everything outside, trying to keep it clean, setting up my collapsible workbench as table space up off the ground for 'stuff', hoping a passing bird doesn't poop in the kettle lol ... but maybe I'm not thinking straight.

The added expense of a burner and the propane doesn't help either.

But maybe once I've got a couple batches under my belt, and the process becomes clearer to me, I'll realize moving outside isn't a big deal (at least when it's not winter).

In any case, I think I could safely manage a 2.5 gallon batch indoors for now.

(I only talk about 3 gallons as one of the big online kit suppliers here in Canada sells 3 gallon kits (both extract and AG). If/when I move to BIAB and get comfortable with it, I assume I will use recipes, in which case yeah, maybe 2.5 gal is easier... although I think BeerSmith should be able to convert batch size easily too, to whatever I want)