All-Grain on a Gas Stove

[BitterSweetBrews]

I do stovetop brewing (6-7 gallon batches) in a 10 gallon aluminum stockpot for mash and boil. It's the normal sort, taller than wide. You want this for minimum possible surface area to volume. It sits comfortably across two burners, and on my outdated stove they are more than enough. Mash ramps of 1°C/min require care not to overdo it. Comes to a boil quickly. For boiling, I really only use one burner not all the way to full heat, and another on low, heating asymmetrically. All you want is a gentle simmer, lid on, just enough to keep the wort circulating, and a total evaporation rate of 4-8% of original volume. Thermal stress is very damaging to wort and the resulting beer, so the volcanic boils homebrewers used to be accustomed to using are to be avoided. But I could easily do that, and used to before I knew better. Aluminum is a great conductor of heat, far more effective than stainless steel. I highly recommend this option. I honestly don't know that I could get a propane burner dialed down low enough to provide an appropriate level of thermal loading to produce a high quality wort.

Where did you get the information about simmering wort instead of boiling and "Thermal Stress" to wort. You need to boil with a good rolling (not volcanic) boil to rid the wort of DMS and other volitals. If you leave a lid on the pot this isn't going to happen and the resulting beer will be of a lesser quality, not better.

Listen to this podcast with Dr. Charlie Bamfort where he discusses the boil and why you need a good one.

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

Do you mean lid off? Or lid on but cracked to let steam out? Or lid completely on?

You need a rolling boil, or at least a good boil, not volcanic. You can leave the lid on to help the wort reach temperature but once it gets there you should take it off. You need to have the lid off to expel DMS and other volitals. This won't happen without a good boil and with the lid on a good boil will be a boil over. If you leave the lid on the wort will not concentrate and you will not get a proper hot and cold break and protein coagulation. You will then probably have issues with chill haze and beer that isn't clear (if it is one that should be).

If there is disagreement with this I would like to see the research.

 

[Robert65]

Where did you get the information about simmering wort instead of boiling and "Thermal Stress" to wort. You need to boil with a good rolling (not volcanic) boil to rid the wort of DMS and other volitals. If you leave a lid on the pot this isn't going to happen and the resulting beer will be of a lesser quality, not better.

Listen to this podcast with Dr. Charlie Bamfort where he discusses the boil and why you need a good one.

Any brewing textbook or paper on the subject in the last few decades would be a good start here. Try reading Kunze or Narziß, Briggs, et al., even Bamforth himself has covered this I'm sure. So have recent presentations and podcasts from the MBAA. It is settled brewing science, and at the foundation of modern professional practice. If you want good, fresh flavor as well as physical and flavor stability in the finished beer, with protection against accelerated oxidative staling, limiting thermal stress on the wort is an indispensable factor. A rolling boil is by no means needed to deal with DMS. Most modern malt is very low in or devoid of the precursor SMM, and where it exists, it must first be converted to DMS, after which it only needs to be exposed at the surface of the circulating wort to be expelled into the atmosphere with escaping steam -- thus provision for the escape of steam is only required for a brief period after formation of DMS is complete. In fact, wort boiling is not necessary at all. Experimental systems have been developed which hold the wort for a limited period at sufficient temperature (>180°F) to isomerize alpha acids and convert SMM, using mechanical agitation to coagulate the break, and finally evacuation to remove undesirable volatiles. This of course is not feasible for homebrewers, but they can develop practical means to achieve the goals of properly handling wort. Vigorous boiling is not among these. For a starting point on the damaging effects of heat on wort and beer, search "TBI."

 

[TallDan]

Settle down, guys. This is the beginners brewing forum. If he can get a decent boil on his stovetop, he’s going to be just fine.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

You need a rolling boil, or at least a good boil, not volcanic.

No, I used to believe that as well. Now, after wort gets to a boil at full power, I back off to a simmer - just enough to see the surface of the wort moving. I don't have issues with haze or DMS and it means far less condensation in my brew-cave.

 

[Robert65]

Settle down, guys. This is the beginners brewing forum. If he can get a decent boil on his stovetop, he’s going to be just fine.

Point well taken, thank you. But to the point of the topic, the OP or any beginner should not be misled into worrying that their arrangement is inadequate if it can do no more than get them a decent, gentle boil. It is advantageous to learn good habits based on sound information from the start.

 

[deeve007]

I'm in a similar position as the OP, though my reason for not investing too much is that I'm in a location where I'll be for only 6 months longer.

I found this blog post which got me started with brewing with minimal equipment: https://homebrewanswers.com/minimum-equipment-all-grain-brew/

But I have one extra issue, a pot with a capacity of only 16 liters (20 liters is around your normal 5 gallon batch). After experimenting with adding water to top up the fermenter, I have found the best way for me is to split the ingredients in half and do smaller brews separately and combining in the fermenter. The beer I first did this with (my third brew) worked out the best so far.

I went back to trying to do it all at once for my 4th brew, and while it seems to have worked, it made a much bigger mess and overall was more work than splitting the recipe. And working from home it's pretty easy to do two smaller brews fitting work in during down times.