better brew pot

[ruprplxd]

I have a flat surface electric stove. I brewed my 1st batch in an aluminum pot and it took at least 2 hours to bring it to barely bring it to a boil then after I added the ingredients it took about another hour to get it to boil again. The whole process was extremely slow. It was brewed in a 3 gallon aluminum pot. I have now read that aluminum isn't the best to brew in and since it took so long, I'm going to buy a different pot. My choices are a 4 gallon porcelain enamel pot(the cheapest), a 5 gallon stainless steel pot, or a a 6 gallon stainless steel pot with a tri-layer bottom of stainless, aluminum and something else (the heaviest). Which do you all think would be the best to get a quicker boil on my dumb slow stove?

 

[Mirage]

To be honest, it is probably the stove. Aluminum is an excellent conductor of heat, so a stainless pot will probably take longer. There was a thread on here about insulating your pot and an electric range would be perfect for that. I don't remember where it was, but I am sure a quick forum search will show you. Good luck!

 

[flyangler18]

Aluminum makes a GREAT brew kettle!

Electric stoves are notoriously slow, I'm afraid.

 

[Madman]

Yeah, don't waste your money. There's a thread out there about getting quicker boils on an electric range. Let me see if I can find that...

 

[jharres]

I have one of those glass, flattop stoves as well. It looks really pretty and the SWMBO loves it, but it sucks for brewing. My stove has an option to turn on a middle element between the burners, so what I've done is turn on both the front and back burners as well as the middle element. I put the brewpot right in the middle and it seems to work quite well.

EDIT: This solution actually worked quite well for a 3 1/2 gallon boil, where as the single burner struggled with 2 1/2 gallons.

 

[Zenman]

i agree, reduce down to a 2 gal partial boil, it will go much smoother, the stove just can't boil that much water. Even a standard gas range has trouble with that much water.

 

[The Pol]

Your stove stinks... your aluminum kettle is the best out there for conducting heat... SS will take longer as stated. You need to work on your heat source, not the kettle.

 

[Madman]

Here it is!

This could help you obtain a quicker boil on your electric stove. Try it out before abandoning a perfectly good pot!

 

[ruprplxd]

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH. Last night I couldn't find a link to search forums so I read through tons of posts and didn't come across anything on the best brew pot. (But I did find a lot of other useful information.) So now, not only do I find out there is a search, but I get quick advice and someone even finds the link for me. You guys (and gals) are great. This is my new favorite website and is one of my Home Pages. I'll return the $44 pot I bought and buy stuff the insulate the one I have.

 

[Madman]

Another quick piece of advice:

If the SWMBO allowed you to buy a new $40 pot, just keep it. It will come in handy down the line

 

[Mirage]

+1 to that! Thanks for finding the link Madman! That is the thread I was referring to.

 

[pen25]

when i boil on the stove what i do is i add a gallon of water to my pot and put it to heat. then i take my electric kettle and fill it and let it boil the water and i add to the pot until i bring my desired water level up in my stove. i usually have it at about 195 to 200 then cover to bring to a full boil then remove the cover and continue to boil. granted this is with cas but its not one with a super burner. takes about an hour to bring 4 gallons to rolling boil.

 

[Mirage]

Yea. If you are doing extract, keep that other kettle and heat two pots of water to a boil. You can then add the smaller pot to the larger one. We also span our pots over two burners (forgot to suggest that) and it heats much better.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

A burner from a Turkey Fryer would server you well. Bayou Classic has pretty reasonable prices.

 

[betacrash]

im pretty new to this, but i have been told repeatedly to NOT use an aluminum pot because it is a reactive material and can give your beer "off flavors". everyone in this thread is saying how great aluminum pots are (i know they aluminum is great conductor of heat) whats the deal? thanks

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

im pretty new to this, but i have been told repeatedly to NOT use an aluminum pot because it is a reactive material and can give your beer "off flavors". everyone in this thread is saying how great aluminum pots are (i know they aluminum is great conductor of heat) whats the deal? thanks

Just do a search on Aluminum, and you'll get more info about Aluminum than you can handle. The short answer is that, if you handle your pot properly it will not give off flavors. Scouring an aluminum pot with an SOS pad or Steel Wool, might cause you some problems though.

 

[Mirage]

Yea there is actually a stickied post on the forum about SS vs Alum.

 

[mikfire]

As some other members have learned, I would really recommend getting a banjo burner or something. You will experience a boil over sooner or later and replacing those smooth, sexy glass tops is massively expensive.

Not to mention the amount of groveling it will require to get out of the dog house.