Can the 120v Blichmann w/ Boil Coil be gas assisted on a regular kitchen stovetop?

[Rev2010]

With the plug kept safely away from any flame of course, is there any reason you couldn't also use gas on a kitchen stove top to help heat assist a 120v G2 Boil Coil installed kettle?


Rev.

 

[augiedoggy]

With the plug kept safely away from any flame of course, is there any reason you couldn't also use gas on a kitchen stove top to help heat assist a 120v G2 Boil Coil installed kettle?


Rev.

one possible reason would be the fact that like 90% of the heat from the flame goes around the kettle and up the sides where the BK will be mounted.. you would want a heat shield for sure.

 

[Rev2010]

one possible reason would be the fact that like 90% of the heat from the flame goes around the kettle and up the sides where the BK will be mounted.. you would want a heat shield for sure.

Definitely would use a heat shield. I wonder if the G2 kettles still come with the metal plate that the G1's included. See my thing is this, in my apartment I can't really modify anything so I'm stuck with 120v. I know I can run two 120v elements off of separate circuits but what I really want to do is use electric along with gas on the stovetop. One of the reasons I really want to do this is because my range hood over the stove should suck out most of the steam whereas my Robobrew on the floor a lot of the steam doesn't get pulled right out. My girlfriend hates the smell, as did my ex-wife (what's up with that?), so I was thinking on the stove right under the two range hood fans should also help reduce the smell in the house and with a good element along with gas I cannot imagine not getting a better rolling boil and higher boiloff. My Robobrew v3 only boils off a half gallon an hour. As a result it's reduced my sparge water by 1 gallon on average, sometime a little more. I know it doesn't sound like much but my efficiency has taken a small hit. But it's not just that, the Robobrew v3 by itself takes forever to heat so by doing a good element assisted with gas I can also reduce how long my brew days are. So all around win.

Now, my only brew kettle currently is the Robobrew. I have an 8 gallon Megapot for my sparge water. Since I am in the market for a kettle I was looking at either Spike or Blichmann. That's when I started thinking about the 120v G2 with boil coil. I don't want to email Blichmann to ask as I can guarantee they will err on the side of caution and simply tell me no, that's not what it's designed for. As Ed Harris playing Gene Krantz said in Apollo 13 "I don't care what it's designed to do I care about what it can do!" Up till now been planning on going with the Hotrod Heatstick with gas assist on stovetop, just figured I'd ask about the Blichmann as well. Though it does require a controller.


Rev.

 

[Elky]

You could always use something like a hot-rod to assist on the stove top. With that you wouldn't need to worry about shielding. Then you can add a 240v element to the kettle down the road if your situation allows.

Edit: just scrolled down the page and saw you have a thread asking about that too. Great minds think alike I guess.

 

[augiedoggy]

I believe he tried to purchase the hot rod but it's been on backorder. As far as the controller is concerned it's not needed with either if the element is weak enough.

 

[Rev2010]

You could always use something like a hot-rod to assist on the stove top. With that you wouldn't need to worry about shielding. Then you can add a 240v element to the kettle down the road if your situation allows.

Edit: just scrolled down the page and saw you have a thread asking about that too. Great minds think alike I guess.

Heh, yeah like Augie mentioned I've been waiting more than a month for the Hotrod to come back in stock. They told me 1-2 weeks and it's now 1.5 weeks in. If it's not in by Monday I'll email to see if there's an update. Been holding off on the kettle order until I get the heatstick.


Rev.

 

[cwise]

I had the same question and emailed blichmann. They told me to remove the boilcoil if using a burner.

 

[Rev2010]

I had the same question and emailed blichmann. They told me to remove the boilcoil if using a burner.

Exactly, but why? I can understand propane as it can get insanely hot around the pot edges, but not so with a home gas stove top. Like I said, they won't in any way endorse using the product in any way outside its original intended design. I can understand that from a legal standpoint as big as Blichmann is.


Rev.

 

[augiedoggy]

I would say it could still melt on a stovetop without heat shields you still have the heat traveling around and up the sides and even though its not as powerful as propane the kettles are usually smaller on a stovetop as well.