First brew and need some kettle advice

[Jkane101]

Okay, so I'm all set to do my very first brew this weekend...an IPA extract kit with some steeped grains. I have a huge 60qt aluminum stockpot so I'm totally stoked about doing full boils. So of course the first thing i do is clean the pot and do a test run...first to get that nice coating on the aluminum that I've read so much about...and secondly to see if my kitchen stove can actually get it to a full boil. Starting water amount is 6.5 gallons, after an hour uncovered I get the water temp to just over 200. I thow the cover on and in a few minutes I have a rolling boil.

Here's the rub, i know i have to do my 60 minute boil uncovered..but when i remove the cover the water temp drops to about 208ish...enough for a simmer but not a rolling boil.

I'm guessing thats not going to be good enough. So should i run out and get a bayou turkey fryer stand and a propane tank? I'd rather not add the additional cost if possible. Or ...should i reduce the volume of water and top it off after the boil which may caus some of that tangy taste thats so often talked about with partial boils.

I know the choice is mine...but what would you do? And why?

 

[Yooper]

I'm guessing thats not going to be good enough. So should i run out and get a bayou turkey fryer stand and a propane tank? I'd rather not add the additional cost if possible. Or ...should i reduce the volume of water and top it off after the boil which may caus some of that tangy taste thats so often talked about with partial boils.

I know the choice is mine...but what would you do? And why?

I'd get the biggest boil I could but still a rolling boil, and get the turkey fryer later on. See if you can get 5 gallons to a rolling boil, and then just top if off when you're finished.

 

[Makeyermark]

Stove top (Gas) the max I could ever get to roll was about 3 gallons. Then I would add three more gallons of chilled when I put it primary. After a couple of boil overs in the kitchen I quickly purchased a turkey fryer for about $30 at home depot and started brewing in my garage. Much faster to get a boil with the fryer. You get a bonus brew pot with the fryer also.

 

[steelerguy]

I would get the propane burner and tank, but only because it would bother me to not have it. I really wanted to do full boils from the start even when I was doing extract. Although I brew outside, so I really had no choice.

You might be able to get away boiling covered after 30 mins if you car barely manage a boil of the wort. I don't think I would risk it inside though, it doesn't take much for a boil over.

 

[Neomich]

Divide by 2. Get two pots boiling, splitting the ingredients if you want to do a "full boil" and maybe your stove will handle that better.

Partial boils work fine for me inside on my ceramic stove. It has a hard time with anything above 3 gallons. I use chilled water to top it off and cool it down in like 5 minutes once I'm through.

I'll move on to more elaborate equipment at some point but right now, it's working for me and that's my only goal.

 

[likwidbliss]

Get A Turkey Frier!