Just cracked my stovetop...

[Hermit]

like comparing a 150k BTU burner to a candle isn't it?Anything electric is anemic when compared to even a regular gas stove unless its an induction type range. The selling point is they look nice and are much easier to clean the elements dont burn out nearly as often. They are several grades of glass top stove just like regular . I see no difference in heating times between our old coil range and the glass.

if they had gas in my neighborhood I would have a commercial gas stove too.

They can be a pain in the axe to clean. Fall behind and they get messy fast. They can also pick up scuff marks from pans and get scratched if not careful. When they first came out the used to have an instructional video and a razor blade scrapper...

 

[jbanta]

andrewp - first sorry to hear about this..... but immediately i thought of the 'you are a brewer post' - because your flattop stove just cracked and you were worried of your wort sounded like a perfect one on that post...

all things considered... i am not really going to be pushing towards electric brewing as i too am cooking on a flattop - I have had mine at full heat with no problems but i really would hate to break the top. The SWMBO would kill me and the hobby of homebrewing... so i better find another way to brew..

 

[Hermit]

how would i pick out an impact mark? t

It would look like one..

 

[andrewp]

so to sum up this thread. it sounds like flattop electric brewers should be concerned about a few things:

1) uneven surface of your brew pot. get a good grade pot so it doesn't warp
2) if you can, don't have the stove on full heat. someone suggested wrapping a towel around the pot to retain heat. (i am cautious to try this and risk burning the towel. are their other ways to prevent heat loss?)
3) if I were to brew on this type of stove again i would not slide the pot across the stove top to get it on/off of heat (like when adding LME). i think this scratched the surface and lead to the eventual break.
4) try to pick out cracks in the surface before you brew. heat and pressure will make them worse and potentially give you a bigger crack.


5) switch to gas brewing... lol

 

[Ichthy]

so to sum up this thread. it sounds like flattop electric brewers should be concerned about a few things:


2) if you can, don't have the stove on full heat. someone suggested wrapping a towel around the pot to retain heat. (i am cautious to try this and risk burning the towel. are their other ways to prevent heat loss?)

I suggested the towel idea. I boiled 3 gals of top off water on a glass stovetop the other night for about 15 minutes to remove carbonate and to sanitize. I used some binder clips attached to the top of the kettle to keep the towel off the stove surface and didn't have any problems with the towel catching on fire. However, I'll be brewing this weekend and report back. Do a thread search for "improved stovetop boiling" for ways to insulate your pot. I'm upgrading to a turkey fryer once I (hopefully) recieve my xmas gifts so this will be a moot issue for me .

 

[springer]

They can be a pain in the axe to clean. Fall behind and they get messy fast. They can also pick up scuff marks from pans and get scratched if not careful. When they first came out the used to have an instructional video and a razor blade scrapper...

clean up is a breeze the older ones were crap. Never had any scuff marks on the smooth top we just use the past cleaner after use .Still have to use the razor when something gets burned on the surface not a big deal. SWMBO does some heavy duty cooking on it 5 gallons of soup or pasta sauce a week is not unusual in my home and the pot is my old brew pot a 24 qt SS .6 years and the only time it broke was from something falling on it. I believe it was cookie jar that was on the top of the cabinet SWMBO has a collection of old jars was more concerned about the jar than the stove when it happened.

 

[andrewp]

clearly there are a lot of people that use this type of stove with a lot of success but like anything its always better to take precautions. i brewed on this type of top for more than a year now and didn't have a problem until now.

 

[Effington]

I just bought one of these glass top stoves; we're remodeling the kitchen with new appliances and this is pretty much the standard now for electric stove tops. Gas would be great... but it's not available here.

I was wondering if you could use some sort of diffuser on the glass stovetop while boiling wort... something like this.

 

[Ichthy]

I just bought one of these glass top stoves; we're remodeling the kitchen with new appliances and this is pretty much the standard now for electric stove tops. Gas would be great... but it's not available here.

I was wondering if you could use some sort of diffuser on the glass stovetop while boiling wort... something like this.

that looks pretty cool! Just make sure it isn't larger than your burner. Someone mentioned those stovetops will crack if the pot diameter far exceeds the burner diameter. I assume because the rest of the stovetop isn't as tolerable to heat?? I may get one of these for canning veggies, but wonder how well the heat transfer is?? Let me know if you get one.

 

[Effington]

that looks pretty cool! Just make sure it isn't larger than your burner. Someone mentioned those stovetops will crack if the pot diameter far exceeds the burner diameter. I assume because the rest of the stovetop isn't as tolerable to heat?? I may get one of these for canning veggies, but wonder how well the heat transfer is?? Let me know if you get one.

After some research I found that people discourage using heat diffusers on these stove tops because it messes with the temperature sensors (?).

I guess without direct contact on the cooking surface, the burners tend to act a little crazy. I don't know if this applies to all stoves or just older ones or what. I'm trying to find someone who has actually used a diffuser/trivet on their glass top and I can't...

 

[andrewp]

brewing again this morning on the new stove... wish me luck. hopefully it will go without cracks...

split the salvaged wort into two 2 gal SS pots. Shattered IPA in the works as we speak

 

[Ichthy]

I suggested the towel idea. I boiled 3 gals of top off water on a glass stovetop the other night for about 15 minutes to remove carbonate and to sanitize. I used some binder clips attached to the top of the kettle to keep the towel off the stove surface and didn't have any problems with the towel catching on fire. However, I'll be brewing this weekend and report back. Do a thread search for "improved stovetop boiling" for ways to insulate your pot. I'm upgrading to a turkey fryer once I (hopefully) recieve my xmas gifts so this will be a moot issue for me .

I brewed two batches this weekend and use a big towel to insulate my pot. I just wrapped the pot and attached it to the top with binder clips, making sure the towel was ~1" from the stove surface. I boiled 3.5 gallons pretty easily and I don't have completely flat bottomed pot. Hope this helps.