My Stove Sucks

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Gold_Robber

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My Stove Can't Bring 3.5 Gallon batch to a Boil. I tried using two burners but things started smoking. I can't use propane outside as I am in apartment building. Are there any suggestions for me? Please help. :(
 
Doesn't the pot have to affect a magnet when you put one near it? My pot has no affect. I don't think it will work on an induction.

If your pot is induction ready, you could switch over to an induction burner. Those you can run pretty well in small spaces!
 
Do you just measure the amount of wort in each pot and add the appropriate hops ratio? Thanks

Also, I did this for a while...
Split it into multiple pots! I was on a crappy apartment stove and had two or three pots going. It's not too bad and actually makes chilling easier too.
 
I heard about those but not many people I read use it. I will need to research further. Thanks for your help!

Use a bucket heater to assist in heating. I can easily heat 7 gallons of strike water to temp, and the wort to a boil on my electric stove using the bucket heater. Once I get it to boil, I shut off and remove the heater and the stove element maintains the boil.
 
Making beer on an electric stove is absolutely terrible, only did that once. Even with my kitchen's new gas stove I need to run multiple burners under my 10 gallon pot to get it to a boil in a reasonable length of time. If I ever find a used turkey burner at a yard sale I think I'll switch to that.
 
SO the stove can actually maintain the boil? I guess the process of heating the wort to boil is the tough part for crappy stoves. Thanks for this tip.

Use a bucket heater to assist in heating. I can easily heat 7 gallons of strike water to temp, and the wort to a boil on my electric stove using the bucket heater. Once I get it to boil, I shut off and remove the heater and the stove element maintains the boil.
 
I see. Very cool. I will look into this!

it's not induction, just a 1500 watt hot plate....it will work with ceramic even....i jumped mine so it's full on always, and use a fan speed controller to control the temp.....
 
Making beer on an electric stove is absolutely terrible, only did that once. Even with my kitchen's new gas stove I need to run multiple burners under my 10 gallon pot to get it to a boil in a reasonable length of time. If I ever find a used turkey burner at a yard sale I think I'll switch to that.
|Watch for sales after turkey day holidays - especially |Thanksgiving. Burners that may be $60 or $80 before will be around $40 after.
|Also, check the homebrew sites for deals - MoreBeer has a deal of the day and |I'm pretty sure |I've seen burners there, and |Adventures in Homebrewing has sales ll the time with some pretty good deals on them.
 
Looking into this, I noticed that there is no hook. Do you just hold the heater with your hand? Just curious. thanks.

Use a bucket heater to assist in heating. I can easily heat 7 gallons of strike water to temp, and the wort to a boil on my electric stove using the bucket heater. Once I get it to boil, I shut off and remove the heater and the stove element maintains the boil.
 
Looking into this, I noticed that there is no hook. Do you just hold the heater with your hand? Just curious. thanks.

You just set it in the kettle, with the end pointing down. Don't immerse the handle.

Like this:

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My Stove Can't Bring 3.5 Gallon batch to a Boil. I tried using two burners but things started smoking. I can't use propane outside as I am in apartment building. Are there any suggestions for me? Please help. :(
All-grain or extract?
High gravity brewing might be an option. Do a 2 gallon boil and top off with 1.5 gallons of cold water.
 
Or just do smaller individual boils in smaller pots and combine. Nothing to buy, no apartment fire to put out.

Do additions to the boil get divided up between each pot or just put in one boil? Might be something for you to experiment with and let us know.

edit...
Just wanted to add that the advantage in cooking to gas vs electric is response time when you change the setting and visually being able to see it. The coil and glass top electric stoves I've had could boil water as fast or faster than many gas stove tops. When I turn the heat down with a gas stove, the boil stops instantly instead of lagging.
 
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My Stove Can't Bring 3.5 Gallon batch to a Boil. I tried using two burners but things started smoking.
What kind of stove is it?
What started smoking?

Re: Induction
Doesn't the pot have to affect a magnet when you put one near it? My pot has no affect. I don't think it will work on an induction.
Some stainless pots a magnet won't stick to still work with induction. But there's only one way to find out... the hard way. I have a (cheap) 8 gallon Polar Ware kettle (single ply bottom, not triple ply) that works great on induction. I use it to heat sparge water, and also make stocks and large batches of soup in it.

Induction heating is a bit more efficient than an electric coil or a flat top, and you could insulate the kettle easier. But 1500W is still a bit skimpy.

My $200 IC3500 induction plate is 3500W, but runs on 240V. I love it, and for more than brewing.
It could be plugged into an electric dryer outlet using a different plug or an adapter.
 
The stove is a Danby.

I don't know what started smoking...the element or the pot itself. I cannot have a fire here.

What kind of stove is it?
What started smoking?

Re: Induction

Some stainless pots a magnet won't stick to still work with induction. But there's only one way to find out... the hard way. I have a (cheap) 8 gallon Polar Ware kettle (single ply bottom, not triple ply) that works great on induction. I use it to heat sparge water, and also make stocks and large batches of soup in it.

Induction heating is a bit more efficient than an electric coil or a flat top, and you could insulate the kettle easier. But 1500W is still a bit skimpy.

My $200 IC3500 induction plate is 3500W, but runs on 240V. I love it, and for more than brewing.
It could be plugged into an electric dryer outlet using a different plug or an adapter.
 
The stove is a Danby.

I don't know what started smoking...the element or the pot itself. I cannot have a fire here.
I was more fishing for the kind of heat source, gas, electric (open) coils or electric flat top.
Mostly in respect to possible ways to insulate those pot(s).
With gas, open flames, using any kind of insulation around the pots or kettle is totally out of the question. They're a fire hazard. Don't!!!

In my old home, on the largest (open) coil I could boil 4 gallons of water without a problem in a 5 gallon enamel canning pot/kettle.
Possibly even a larger kettle/volume, but safety may have become a concern due to construction and stability of those kind of stoves and elements.

In a leased townhome, after that, the brand new flat glass top electric stove that was in there could not comfortably boil 7 gallons of water/wort without some insulation. I used thick, tripled-up towels held with super tight bulldog clips and bungees cords around the kettle, and leaving the lid on part ways with a thick tripled up towel on top.
I tried straddling the kettle over 2 of the larger burners, but due to the space in between that was no better solution, possibly worse.

When we bought our new house, we bought a flat glass top stove having a huge triple element, especially with brewing in mind. I was hoping it could boil 7 gallons (full volume, all grain). That did not pan out either as the element keeps cycling on and off. :(
Again, only with insulation (triple layer of Reflectix) around the kettle, the lid on part ways, and again a thick towel on top, I could maintain a mere simmer and still boiled off a gallon an hour. But the sheer weight of that full kettle on the glass top also became a major point of concern.

Inspired by a thread here on HBT, that's when I bought the Avantco IC3500 countertop induction plate, and stick a box fan in the (half) open window behind it. I never looked back. Better yet, I even bought a 2nd plate.

Running a stove fan also increases evaporation and removes heat, which may be part of the under-capacity heating problem, but you really can't do without it, unless you get inventive. But you can condense wort as much as you like, even if it takes 2 or 3 hours. Or use a couple pounds more malt, so you don't have to sparge and later condense as much.

Anything that spills onto your burner is likely to cause smoking or burning. Don't fill pots too high.

In the short run, I'd say split heating/boiling your water and wort over as many burners and pots you have. The larger one(s) holding a bigger pot/volume than the smaller ones.
Even chilling in the sink or a tub with water is more efficient with multiple vessels. Combine at the end.

I bought two 9 quart stainless pots at IKEA for $20 a piece. They're induction ready, and use them all the time. I wish I had bought a few more...
 
A turkey fryer is a great way to get something boiling quickly. Alternatively, an electric immersion heater used in tandem can help your electric stove bring something up to a boil - as already mentioned, the stove can probably maintain a simmer on it's own. I use a Brewer's Edge Mash and Boil for mashing but I still like to do the boil in an open pot.
 
High gravity brewing might be an option. Do a 2 gallon boil and top off with 1.5 gallons of cold water.

🤔

But doesn't "forum wisdom" claim that a concentrated 'extract' boil leads to "off flavors" and "darker than expected" color?

I may be curious enough to queue up a concentrated boil recipe with 'fresh' DME and distilled water.
 
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All grain. I have always felt that high gravity brewing is kind of like cheating.
Not cheating.
"High gravity" brewing, with water top up in the fermenter, is an extract brewing method. And for good results, a certain process needs to be followed.
One of the most important notes of that process is that extract should not be boiled at high gravity, certainly not for an hour or so, unless caramelization is desired.

It certainly does not translate to all grain. Ask anyone who has brewed a Wee Heavy, Old Ale, Barleywine, and such, how high gravity brewing tanks your mash efficiency. All grain derived wort needs to be concentrated, condensed, made stronger by evaporation.
 
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