Stove for cooking wort

[2pugbrews]

This may seem like a silly question but my wife is wanting a new smooth top electric range. I've read a bunch of negative reviews which say that they are slow in heating water; don't heat a 2-2 1/2 gallon boil to a rolling boil etc. Anybody use one of these for boiling your wort and do they work comparably to a regular coil electric range?

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

We have one of these and we hate it. Takes for ever to get up to boil and when cooking if you get to hot it takes a long time to cool down, plus they scratch from the pans, etc being moved around. Our's is a glass like surface. Don't know if there are any other kinds of flat ranges.

 

[Dark_Ale]

I had one in a trailer home I used to live in. I used to boil 4 gallons on it. I really dont remember how long it took to boil, but it must have not been a problem for me. I do remember using a huge granite coated pot and not having any problems with it. The only thing I remember is when you turn it on high, the stove I had did not stay full blast on high. It cut off and on I guess it maintains a certain temp and turns off then when it gets low cuts back on. There was only about 30 seconds between the cycles. Also the burners sit close to the edge and you could not center to pot on the burner because the edges where raised a bit. I made 3 or 4 batches with that stove and it worked for me. Anyway I am sure they make them better now but you may want to ask if the burners cut off and on and take a look at the raised edge make sure your pot is going to fit. Oh ya, if you boil one over you'll be in the doghouse for sure its a mother to get off. I also remember you had to be careful sliding pots back and forth especially cast iron pots they scratch easy. Hope this helps....Good luck.

 

[Truble]

My in laws have one of those, and I am not a big fan. On the occasions that I have used it, I found it slow, with uneven heat. Never had to boil a couple Gal of water, though. I don't like elevtric stoves in general. I like to cook a lot, and like the control power of a good gas stove. I had a propane service put into both houses I have owned, and it was worth it. A plumber will install it and plumb your stove for ~$150...at least, that is what I paid while the houses were being built. even still, I only burn about $75 of propane with my stove all year, so it is pretty cheap to operate.

 

[loopmd]

We have one and I hate it. I use my turkey fryer to boil my wort. I did try to do a batch in the house with the stove once and discovered that the pot that I use to boil the wort does not have a smooth surface on the bottom. It actually had some raised circles so there was not a lot of contact with the surface of the stove. After a half hour of waiting for the stupid water to boil, I gave up. Find a turkey fryer on sale (around 45 bucks) and it is one of the better investments you will make.

loop

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

i didn't like the one we had in another house. it did take a good while to get a boil on.

good excuse to get a propane burner and start that all-grain brewing outside! :~)

 

[2pugbrews]

This may seem like a silly question but my wife is wanting a new smooth top electric range. I've read a bunch of negative reviews which say that they are slow in heating water; don't heat a 2-2 1/2 gallon boil to a rolling boil etc. Anybody use one of these for boiling your wort and do they work comparably to a regular coil electric range?

As those of you in a "successful" marital union know, the operative term is highlighted above. I've concluded we'll get the ceramic glasstop range and I'll try it, if it is deficient in cooking large quantities, I'll be getting a burner for a turkey cooker or some other kind of gas burner.

 

[user 574]

As those of you in a "successful" marital union know, the operative term is highlighted above. I've concluded we'll get the ceramic glasstop range and I'll try it, if it is deficient in cooking large quantities, I'll be getting a burner for a turkey cooker or some other kind of gas burner.

Ayup. You really have no choice in the matter do you . Think the ladies like these for their ease of cleaning... be damned the efficiencies of them I guess.

 

[McCall St. Brewer]

We have one and in general I hate it. I go through gallons of Windex and rolls of paper towel cleaning it. I have to use some sort of white stuff to clean off burned on spills. I can't use cast iron pots and pans on it.

BUT... it works fine for heating my wort. I do 5 gallon batches, so I am only boiling 2 gallons of wort in my stockpot. I have no problem bringing this to a boil and holding a pretty steady temp.

(Aside: we shouldn't even have the thing in the first place. When we moved in there was a decrepit electric stove already there, so we assumed we needed a NEW electric one. When they delivered the new on and removed the old one my wife said: "Gee. What's that weird looking pipe down there next to the 220 outlet?"
I could have had gas. Maybe the thing will break and I can throw it in the garbage).

 

[MNBugeater]

I guess Im in the minority here. We bought a flat top stove when we moved in to our new house and I love. I do most if not all the cooking and I love it for cooking. Im a believer that you get what you pay for. If indeed you are going to get a flat top, dont go cheap. We bought an upper end Jenn-air, and I love it. ONE of the large burners does NOT have the High settin shut off, so i can turn it on high and it wont back down. When I brew I buy two 2.5 gallon jugs of good spring or drinking water. I pour one of them in my kettle and fire up the stove on HIGH. It doesnt take too long to bring those 2.5 gallons to a good rolling boil. Yes the key is GOOD cookware also and most people that are making beer arent using a $300 All-Clad kettle to boil there wort in. You DO need a good flat bottom kettle for use on the flat stoves.

When I start doing all-grain and move to larger pots and kettles, I will go outside and use my gas burner. We do large Crayfish and Shrimp boils in 25 gallons of water without any problems, so i imagine it will work fine on a 10 gallon boil

MNBugeater

 

[Darth Konvel]

What you could do it make this a perfect time to negotiate for a decent turkey frier. "Honey, we can get that nice stove you like so much as long as I can get something that lets me move my brewing elsewhere. That way I don't hurt the new stove-top" or something

 

[Orfy]

Hey man this sounds like a perfect way to let her have what she wants and you get a turkey fryer or some other set up.