Stove top/Electric BIAB

[dobes]

I was looking into getting a BIAB set up inside my kitchen. I wanted to use my stove and assist it with an electric heating element. I would be doing 5 gallon batches, full boil.
I looked on my stove and could not find any BTU ratings for the burners but it is a glass cook top. I tried a while ago and was able to boil 6.5 gallons of wort but it took forever.
I don't have a separate 220 line in my kitchen and was hoping to be able to plug into 110.
Was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what size element I would need if its even possible with 110.

 

[TexasWine]

I also do stove top BIAB and this is totally doable. And you don't need 220 if all you want to do is assist your stove top.

You could build your own heat stick. But I'd recommend using a prebuilt immersion heater. Look at this thread to get ideas on what other folks are using.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=381737

Also, have you tried allowing you kettle to straddle multiple burners/eyes simultaneously? I do this and it get's things boiling pretty quickly.

One last thing. Check to see if your pot will fit in your oven. I've started putting my kettle full of strike water in it the night before and putting it on the "warm" setting. I do this the night before and when I wake up the next morning my water is already hot and I'm ready to dough in. I also mash in the oven and don't loose a single degree during the mash.

 

[dobes]

Thanks for the tips TexasWine.
Really like using the oven sure hope my pot fits.

 

[wilserbrewer]

The bucket heater linked above will help greatly to heat water and assist your boil, only downside is they are only 1000 watts. A home built heat stick is typically either 1500w or 2000w and the increase will be considerable!

With a glass top stove, I have heard that it is not recommended to use a pot that is substantially wider than the burner area, so a tall narrow pot may be best. A wide pot may overheat the glass surface, which may result in the burner shutting off intermittently, or worse yet cracking the glass top.

Sorry to be negative, just thought I'd put it out there.


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[TexasWine]

The bucket heater linked above will help greatly to heat water and assist your boil, only downside is they are only 1000 watts. A home built heat stick is typically either 1500w or 2000w and the increase will be considerable!

With a glass top stove, I have heard that it is not recommended to use a pot that is substantially wider than the burner area, so a tall narrow pot may be best. A wide pot may overheat the glass surface, which may result in the burner shutting off intermittently, or worse yet cracking the glass top.

Sorry to be negative, just thought I'd put it out there.


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

Ah, I didn't know that about glass top stoves! Good point.

Also, I think he's gonna be limited to 1500 watts or less on the heat stick with 110v.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I believe you can run 2000w element on a 20 amp 110v circuit withoiut issue. I do it, not that that makes it right by any means

 

[TexasWine]

Well you're right again! 2000/110=18.18 amps.

 

[Fatman_Brew]

I run a 10 gallon pot on a stove top with a 1650w (to keep amps down) element in the pot from a GFCI 20 amp outlet near my stove. I do 8 gallons into boil kettle to get 6 gallons into fermeter. A wider pot will distribute weight over a greater surface area. I have a ceramic top stove, not glass so your mileage may vary. I also wrap my pot in reflex insulation. It helps quite a bit.

The 1650w element keeps me under 80% continuous load (15 out of 16 amps) on a 20 amp circuit.

 

[JohnSand]

I brew outside now, but on the glass-top in winter. My stove is a newer Maytag with a "Speed Heat" setting, and it will boil 7 gallons, though it takes about 25 minutes. But it has to have a pot that fits inside the marked ring, or sensors will turn it down to prevent overheating. It also has to have a dead flat bottom for contact. And I use aluminum for heat transfer.

 

[djt17]

I use a 1500W heatstick to assist my stove; works great.

 

[Calichusetts]

insulated kettle + heat stick. You should have no issues with even large batches. BUT, if you can mash in the oven, do it. So amazing. Mad I didn't switch to it earlier.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

the stove or 1500 watt element will work fine for mashing but at 120 the 2000 watt is the only one that I could get a boil from and it was still slow to say the least. the 2000 watt pulls 16.667 amps so a 20 watt breaker with nothing else on it like a microwave or refrigerator will work. a better way is too unplug your dryer and use that outlet and a 5500 watt lime life element, it will last longer and bee much faster

 

[dobes]

Thanks for all the great info everyone. I did a bit more research on the glass cooktops after reading the posts. Main thing I came across was not using a pot that goes more than 1-2 inches beyond the burner depending on what the manufacture says. The other thing is how much weight to put on the cooktop which varies but seems to be around 50lbs.
I think i'll get a heating element that is as close to 2000w as I can find.
I have a 5 gallon pot that I can mash in the oven with. Then I can put the grains in my bigger pot to sparge. Then pour my wort into the bigger pot so I can full boil.
Sounds like a plan, thanks again everyone!!

 

[wilserbrewer]

I have a 5 gallon pot that I can mash in the oven with. Then I can put the grains in my bigger pot to sparge. Then pour my wort into the bigger pot so I can full boil.
Sounds like a plan, thanks again everyone!!

Mashing in the oven is great, for smaller batches that lose heat quickly. I would not bother mashing in a small pot, then transferring to a larger pot, then sparging, whew what a pain in the A$$.

I would suggest mashing full volume in your larger pot and enjoying the lesser hassle of BIAB brewing.

Heat to strike temp, add grain and stir, wrap w/ a blanket or old coat, stir, remove bag and boil....KISS

 

[TexasWine]

Mashing in the oven is great, for smaller batches that lose heat quickly. I would not bother mashing in a small pot, then transferring to a larger pot, then sparging, whew what a pain in the A$$.

I would suggest mashing full volume in your larger pot and enjoying the lesser hassle of BIAB brewing.

Heat to strike temp, add grain and stir, wrap w/ a blanket or old coat, stir, remove bag and boil....KISS

I agree. Not a big help to mash in the oven if you're adding steps like you described.

I brought it up because I'm able to mash in the oven with my 9 gallon kettle. Usually have about 6 gallons of strike water in the kettle and sparge with a couple of gallons. I do 5 to 6 gallon batches.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I agree TW, if it fits in the oven, maybe even remove a rack, and you can get it in and out without issue...a warm oven is a great way to hold temps.


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[dobes]

Well I ended up getting a 1000W bucket heater for my BIAB set-up. It actually worked out surprisingly well. I put 5 gallons of 60F water in my kettle and when I came back 25 minutes later it was at 178. Over shot my strike temp but I really didn't think it would come up that fast.

So I just added some water to bring the temp down.

Next I rinsed my grain with about 2 gallons or so to have a total of 6.5 gallons in the kettle. I was then able to bring my water up to a boil in 28 minutes. Also another surprise for me. I thought this would take a bit longer.

I was then able to keep a boil with just my stove top. It wasn't as vigorous of a boil as I normally get with my propane burners but it worked fine.

The only thing was I miscalculated my boil off and ended up with right around 5 gallons instead of 5.5 like I was shooting for. No biggie I'll adjust for it next time.

Overall I am extremely happy with the way it worked out. The little time it took for heating everything really surprised me.

I wrapped my kettle in that silver bubble wrap that it seems a bunch of people use and I only lost 1F in an hour on my mash temp, Another shocker.

Here are some pics from the brew day
(Sorry about the orientation could not figure out how to turn them)

 

[TexasWine]

Congrats! Glad to hear it went as smooth as it did.