Stovetop Question

[Breck09]

So I am testing out my new pot that the wife got me for father day and seeing if my electric stove can boil the required 2.5 gallons of water to do my first extract batch in the coming week. How long does it take you guys to get that much water boiling on a stove? I am going on 25+ minutes and still waiting for a boil. Is my stove going to be strong enough. It isn't an old stove or anything.

 

[marubozo]

Every stove is going to be different, but back when I did partial boil extract brews on our old electric stove it would take about an hour to get 3 gallons up to a boil

 

[Captain_Bigelow]

When I used my gas stove after an hour I was no where near a rolling boil. I purchased a $40 outdoor propane burner and never looked back.

 

[Breck09]

Well it took 30 minutes but it finally started boiling. Pretty good boil too, so I think I am ready to possibly brew this weekend. Can't wait.

 

[ArizonaDB]

This is probably an obvious tip, but keep the lid on while you boil. It will help keep the heat in and bring the boil sooner.

And although this wont help you since you have an electric stove, for my gas stove I fold some heavy duty aluminum foil into a ring and wrap it around the edges of the burner so there is no where for the heat to go but into the pot. I haven't done a test to see if it actually makes a difference but I don't think it can hurt.

Good luck with your boiling. Keep the old addage in mind, too, that "a watched pot never boils".

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

Take the lid off after the boil starts I think.... and wrap the pot with a couple of layers of aluminum foil. It speeded my boils up a LOT. Then I bought the turkey fryer burner and BLAM FAST boils.

 

[MBasile]

I'm assuming your stove has a large and small burner in front and in back. Try it on the back larger burner, which I'm assuming gets less use than the front large one.

 

[nanofreak]

Well it took 30 minutes but it finally started boiling. Pretty good boil too, so I think I am ready to possibly brew this weekend. Can't wait.

I bring mine to a boil with the lid on the pot. I then bring it back to a boil with the pot partially covered by the lid, leaving space for nasties to evap out. Have you tried that? It may speed it up considerably.

 

[mullenite]

I bring mine to a boil with the lid on the pot. I then bring it back to a boil with the pot partially covered by the lid, leaving space for nasties to evap out. Have you tried that? It may speed it up considerably.

This is what I do and I can get 6.5 gallons to boil on my electric stove in just about an hour (though this is coming from the mash tun so it's already pretty hot.)

 

[Breck09]

Yeah I left the lid on as I knew it would help with boil time. I can't use the back burner due to the size of the pot and the microwave being mounted on top, I wouldn't be able to stir or see inside the pot. Thanks for all of the advice.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

Yeah I left the lid on as I knew it would help with boil time. I can't use the back burner due to the size of the pot and the microwave being mounted on top, I wouldn't be able to stir or see inside the pot. Thanks for all of the advice.

Just make sure you pull that lid off well before you reach a boil with actual wort in that pot...otherwise you'll have a big sticky mess on your stovetop to clean up.

 

[cell]

I made a 5 gallon batch, full boil, last winter and it took nearly one hour and a half to get a boil!