What To Boil On?

[sharp63]

After doing my first batch on my electric stove I noticed 2 things:

1) The electric stove took a long time to bring 20 quarters to a boil
2) My wife would be happier if I wasn't in the kitchen making beer

I know some people get outdoor stoves and cook on those but I'd prefer something I could use indoors (in the basement) or outdoors (either outside or in the garage with the doors open).

I was looking around and saw this:

Opentip.com: Home N Away Portable Stove

I'm not sure what kind of BTU's are "ideal" for making wort. Any suggestions? Is this thing too small? Should I just suck it up and convert to outdoor brewing even in the winter?

 

[passedpawn]

Why are you boiling quarters? Laundering money?

Burners sold at homebrew shops are usually about 60,000 BTU. I was just looking at one that is 150,000 BTU!

That one (in your link) is only 9800. I think you could do better. Look for turkey cooker pots, which often are kitted with a burner that you can connect to a propane tank. Sams/Walmart/Costco. I wouldn't use this indoors, myself. Maybe in the garage.

 

[McKBrew]

Honestly, brewing outdoors in the cold actually isn't that bad. Warm clothes, cup of coffee, the heat from the burner. It can be a bit relaxing.

 

[camiller]

Why are you boiling quarters? Laundering money?

Burners sold at homebrew shops are usually about 60,000 BTU. I was just looking at one that is 150,000 BTU!

That one (in your link) is only 9800. I think you could do better. Look for turkey cooker pots, which often are kitted with a burner that you can connect to a propane tank. Sams/Walmart/Costco. I wouldn't use this indoors, myself. Maybe in the garage.

+2, I use mine in the garage with the door open.

 

[Gremlyn]

Take a look here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/improved-boiling-stovetop-53683/

I've had way faster and fuller boils since I started using that.

Granted it doesn't get you out of the kitchen, but hey she should be happy you're doing anything resembling cooking

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

You could also look into electric heatsticks. I beleive they are made from water heater heating elements. I have seen a couple of threads on it, and I think there is a DIY sticky on it. Just a suggestion, but it looks neat and is probably cheaper than gas overall.

FWIW, I had a double brew day yesterday, and I tried placing my 40qt pot over both burners for the first time and it improved my boil greatly, even though about 1/3 of each burner is not entirely under the pot.

 

[rico567]

The stove you are looking at is rated at only 9800 BTU, about 1K more than the propane kitchen cooktop I've always used for my extract boils. I was determined from the outset to do full 5 gal. boils, but it took a long time to heat up that much cold water, so I split the water 3 ways, with about half being heated in two smaller pots, then used to steep and "sparge" my specialty grains, then dumped into the rest of the boil. Even then, it would take too long and would barely achieve a bubbling boil. I solved that problem by purchasing some automotive firewall insulation from JC Whitney (they also sell the spray adhesive to stick it on your pot, and heatproof foil tape to cover it.
I just switched to AG brewing, where the cooktop just won't work. I opted for the Bayou Classic SP-10, which I think is rated over 150K BTU. It will boil six gallons of cold (55F) water in around 22 minutes.
My conclusion is that for indoor full boils, you're going to find the burner you linked to too small for the job and too expensive to feed.