Anyone brew 5 gallon batches on your kitchen stove?

[coneal]

Before I try this (and risk upsetting SWMBO), I figured I'd reach out to those who have already upset Her. Does anyone brew 5 gallon batches inside? And, if so, do you have any idea how big your burner is?

I tried to boil 5 gallons on my old stove, just as a test, and the only thing I came close to cloning was the rainforest - the whole house was about 10 degrees warmer and the humidity was up to about 1,000%! But, that was the old stove. I'm sure this one will work much better, right?

In the end, we all know I'm going to try this no matter what replies I get. Worst case, I'll grab my putty knife and finally get the last bit of wallpaper down!

 

[mosaicbrewer]

gas?

 

[BStim]

I used to brew on the stove top....it was an electric cook top with a glass or ceramic top. Notice the past tense in that sentence. It cracked. When bringing the wort to its initial boil the cooktop cracked pretty significantly. Now I need to either fix or replace it. Lucky my wife hasn't berated me too much. Worst part is that I have one of those turkey fryer propane burners which I should have been using but was being a punk about brewing out in the cold. Whatever...live and learn I guess. I learned not to brew on the stove top.

 

[u81doughboy]

I've brewed a 5 gallon batch on the gas stove with no problems. I'm not sure how much effort that would take with electric. Good luck.

 

[coneal]

Sorry... It's a fairly new gas stove with a "17,000 btu Power Burner." {insert Tim Allen grunting here}

 

[1977Brewer]

That oughta do it. I brew on my electric stove.

 

[jason1973]

Sorry... It's a fairly new gas stove with a "17,000 btu Power Burner." {insert Tim Allen grunting here}

If you can put pot on two burners should be okay, induction hot plates work and prety cheap and wont boil all over wifes stove.
Allso depending on budget there are electric brew kettles, if get a bliechman can slowly up grade to brew easy for all grain.
If you have a empty 240v plug then you have even more options.

 

[NewkyBrown]

I bought a 1800w induction plate which I use to heat strike water (takes about 45 mins to heat to 165f). I also use this to heat my wort to around 180f then switch to my cooker top.

I have wrapped my 9 gallon kettle with reflectix and I can achieve a nice rolling boil. The only thing is here in Calgary water boils around 205f so that makes life easier.

It is great to able to brew indoors in winter and if you step outside for a minute and them come back in, the house really smells like a brewery!

 

[h-bar]

I have a small gas stove and use a heat stick to achieve a rolling boil. I do 5 gallon batches and usually start with 7 gallons of preboil volume.

 

[stonebrewer]

I brewed on my gas stove for years before making my rig. Worked great! I eventually converted my rig to natural gas, so I am back to a stove, just one I made instead of GE or the like.

Had no problems getting a roiling boil. Only real issues were the smell, which I loved but the kids complained about, and the fact that I took over the kitchen when SWMBO wanted it for silly things like food preparation. You should be fine! I do have a "power burner" which is larger than the others as well as a griddle burner...used the power burner, cuz, hey...I'm a guy!

Cheers!

 

[oljimmy]

Just did a 6.5-gallon boil on my stovetop. The key is to have a pot (mine is 8 gal) that is wide enough to cover two burners. I don't think I could do a rolling boil with a single burner, though maybe it's possible.

 

[TallDan]

Sorry... It's a fairly new gas stove with a "17,000 btu Power Burner." {insert Tim Allen grunting here}

Not quite sure what the BTU of the "Power Burner" on mine is, but the newer version of the same stove says it's 13,500btu. I have brewed many 5G batches on it. Prior to that, I did 5G batches on the cheapest gas stove I've ever seen, and did fine by having the kettle over two burners. Between those two stoves, 23 AG 5G batches. It takes longer to get to boil than i'd really like and a stronger boil would also be nice, but it works.

 

[MaxStout]

Once I did a "test run" on my electric stove, with 7 gallons of water in a 10 gallon kettle. I wanted to see if a full BIAB brew could be done indoors. After close to an hour it stalled out just shy of a boil. Just a few bubbles on the bottom. Glad I tested before doing the real thing.

In cold-weather months I do 2.5 gallon BIAB batches on the stove just fine in a 5 gallon kettle.

 

[khawk95]

Not to be a naysayer, but honestly, I would spend 50 bucks on a darkstar burner or other propane burner and just make it work. I used to brew on a stovetop, and after a few boilovers, and waiting almost an hour to get the boil going, it just wasn't worth it anymore.

Now I brew in the garage and don't have those worries. Boil happens in about 12 mins. It's worth it for me.

 

[DPBISME]

Before I try this (and risk upsetting SWMBO), I figured I'd reach out to those who have already upset Her. Does anyone brew 5 gallon batches inside? And, if so, do you have any idea how big your burner is?
QUOTE]

I have only done it with GAS... I now have an electric stove.... but I also now have a ten gallon system and it is PROPANE...

I have had great luck with these

http://www.morebeer.com/products/ca...jK_D8l022WkOnKZbLZ9dz9opkm19nfcTZYaAvHf8P8HAQ



DPB

 

[The_Nid_Hog]

I always brew on the gas range in my kitchen. I've never had any problem getting a good rolling boil for my five-gallon batches (which might start off around seven). I do take over the kitchen for a while when I brew, but my wife and kids usually pitch in and help so no complaints there. I honestly can't imagine buying a burner.

 

[ArkhamAsylum]

I used to do stove-top boils with extract recipes. I was only able to span a single burner, and couldn't get to a rolling boil with 5 gallons. Instead, I would pre-boil about 3 gallons of water, put it in sanitized jugs in the fridge, then do a 3-gallon wort. Topping off with the cold sanitized water made cooling a lot faster.

 

[ultra_cas]

Would a new gas stove with a decent power burner work if my brew pot is a keggle? We are stove shopping now, I brew outside on propane but it was a cruel winter. Although I may just switch to smaller batches on those bitter weekends and brew indoors. Glad winter is about over

 

[sboyajian]

I also have the "Power Burner" and I brew 5 gallon batches on my gas stove, using a 10 gallon kettle.

Actually gets up to temp fairly quickly.

 

[brew_darrymore]

I have an electric stove and have been doing 5 gallon batches for about a year now. It takes 30-40 minutes to bring the wort to a rolling boil, but I take that time to clean the mash tun (a 5 gallon Igloo cooler).

 

[jtratcliff]

I do 6.5g batches in a 10g tamale steamer on my gas stovetop... BIAB. I can just barely cover 2 burners.

Last batch, I added a $15 1000W heat stick to the mix. Significantly reduced time to dough-in and time to boil...

It was too vigorous of a boil to leave in the whole time. My Stove can hold a rolling boil just fine... it takes awhile to get there on it's own. The heat stick was a worthwhile addition.

Never had a boil over (knock wood)... Dripped while draining the grain bag, however. Nothing too horrible.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

I do 6.5gallons boiled down to 5.5gallons on a flat top electric cooktop in a 7.5gallon aluminum turkey fryer and haven't had issues takes a bit to get to boil but it does fairly vigorously. Your results may vary. But it can be done.

 

[fatom99]

I do 5.5 gallon batches on my ceramic stovetop, doing BIAB. Getting a full boil was trouble, so I split my boil into 2 pots, problem solved.

 

[LLBrewer]

another option is to do smaller concentrated boils and then top off with ice cold water to hit your final volume. I just tried this with a dry stout and it came out great.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I did two full batches on my stovetop (electric) on the power burner. No idea on the wattage. Took about an hour to get to boil, so I bought two heat sticks. Did another batch a little later, took about 20 minutes to get to boil. BOOYA!

These were full volume full boil BIAB batches. (roughly 14lb grain, 8~ gallons). Ended up bending the heating element slightly, but it bent bank pretty easily. Now the 0.75 Gallon boilover that occurred when I left for lunch and turned the burner to 1 instead of 0 after the 60 minute boil is another story.

 

[adamranders]

I've done nearly 100 batches on my glass ceramic cook top, using an 8 gal aluminum tamale steamer. On the largest burner (14in I believe) at full heat I get 6.5 gal of wort to boil in 45min. As far as boil overs, we all have one every now and then, I've found the glass cook top easy to get clean on the rare occasion of boil over, that said though I've also found just keeping a close eye on the boil until you reach hot break and a mixing utensil close at hand works best. As far as SWMBO she loves it when I brew, makes the house smell great.

 

[mackenziemicro]

I brew in a condo no outdoor space, it's rented so limited to the existing gas stove a 5g boil just wouldn't work so I split into two kettles and combine into the fermenter... Don't know the power but the bigger ring can get a good rolling boil and the second kettle I place over the second and third biggest rings gets an ok boil.... Works for me just more to clean!!!

 

[eadavis80]

Full boil on stove top? Gonna' take a strong stove. I did 5-gallon BATCHES on the stove top, but that was while boiling only 3 gallons of wort and then topping off with water. Now it's a Burner and a Tall Boy in the garage. Better hop extraction + quicker time to reach boiling + no risk of nasty boil over on stove to upset wife = winning combo.

 

[Randomnoob]

I used to do 5 gallon boils on the gas stove top at my old place, it was slow and I hated having to do it in the kitchen (which was messy). On the other hand, it did partial boils like a beast. When I bought my house in January of 2014, I noticed that it had a glass electric stove top. I asked for and got an outdoor gas burner for Christmas. I've done all my full boils outside since then. I have a two car detached garage and a small basement garage, so the small basement garage has become my home brewery when we moved in. I've done a couple partials since then on the electric stove top (when it was about -10 and snowing outside) and that thing can barely boil 3 gallons of wort.

 

[rhys333]

I can get 4.5 gallons of water boiling in my 5 gallon pot no problem. This is with an electric stove, using just one element. I'll brew 3 or 4 gallon AG batches this way, or occasionally 5-6 gallons with top-up water. I tried my larger 10 gallon pot on there, but due to larger diameter it can't boil even one gallon of water.

 

[GuitsBoy]

I do three concurrent batches in 8 gallon kettles. The burners aren't perfectly centered under each kettle, but I have no problem bringing it to a boil fairly quickly. I believe they are 15K 18K 15K burners, and its a 36" range. I cant even imagine doing one batch at a time anymore, it just takes so long, especially if AG.

 

[dobes]

Do full 5 gallon batches on a glass cook top. Not sure of the btu but I bought a 1000w heat stick and can bring it from mash to boil in about 20 mins. Once boiling I can pull the heat stick and the stove can keep it boiling. I also have the kettle wrapped in the silver bubble wrap.
As for the humidity I use a desk fan that blows the steam right out the window.

 

[beergolf]

Another option that I use if the weather is chitty outside. Split the boil between two pots. I will split the boil between a 3'gallon pot and a 5 gallon pot. Hop additions are split between pots. It boils off a little more but allows me to brew on days when the weather really won't let me brew outdoors.

 

[ChiefIlliniwek]

I do 5 gallon batches on a gas stove. I start with 6.5 gallons in an 8 gallon pot and watch it like a hawk with a spray bottle of Starsan for the first 20 minutes. I center my pot on the large front power burner, the back burner, and the center griddle burner. It takes a little while to get there, but it works.

 

[Gavin C]

Before I try this (and risk upsetting SWMBO), I figured I'd reach out to those who have already upset Her. Does anyone brew 5 gallon batches inside? And, if so, do you have any idea how big your burner is?

I tried to boil 5 gallons on my old stove, just as a test, and the only thing I came close to cloning was the rainforest - the whole house was about 10 degrees warmer and the humidity was up to about 1,000%! But, that was the old stove. I'm sure this one will work much better, right?

In the end, we all know I'm going to try this no matter what replies I get. Worst case, I'll grab my putty knife and finally get the last bit of wallpaper down!

I do BIAB. Takes a while to heat the strike water and get to a boil but my stove can do it. 7 gallon pre-boil volume is typical for my 5.5 gallon batches.

My central burner on full

My 11 gallon capacity pot

Rolling Boil

 

[ChiefIlliniwek]

I do BIAB. Takes a while to heat the strike water and get to a boil but my stove can do it. 7 gallon pre-boil volume is typical for my 5.5 gallon batches.

My central burner on full View attachment 262828

My 11 gallon capacity potView attachment 262829

Rolling Boil
View attachment 262830

Ok that's a nice looking setup. What's the contraption in the middle?

 

[Gavin C]

Ok that's a nice looking setup. What's the contraption in the middle?

A hop spider I guess you mean.

Stainless steel carriage bolts, PVC 4-3" adapter, 5 gallon paint strainer bag and a large stainless hose clamp.

 

[soccerdad]

I do. Gas. 17,000 BTU.

 

[edroberts]

I usually brew on Saturdays, but with my CPA wife at work these days I hoped I could brew inside rather than scramble back and forth to the garage to brew AND monitor the 4 kids (including one infant) at the same time. I attempted a test boil of a mere 2 gallons on my kitchen ceramic stove and couldn't get a rolling boil. Man, I miss the gas stove I had in KC...

My suggestion: Calculate your starting volume and make sure you can bring that much water to a rolling boil before having 6 gallons of wort in a holding pattern.

At least the weather is warm enough that I can bring the baby outside with me while I brew this weekend.