Would you straddle two burners on a gas stove?

[Blorton]

I need to get a brew kettle and have been thinking about getting a ten or fifteen gallon in order to use it straddled over two burners on my stove. The problem is that the total diameter would have to be 18", and I know that would make things wobbly. I'm only doing five gallon batches, for now.

Has anyone done this? I'm currently using a bayou classic propane burner outside and want to get away from having to mess with tanks and carrying stuff back into the house.

Thanks.

 

[DBMoore]

I did same thing for my first few batches, but I've found that I get much better temp control by using my propane burner instead. For me, it's much easier to control the boil with a single burner.

 

[machinelf]

We have a 7.5 gallon pot and we do this every time. The boil isn't super-vigorous, but it works. (And works better than using just one burner.)

It's an old stove from the 50s that is my wife's baby, so we have to put foil-covered oven mitts on either side to keep the heat and soot from hitting the stovetop and cracking the enamel.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Absolutely, as long as the flame was not too close to the edge on either side.

 

[HawksBrewer]

I straddled two burners once... it did not end well. :cross:

 

[MyNameIsPaul]

I do this to heat up strike/sparge water, then carry the pot outside to my propane burner for the boil. Mrs. MyNIP likes how the house smells when I brew indoors, but I can't get a nice rolling boil on the stovetop.

 

[cram]

If you decide to use one burner (or even two), placing heavy-duty foil under the burner helps get you to boiling (it radiates heat upward and as an added bonus catches boil-over drips). Also, with my gas burner, I have to add my SS immersion chiller to my boil kettle during the entire boil to get a large volume (~10 gallons) of wort to roiling boil--that makes a huge difference on my indoor set-up.

 

[weirdboy]

I did this for a long time in my old apartment.

However, I think insulating the boil kettle makes a bigger overall difference, and after doing so, I was able to do 5 gallon batches comfortably on my stovetop where I had been straddling two burners previously.

Nowadays I brew outside on propane, which is worlds better, but I understand not everyone has that luxury.

 

[the_bird]

I probably wouldn't. I'd be afraid of singeing my ball hairs.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I probably wouldn't. I'd be afraid of singeing my ball hairs.

Lol, BARELY beat me to it.

Sad thing is, I ALREADY POSTED HERE!!!!Lol. Saw it again and thought "What the?........"

 

[hampdenbrewing]

I've done it and still have the brown bubbled formica countertop to prove it!

 

[DBMoore]

I'm really liking the propane burners. Yes, it's outside and hot, but the wife is happier for not having the house smell like wort.