all grain boil

[thedietz]

So I am going for my first all grain brew (if my wort chiller arrives in the mail..i finally got everything else I need)....I have a wide 35 qt SS Pot.  My question is will I be able to get 6.5 gal of wort boiling on an electric stove top or should I just get out the turkey fryer.  I know most are just going to get out the fryer but I was wondering if anyone ever got a good boil with that much wort on a electric stove top.  Winter is right around the corner and I would like to brew inside but if I must use a turkey fryer outside....i WILL SUFFER for the beer and I will freeze to continue brewing!

[mr_beer]

A 35 gal SS pot is fairly large -- at least for an electric stove. 

When I had electric stoves and did my initial beer recipes as well as some canning of salsa and peppers, the wait time for the stove to get stuff going was really long.  And those kettles were about the same size as your new pot and they were more conductive than SS. 

I switched to the turkey fryer approach and the time went from hours to about 12 minutes to get to a boil.

But the most important thing is that you have an 8+ gal pot.  You will probably want a 6 gal boil.  My guess is that you will eventually have a boil over on your stove. 

Cleanup on a turkey fryer and the floor is NBD but on an electric stove it is RBD -- a mess of epic proportions that your wife will remind you about for a long time.   

My brew setup is in our basement near a set of laundry tubs.  I use the turkey fryer inside with no ill effects and am certainly not concerned about safety issues.   That may be an option for you.

[goose on fire]

Back when I had an electric stove, I couldn't get water to boil for a pound of pasta, let alone 6.5 gallons of anything.  That may have been an especially crappy stove, though.

Some of my old pots still have the spiral imprint from the heating element, too.  I'd be willing to bet that you'd never get a good boil, and would over-caramelize/burn the wort.

I live in San Diego and brew in the garage with the big door open, so I know all about brewing in cold weather... it gets all the way down into the 50s here some nights!  There have been some nights in January or February where I couldn't even wear flip-flops while brewing.  Crazy, I know.

[Wildrover]

I once ran out of gas with the turkey fryer but it was getting late and only had about 30 minutes left in the boil.  I should have gone and got more gas but I decided to try the big brew pot on the stove top.  Big mistake, it never boiled.  I ended up breaking up the batch into several smaller batches to finish the boil then recombining them in the fermenter at the end.

[UselessBrewing]

I once ran out of gas with the turkey fryer but it was getting late and only had about 30 minutes left in the boil.  I should have gone and got more gas but I decided to try the big brew pot on the stove top.  Big mistake, it never boiled.  I ended up breaking up the batch into several smaller batches to finish the boil then recombining them in the fermenter at the end.

Bet that made for a long brew night! The most I have boiled on the stove successfully was 4 gal. Anything larger would just take to long. Turkey fryer it is!

Cheers!
Preston.

[thedietz]

thanks for all the suggestions.....I actually did try to use the electric store and had little success....I got a boil (if that is what you wanted to call it) but it wasn't much of one.  After 20 min I got out the fryer and got a boil going right away.  It was my first all grain batch and I had fun but missed my O.G pretty bad.  It had a 1.043 and I wanted a 1.054....i have ideas of where I went wrong but I will chalk it up to a learning experience.  The beer will be low alcohol but I tasted it throughout the brewing process and I think it will be pretty tasty!!!