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Takes Long time to Reach Boil

chpr10j

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Attempting my first brew today (excited and nervous!) and decided to do a trial last night to see how long it will take to get to a boil on my kitchen gas stove.  I'm using a 5 gallon kettle, and it took about 45 minutes to get the 170 degrees needed to complete my steeping.  Then from there, it took another hour to reach a boil.  Is this going to be a problem?? I'm thinking I may be able to cut that time down a bit by putting the pot over two burners, but think it's still going to be a while.  I've done a bunch of reading and don't really see anything about if taking this long will be an issue.  Will it effect what I have in the pot from the original steeping process??? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!  Thanks!
 
Most stovetops are insufficient to bring 5 gallons up to a boil. Standard ranges are only about 5000 btu,  and even commercial ranges only get to about 15K btu. Most home brewers use an outdoor propane cooker, which range from 60K btu to over 100K.

There's nothing wrong with boiling half the amount of water and adding the other half after the boil. If you do it while it's hot, you'll get the benefits of pasteurization.

If your first batch is extract, then there is a method for doing partial boils called "extract late" where a small amount of the extract is added at the beginning, then you follow the whole hop schedule, then add the rest of the extract for the last 10 minutes or so. Be careful to remove the wort from heat before adding more extract, since it tends to fall right to the bottom of the kettle and then scorch.
 
Maine Homebrewer said:
I picked up a cheap turkey fryer at Walmart and use the burner from that outside.

This is definitely my plan for the next batch.  I am doing an extract batch right now, and I'm able to get up to 217 degrees, just took some time.  I didn't have it on two burners and didn't have a lid on.  I think doing both of these things will cut the time down.  But turkey fryer is on my shopping list this week!
 
Don't forget.  If you are forced to use a lid in order to get a boil, crack it about an inch or so, at a minimum the last half hour,  to boil off DMS or you could get an off taste in the beer similiar to cooked corn.
 
I have no problem.  It may help you to straddle 2 burners.
 
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