big burner or stovetop?

[unsub]

Hello all!

Long time drinker, first time brewer and new to the boards.

I'm wondering about the boil process. I have access to a big burner used to fry turkeys. This would probably create a much harder boil than my stovetop but I'm not sure if that's a benefit. Also, the extract kit I bought calls for adding hops at "flameout", I see people use this term often but they never say what it is. I assume it refers to when you kill the heat at the end of your boil but not totally sure.

Any other tips are appreciated.

Thanks

[Ironman]

You need to boil hard enough that the top of the wort is rolling but I don't find any benefit to boiling so hard it's leaping. I prefer to use a turkey fryer because I boil 7 gallons so me stovetop can't handle it and I can go outside where cleanup involves a garden hose. Boil-overs are much more common when you are brewing all-grain but they can happen with extract as well. Cleaning burnt sugar out of a stove is no fun and takes time out of your brew day. Flameout hops are just as you said. You add them at the same time you cut the heat and start cooling. If you aren't using a chiller to speed cooling you might even cut the heat and wait a while before adding flameout hops. You want the wort to still be quite hot when you add them and you want them in hot wort for a good amount of time. Much of the hop aromatics will volatilize at high temperatures which is why you add hops late in the boil. To keep the oils from flying away in the steam.

[alan_marks]

+1 to this.

A few notes:
A rolling boil is just that, rolling. If you boil too hard, you increase your evaporation rate as well as break down the proteins you are trying to coagulate. As a chef, I think of making wort like I make a good soup stock. You want a good boil but not strong enough that it will make your wort cloudy.

Flameout hops will continue to prvide flavor and aroma asa long as the wort is hot. If you use a Jamil style recirculating chiller, you could whirlpool the wort which helps to concentrate the solids to the canter of your kettle as well as getting all that hoppy goodness through your finished wort.

hope this helps,
Alan