Full stovetop boil?

[homebrewhaha]

After hearing how Moscow did a full boil on his stovetop for the Brewcaster Challenge, I'm interested to know if other folks have had the same success.

I was always under the impression that 5+ gallons of beer would never come to a boil. Is there any way to find out if a certain model has enough energy to do this? What do I need to look at? BTU's or some stuff??

[bryngelbrau]

I used to do it all the time, all grain brewing in an apartment. I started with an 8 gallon pot across 2 electric burners. It took about 40 minutes after the sparge to get to a boil. Moved and had gas in my next apartment and upgraded to a 15 gallon pot which was a bit quicker.

[Ozwald]

I used to do it too, but it's a PITA. You also have to remember that Moscow said he has a commercial range. Some of those are designed for 100+ liter pots. I'm guessing his unit isn't that big, but you'd be surprised what a commercial range can do.

[maxwell]

I used to do this for every batch. It helps if you have a wide kettle so that you can cover a couple of burners and crank them up all the way. Make sure the stovetop is very very clean before you do this because it gets hot and any grease or splatter that was on the stove before you started brewing is either going to catch fire or get baked on permanently.

[duckmanco]

I do this all the time on a gas range using a heat stick I made seen here (7gal preboil to boil in maybe 20min):

http://www.3d0g.net/brewing/heatstick

That heat stick has been one of the best $40.00 homebrewing gadgets I've made, right up there with the keg washer. I use it to heat sparge water when I'm away from the gas range or correcting strike water temps when I've undershot prior to doughing in etc.

However: you have to have a gfci outlet to use this thing, no exceptions, and never run it dry, not even on accident.... Ask me how I know.

[Bugeater]

I do this all the time on a gas range using a heat stick I made seen here (7gal preboil to boil in maybe 20min):

http://www.3d0g.net/brewing/heatstick

That heat stick has been one of the best $40.00 homebrewing gadgets I've made, right up there with the keg washer. I use it to heat sparge water when I'm away from the gas range or correcting strike water temps when I've undershot prior to doughing in etc.

However: you have to have a gfci outlet to use this thing, no exceptions, and never run it dry, not even on accident.... Ask me how I know.

I've blown up a couple of those myself. One hint that helps is to use a drain pipe with an elbow on the end instead of a straight one. This puts the element parallel to the bottom of the pot and makes it much less likely to get exposed to open air as the volume of water goes down.

[Scutrbrau]

I tried doing a full boil on my electric stove the second or third time I brewed. I went out the next day and bought a turkey frier. I have no doubt it can be done but for me it was an exercise in patience and frustration.

[Brewer]

If you plan on doing a full wort boil inside on your stove I would suggest using a product like Fermcap. Cleaning up a boil over off an electric stove is not fun.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/fermcap-s-1-oz.html