I'm getting ready to buy some brewing equipment and have some questions about using an electric stove. I will be doing a 5 gallon extract batch and my biggest burner is only 7" in diameter. The 20 qt brew pots i've seen are around 12" in diameter. Should I be able to get the 3 gallons to a boil on this small eye? Has anyone used a heat plate on an electric stove and did it help at all? Thanks!

you should not have a problem getting 3 gallons to boil...I have gotten about 3.5 - 4 gallons boiling on my electric stove...

It helps if you cover the pot until you can get it up to a boil or close otherwise it can take awhile...just make sure you uncover it once it gets to a boil at least half way.

you could also give it a trial run and just throw 3 gallons of water in the pot and see if you can get it to boil...

I would think a heat plate would make it have an even harder time to get it to boil...since that is even more to heat...but I have not tried one so I am not sure..

I used to do it that way. It should work.
Of course the stove I had was an ancient one, in a rental, back some 30 years ago and years ago stoves were built with fewer restrictions and liability issues so the heat the maker could build them to produce more heat than many do today.

If it's a Thermadore or other upscale brand I'd say you are golden.
But the entry cost for what you are doing is cheap cheap cheap so the worse that will happen is you'll end up with a nice stock pot and take to brewing on propane.
These people have pretty good pricing
http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com

Good to hear, i figured some of you started on an electric stove. Thanks for the responses and the link!

I have done full boil All grain batches on my electric glass top. What i do is start my boil in two pots, then combine them into my turkey fryer (which i use in the summer, or at least seasonable) I can keep a boil with just the one burner, for a full 7 gallons.