15 gallon boil on a gas stove??

[28paws]

I currently brew full 6 gallon batches on my kitchen gas stove. It works pretty well and seems to bring 6 gallons to a boil pretty fast. I haven't timed it though. Seems like 25 - 30 minutes.
I am ready to move up to a 20 gallon kettle and I really don't want to brew outside or have to fool with propane and propane accessories.
Do you think that my gas stove can handle the job if I am able to use two burners?
Has anyone tried this, or should I just suck it up and buy a propane burner as well?

Thanks!
Cheers

[alan_marks]

Only if you have sufficient gas service and a restaurant / commercial gas range. Most home ranges cannot generate enough heat to boil that much volume.

I've been in commercial food service for the past 14+ years and home gas service just doesn't have the oooomph to boil 15 gallons of wort. That being said, if your gas company can give you 14" water column or greater of service, then buy a commercial burner and have at it.

My two cents,
Alan

[spiderwrangler]

I'm impressed that you can get your 6 gal up to a boil on a home stove... I know my stove wouldn't do that. My guess is that it isn't going to work...

[28paws]

That's what I thought I was going to hear but I wanted to ask anyway.
Even if it did work I'm sure that it would work much better with a big floor burner. I didn't want to have to learn a new system outdoors, but maybe it's for the better.
That is probably going to be cheaper that a commercial set up eh?

Thanks for the replies.

cheers

[Jbug]

I Think the folks at Strickland Propane would love to have you come in and purchase a bottle and backyard burner!
"I tellyawhat"


Josh

[28paws]

My kettle is big enough to cover one and a half burners so that helps.

I'm impressed that you can get your 6 gal up to a boil on a home stove... I know my stove wouldn't do that. My guess is that it isn't going to work...

[AleDrinker]

Remember its 125 pounds on top of your stove. Also for boiling that much liquid you'll need at least 100k BTU burner (if not 200k BTU) to get that boiling in a reasonable amount of time. A standard burner will have around 15-30k BTUs which is ok for 5 gallon batches.

But than again don't let math get between you and your beer. Whip out the bad boy, wrap a towel around it. fill it with water and see how long it will take (if at all). Thats the only way to find out.

[spiderwrangler]

Whip out the bad boy, wrap a towel around it. fill it with water and see how long it will take (if at all). Thats the only way to find out.

Usually when I whip out my bad boy and wrap it in a towel, I'm more interested in forcibly expelling fluids from it rather than filling it with them.