stove tops and wort weights - extracts

[zorak1066]

IF I end up with a house to rent finally and it has a glass top stove I was wondering if I would be able to boil wort on it? it seems manufacturers say dead weight, they can hold about 50lbs safely. I do 5 gallon kits with usually a 2.5 gallon boil.

lets say I am using an aluminum pan that weighs about 8lbs... guessing.. 4 gallon pot? cant recall.
the kit has lets say 12 lbs of extract... (like an imperial stout)
2.5 gallons of water weights about 8.34 x 2.5 = 20.85 lbs.

now I add these all up? 8 + 12 + 20.85 = 40.85 lbs.

I don't want to do propane yet and I cant afford going induction cookers with stainless steel pots. 40 lbs is under 50... but pushing it. Anyone do boils like this? any problems? propane tanks kinda scare me. I keep thinking i'll screw something up and BOOM.

[radonc73]

Can you do 2 smaller pots that equal the 2.5? This way the weight is more evenly distributed? Even taking 1 gallon out of the big pot and put it in a smaller one would help I think.

[John Sand]

I use a Maytag glass top to boil over 6 gallons once, over 4 routinely. I suspect those limits have a substantial safety margin built in. I haven't found a specified weight limit for mine. Where did you get the information?

[myhorselikesbeer]

Zorak,
You can safely do that on the glass top. A couple things to remember though is that it will take a limg time to bring that much wort to a rolling boil, if you can even get that, and if you have a boilover it will be difficult to clean up. I was using the flat top until I got the propane, darkstar, for Christmas. Boils are much easier and the brews are tasting great. I am getting better hot break and cold break which means less junk in the fermenter and a cleaner tasting beer with better hop utilization. There is nothing to be afraid of with the propane burner.

[Trollby]

So do you use a propane gas grill? Or Charcoal grill?

Really a propane burner is just a modified propane gas grill burner that is round and base not in a "oven" like housing.

The most dangerous thing on a burner is OIL and were the bad rap comes from

[FrozenInTime]

I do that size on mine, have yet to crack it. Would not bother me if it did, I hate the damn thing. It takes a VERY long time to bring that much water to boil, if u can call it a boil. More like a hard simmer.

Because of that, I got this.

[russki]

If the stove is struggling to boil larger volumes of wort, you can always supplement with a DIY Heatstick.

[philm00x]

I have an electric glass-top stove and regularly boil over 3 gallons of wort in my 5-gallon pot on it. No worries about the glass top cracking under the weight of the pot and wort.