Apartment Brewing?

[LordUlrich]

What i was doing this winter was starting the boil in 2 pots, once they were both boiling i put them into a single pot, my glass top stove can keep the boil no problem. I would try it first and then see what you need to do from there.

[maxwell]

I brew in a small apartment, on the stove. 5 gallon batches, all grain. It is possible but heating liquid is slow. Still, my brew day is less than 5 hours if all goes smoothly. It helps that I have a gas stove that is very narrow, allowing me to set my pot over two burners.

If you decide to try to run a turkey fryer indoors get some CO detectors and some good insurance.

Max

[Stinkfist]

I have been using two of these for about a year and a half now...

http://www.cedarcreeknetworks.com/heatstick.htm

[WAKeele]

I do five gallon all-grain batches on my electric stovetop. It works fine for me. Not ideal, but will do until I get an electric system going.

[PSUHomebrewer]

Anyone try using a wok burner that comes in some stovetops? I've heard the burner is to be around 80-100k BTUs which is similar to some banjo burners. The tricky part I'd guess is getting a keg that's a similar shape to a wok.

[Bugeater]

One major problem with using big kettles on stove tops is the possibility of damage to the top of the stove. Gas ranges are generally okay because of the clearance between the top of the range and the top of the burner grates. Electric elements generally don't have that much clearance between the top of the element and the tops of the range. When you have a pot that overhangs the burner quite a ways, high heat becomes trapped between the kettle bottom and the top of the range. That part of the range isn't intended to take that much heat for very long. Also if that part of the range top is not absolutely clean, you may have a permanently burned on stain. Be sure to check your clearance and overhang before using a large kettle on a burner. I had one electric range I completely ruined by not checking. In my case so much heat got reflected back into the burner itself that the wiring down below got completely fried. I don't want that to happen to someone else.

Wayne

[SeeFish]

I tried doing a full boil 5 gallon batch inside once and the gas stove did the trick, albeit much slower and without the power to get the rolling boil that I was looking for. Not sure if there is a standard for indoor gas stoves but mine isn't putting out nearly the same btu's as my turkey fryer.