Boiling issue, gas vs Induction

freddles91 · Mar 13, 2020

So I think this is in the right spot..
I'm still relatively new to it but I do all grain, I stick to small batches at the moment as my brewing kettle is only 12L due to limitations with my space. I do plan on upgrading at some point via a grainfather so I'm not too bothered about a cash injection to sort this current issue out..

All my batches so far I've done on the gas hob which can never get past a really weak boil which I find concerning. I bought a cheap 2.1Kw Tefal induction hob as I had £30 off voucher with John Lewis so I thought I'd use it as I thought maybe that would give a stronger boil. Basically I did a test with 10 Litres on both gas and induction and I found that induction heats up much faster than the gas hob, however when I'm measuring the temps at the hottest they reach, the induction hob will never get past 96C (205F) and my gas hob for some reason gets it a bit hotter at 98C (About 209 F), (Thermometer stick in the middle of both) If I stick a lid on the induction hob it easily reaches a powerful rolling boil but I don't want to boil with a lid on for obvious reasons!

Has anybody else found this to be the case where induction heats up much faster but caps out lower? I'm thinking of insulating the brew pot to see if I can push it up those last few degrees as I can actually do that with induction! Any other advice?
Cheers.

Drunkula · Mar 13, 2020

freddles91 said:
Has anybody else found this to be the case where induction heats up much faster but caps out lower?

Have you got it on manual and not something like the boil water setting?

On 1500 watts I get a full boil with 26 litres. This is in a plastic fermenter that I have insulated with stuffing from a sofa and a bit of foam and bungee cords.

You can put the lid over partially. Everything I read said that DMS is nowhere near the problem it used to be with modern malts and it's only there in very light malts like lager.

freddles91 · Mar 13, 2020

Drunkula said:
Have you got it on manual and not something like the boil water setting?

On 1500 watts I get a full boil with 26 litres. This is in a plastic fermenter that I have insulated with stuffing from a sofa and a bit of foam and bungee cords.

You can put the lid over partially. Everything I read said that DMS is nowhere near the problem it used to be with modern malts and it's only there in very light malts like lager.

Not a solid one, still quite weak, it just confused me that it heated up much faster than the gas hob yet capped out lower.
I did have it on manual, however it was on the highest setting it went up to so I figured that would do. I'll try it again on the purely boil setting and see if that gets much better.

Did you find your boil improved much after you started insulating?

Drunkula · Mar 13, 2020

freddles91 said:
Did you find your boil improved much after you started insulating?

I never tried it without it. But there are loads of videos where people say the shiny camping mats or radiator insulation make a big difference.

Yeah, on manual full it definitely should be cranking it. Hey - the pot you're using, is it stainless or anything specific? It might work but have weak inductive coupling, but then the water would still take a long time to heat. Hmmmm.

foxbat · Mar 13, 2020

freddles91 said:
All my batches so far I've done on the gas hob which can never get past a really weak boil which I find concerning.

No need to be concerned. Nothing more than a gentle rolling simmer is required to achieve all the goals of the boil. Some of the ridiculous volcanoes you see on YouTube just waste energy and are said to damage the wort.

freddles91 · Mar 13, 2020

Drunkula said:
I never tried it without it. But there are loads of videos where people say the shiny camping mats or radiator insulation make a big difference.

Yeah, on manual full it definitely should be cranking it. Hey - the pot you're using, is it stainless or anything specific? It might work but have weak inductive coupling, but then the water would still take a long time to heat. Hmmmm.

Yeah it's stainless and is designed for it so it should work, I tried it on boil mode which was a bit crap and kept cutting off, however for some reason deep fry mode managed to pump it up to 99C albeit it didn't noticeably increase the boil. I've got some insulating stuff coming tomorrow hopefully so I'll try it again after I've sorted the insulation out. I might just end up leaving the lid half off come brew day..