First extract brew and struggling to get a good boil

[MikeB]

Chaps - in the middle of my first extract brew right now, so testing out my mahoosive 65l pot on my hob. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, the hob isn't really man enough for the job.

Now I know you can't boil with the lid even partially on with an AG brew, but is it OK to do so with an extract?

 

[chris+spain]

im no expert but i saw an article ages ago on the net and in it this chap had a fairly "pro" set up in his garage and his boiler was an old barrel but the interesting part was that the top ( lid if you like ) was closed but with the central part ( 50% ) cut away, to help get the boil-reduce evaporacion and still let the nastys boil off and away.it was full grain as well.
As for extract i guess a lot of the nastys have been boiled off back in the factory but don't quote me on this.

good luck dude