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Boiling in Erlenmeyer Flasks
I am cursed at having to use an electric range. I'm trying to step up my game and make proper starters. All procedures I've read about to do this recommend boiling starter wort right in the flask on a flame. Is it safe to do this on an electric stove?
I do it all the time, but you have to be really careful of boilovers. Recently I started using my small stockpot to boil it in and then cool it and dump into the flask......like I said it will tend to want to boilover so keep a good eye on it if you do it in the flask.... 
An electric stove is basically the same as the electric hotplate/stirrer we use in the lab. In fact, I've used one to make starters numerous times with good results.
Old saying "A watched pot never boils", well an unwatched starter ALWAYS boils over.I have had many boilovers w/ a flask it comes up quick. Do not take your eyes off it. I have figured out that if I put one burner on about 2 while the other is on high, I can pull the flask off the heat just as it reaches boil, then slide it to the low heat to maintain it. I have a ceramic top stove, so I just kind of slide it on and off the heat to maintain a boil until it equalizes. Spraying some water on it reduces the initial foam and keeps it pretty well under control.
I like boiling my starter right in the flask too. I use an electric stove for my starters, with the flask right on there. As long as its lab grade glass its fine to put it right on the electric range. I also put it right in the sink afterwards to cool, not to many shatter worries with lab grade glass.
The only problem with the flask thing is the narrow neck. It tends to hold heat a little more and those boilovers are a gaurantee with that neck. You have to boil and remove from the heat several times before you can get a light roll going.
I use a 2L flask. I am thinking of going back to dartgods methis with a small sauce pan. Maybe I'll boil my funnel in some water to sterilize it when I start before I add the DME.
I was listening to a Basic Brewing Radio show the other day that mentioned sterilizing bottles using the oven. A glass professional recommended raising the temperature slowly - no more than 400 degrees F per hour. So, for boiling, you would want to allow ~30 minutes. I don't know if this is a rule, but something to think about.
prettycool wrote:
I was listening to a Basic Brewing Radio show the other day that mentioned sterilizing bottles using the oven. A glass professional recommended raising the temperature slowly - no more than 400 degrees F per hour. So, for boiling, you would want to allow ~30 minutes. I don't know if this is a rule, but something to think about.
The glass used in bottles and the glass used in a lab grade erlenmeyer flask are very very different!!!
The glass used in bottles becomes brittle in the oven after repeated heating... (personally sterilizing bottles in the oven isn't a good practice in my opinion.)
A lab grade flask can take rigorous heating and cooling back to back with out much concern.
Oh yeah, forgot to post the shear irony, Boilover wed night making my starter. I walked into the living room to catch the Ultimate fighter in the first round, got sucked in, before I could remind myself to get back, phone rang and my buddy was asking questions about his fermentation and what's up w/ it, then I heard it. Like frying an egg on high, after expletives hanging up on him and running into the kitchen I had a nice one-set off the smoke detector too. Gotta love irony
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