Advice on Venting 5 gallon Electric System

[tyhoward]

I'm in the process of moving my brew day indoors. The ideal location is my mud/laundry room as it has 240V access and a utility sink. The problem is the setup needs to be something I can setup and tear down when I am done. There are no windows and I am struggling how best to vent the steam in a both convenient and discrete way. My options (as far as I have come with) are:

1. There is an available 4" dryer vent in the wall about 6" off the floor. This would be my preferred option for venting because it doesn't involve cutting any new holes in my house, but I don't know if I could vent steam from 3' - 4' off the floor back down to 6" and if it would then go 8' up the wall and another 15' across the attic out of the house. Thought on this?

2. Vent into finished garage. There are no windows but I could prop the door and vent into the garage. Again the appeal is no new holes in the walls or ceiling. The concern I would have with this is that the garage is also finished. Might the steam cause damage to the garage ceiling?

3. Connect to the same existing 4" dryer vent but through ceiling (direct vertical run). This seems to make the most sense functionally, but involves putting a new hole in my ceiling, which, if possible, I'd like to avoid

I'd love to hear opinions from folks who have experience or just opinions on the matter

 

[Bensiff]

Not sure about going into the dryer vent as you will pushing a lot more water through it then your dryer does which might cause problems. You don't want to open a door to your garage to vent either as that will result in a ton of moisture in your house.

I was looking at a friends 3bbl setup from Stout, it uses a 4" pipe that comes off the kettle and then turns down towards the floor and has a mister nozzle in it that causes the steam to cool and condense so he has no need to vent. That got me thinking for myself, which would be applicable to you, is doing the same for my kettle. Add two TC fittings to the lid. Clamp the lid down to the kettle, then off one of the fittings add a 2" or 3" turn down pipe. However, if you use a mister that would create the problem of having a lot of water run-off. So instead, pick up a shotgun condenser that is normally used in distilling, and use that to condense the steam. With that setup all the cooling water is contained and you only need a bowl to collect the condensed vapor from the wort. I don't know if that crosses the line into the legal definition of distilling though, so you'd want to verify if that is ok to do...but, it would work awesome for inside brewers I bet.

 

[tyhoward]

Bensiff - Thanks for sharing your thoughts. After reading your post I did a quick search for systems like the one you mention your friend has. It is an interesting alternative I was not aware of. I'll do some more reading on that tonight.

Regarding the garage option, I was thinking to more or less seal off the door opening with either a sheet of insulation or some sort of thermal blanket otherwise my wife would complain like hell about the cold air. If I can find an efficient way to keep the cold out while running the vent do you still see the garage approach as an issue?

 

[BrunDog]

I wouldn't pump the moist air into a finished garage. It is likely cooler and you will get condensation where you don't want it.

I agree with Bensiff. It's what I would probably do, but will take some engineering/creativity. The steam/vapor has a lot of stored energy in it and it will take some work to pull it out. I would probably use your utility sink to your advantage. It has cool incoming water and a drain.

Btw condensing vapor is not distilling. There is no alcohol.

 

[Homercidal]

If you own your own house, you *could* install your own 4" system.

I don't agree there is a danger to venting into the garage. If it is large enough, and the ceiling is painted, a little moisture now and again is not a big deal. What you don't want is to have it damp enough for long enough for moisture to grow. An unpainted wall or ceiling would absorb moisture and could ruin the drywall or seam mud.

A simple setup might include a single BIAB stand, which can be a single burner with a removable arm for hoisting a bag and maybe a flip up side table. Very compact unit.

 

[martiniw2olives]

I'm in the process of moving my brew day indoors. The ideal location is my mud/laundry room as it has 240V access and a utility sink. The problem is the setup needs to be something I can setup and tear down when I am done. There are no windows and I am struggling how best to vent the steam in a both convenient and discrete way. My options (as far as I have come with) are:

1. There is an available 4" dryer vent in the wall about 6" off the floor. This would be my preferred option for venting because it doesn't involve cutting any new holes in my house, but I don't know if I could vent steam from 3' - 4' off the floor back down to 6" and if it would then go 8' up the wall and another 15' across the attic out of the house. Thought on this?

2. Vent into finished garage. There are no windows but I could prop the door and vent into the garage. Again the appeal is no new holes in the walls or ceiling. The concern I would have with this is that the garage is also finished. Might the steam cause damage to the garage ceiling?

3. Connect to the same existing 4" dryer vent but through ceiling (direct vertical run). This seems to make the most sense functionally, but involves putting a new hole in my ceiling, which, if possible, I'd like to avoid

I'd love to hear opinions from folks who have experience or just opinions on the matter

I brew indoors with an electric system and don't vent. I suppose it would be nice, but why bother for 5 gallon batches. Just one man's opinion.