Hi HBT,
One of the major benefits with electric brewing is the ability to do it indoors, and many have proven this by building sweet brew rooms. One of the major headaches with doing so, however, is the need to exhaust the steam, otherwise end up with a hot moist brew room. Electric brewing pioneers like Kal came up with an overhead ventilation system consisting of a hood and fan which generally work well. When implemented right, a ventilation system both exhausts steam and replaces that air from outside so the HVAC system doesn't suffer by venting conditioned air from the house. Californians of course, need not apply, as they have perfect temps inside and out!
Personally, I brew in my garage, but do so often at night, and an open garage door welcomes mosquitoes and other bugs to come in and torture me. When I close the door, the garage becomes a steam room, so I wanted to find a solution, and this is one which could work for all indoor home brewers.
Borrowing a page from some industrial users and some of the pro brewing systems, I created a home brew version of a simple steam condenser to reduce (or eliminate) steam escaping the boil kettle. I did an experiment, which I believe proved successful, indicating this may be practical for brewers to use instead of overhead ventilation. The concept is shown here:
The idea is that ambient temp water sprayed into a chamber where steam exists will cool the steam and cause it to phase change back to liquid. In doing so, the steam's volume contracts about 1500x, in turn creating a local area of vacuum, pulling in more steam and continuing the cycle.
The home brew design is straightforward, using a simple water sprayer inside a tee. The tee is mounted upright to the side of the kettle so the lid can be used as normal. In my experiment, I used a 2" tri-clamp tee, mounted to a solder-on flange. At the top of the tee is a cap where the sprayer is mounted and the water fed through. At the bottom is a nipple which allows for a drain tube to be connected. The water that is sprayed into the tube plus the condensed steam exit through the drain tube.
This sprayer I used is ~6 gph at 40 psi, so a little less at my house pressure's 30 psi. I actually bought the sprayer before doing the math, which determined that a 1.25 gal/hour boil-off with a ~80 degree F spray temp needs about 7.5 gph. So I will be upgrading to a 9 gph sprayer. In my use, I will just drain this water, which will be very hot and contain the boiled off contaminants. I am comfortable "wasting" ~10 gallons of water over a 60 minute boil as I live in FL, but those who aren't could certainly capture the water and re-purpose it.
Here is the 2" hole I drilled in the side of the kettle. I would have preferred to put it as close to the top as possible, but my cheap Bayou has a flange around the perimeter, normally used to support the steamer basket. I used a clamp to hold the TC flange in place for the experiment, but it will be soldered on soon.
View attachment IMG_1760.jpg
Here is the assembly. The water feed goes through a 1/4" OD panel mount tube fitting which is mounted in a TC cap.
View attachment IMG_1758.jpg
Here is the sprayer assembly. For the test I used PE tubing inside, but only after realizing that push to connect tube fittings will not grip stainless tube. This tube will be replaced by a proper tube rated for temp. The sprayer tip ends upjust above the T port, capturing the steam coming in quickly.
View attachment IMG_1761.jpg
Here is the video. I used plastic wrap so I could seal around the clamp and see what was going on inside (kind of). Note the plastic wrap expanding and contracting with pressure changes as the sprayer is cycled off and on. I could not seal the area through the clamp perfectly, but I think this proves the point. Also, ignore my stoopid voice, but listen to the vacuum sound the sprayer makes (on its own it is silent).
[url]https://youtu.be/rw-uHIF8j64[/URL]
Here is my celebration beer (Caribou Slobber clone-ish). Excuse the glass - was trying to limit how much I downed.
View attachment IMG_1762.jpg
The only question that really remains for me is if this will not hinder boil performance, meaning specifically, will the volatiles which are boiled off (DMS, etc.) be properly evacuated from the beer. Some liquid will condense on the kettle lid which will be left on during the boil, dripping back into the beer, but I dont suspect this to be a problem as it works in pro boilers. But more testing will tell.
One of the major benefits with electric brewing is the ability to do it indoors, and many have proven this by building sweet brew rooms. One of the major headaches with doing so, however, is the need to exhaust the steam, otherwise end up with a hot moist brew room. Electric brewing pioneers like Kal came up with an overhead ventilation system consisting of a hood and fan which generally work well. When implemented right, a ventilation system both exhausts steam and replaces that air from outside so the HVAC system doesn't suffer by venting conditioned air from the house. Californians of course, need not apply, as they have perfect temps inside and out!
Personally, I brew in my garage, but do so often at night, and an open garage door welcomes mosquitoes and other bugs to come in and torture me. When I close the door, the garage becomes a steam room, so I wanted to find a solution, and this is one which could work for all indoor home brewers.
Borrowing a page from some industrial users and some of the pro brewing systems, I created a home brew version of a simple steam condenser to reduce (or eliminate) steam escaping the boil kettle. I did an experiment, which I believe proved successful, indicating this may be practical for brewers to use instead of overhead ventilation. The concept is shown here:
The idea is that ambient temp water sprayed into a chamber where steam exists will cool the steam and cause it to phase change back to liquid. In doing so, the steam's volume contracts about 1500x, in turn creating a local area of vacuum, pulling in more steam and continuing the cycle.
The home brew design is straightforward, using a simple water sprayer inside a tee. The tee is mounted upright to the side of the kettle so the lid can be used as normal. In my experiment, I used a 2" tri-clamp tee, mounted to a solder-on flange. At the top of the tee is a cap where the sprayer is mounted and the water fed through. At the bottom is a nipple which allows for a drain tube to be connected. The water that is sprayed into the tube plus the condensed steam exit through the drain tube.
This sprayer I used is ~6 gph at 40 psi, so a little less at my house pressure's 30 psi. I actually bought the sprayer before doing the math, which determined that a 1.25 gal/hour boil-off with a ~80 degree F spray temp needs about 7.5 gph. So I will be upgrading to a 9 gph sprayer. In my use, I will just drain this water, which will be very hot and contain the boiled off contaminants. I am comfortable "wasting" ~10 gallons of water over a 60 minute boil as I live in FL, but those who aren't could certainly capture the water and re-purpose it.
Here is the 2" hole I drilled in the side of the kettle. I would have preferred to put it as close to the top as possible, but my cheap Bayou has a flange around the perimeter, normally used to support the steamer basket. I used a clamp to hold the TC flange in place for the experiment, but it will be soldered on soon.
View attachment IMG_1760.jpg
Here is the assembly. The water feed goes through a 1/4" OD panel mount tube fitting which is mounted in a TC cap.
View attachment IMG_1758.jpg
Here is the sprayer assembly. For the test I used PE tubing inside, but only after realizing that push to connect tube fittings will not grip stainless tube. This tube will be replaced by a proper tube rated for temp. The sprayer tip ends upjust above the T port, capturing the steam coming in quickly.
View attachment IMG_1761.jpg
Here is the video. I used plastic wrap so I could seal around the clamp and see what was going on inside (kind of). Note the plastic wrap expanding and contracting with pressure changes as the sprayer is cycled off and on. I could not seal the area through the clamp perfectly, but I think this proves the point. Also, ignore my stoopid voice, but listen to the vacuum sound the sprayer makes (on its own it is silent).
[url]https://youtu.be/rw-uHIF8j64[/URL]
Here is my celebration beer (Caribou Slobber clone-ish). Excuse the glass - was trying to limit how much I downed.
View attachment IMG_1762.jpg
The only question that really remains for me is if this will not hinder boil performance, meaning specifically, will the volatiles which are boiled off (DMS, etc.) be properly evacuated from the beer. Some liquid will condense on the kettle lid which will be left on during the boil, dripping back into the beer, but I dont suspect this to be a problem as it works in pro boilers. But more testing will tell.
)
