Boil kettle condenser - no overhead ventilation needed

[fun4stuff]

I’ve since bought the brewboss steam condenser, since the steam slayer has not been available.

I’ve used it a couple times and seems to work really well. Before turning condenser water on, steam will be pouring out from under the lid. But once i turn on the water going to the condenser, the steam disappears.

I do not have a gasket on my lid but it does clamp down tightly. My boil off rate was around 0.4 gal/hr and i turned down my kettle to 1000 watts. The condenser goes through 8-10 gal/hr I’d estimate.

 

[BrunDog]

That's quite the commitment... mounting to the wall!

 

[missiletech]

I'm assuming the pandemic is having an effect on the shipment of the larger Slayer?

 

[Bobby_M]

I actually received the bodies but the new 3" TC caps with the water supply tube, etc is yet to ship. Now it looks like next week for those. I'll post a picture of the new body tomorrow.

 

[johnwpowell]

@Bobby_M i pieced one together with your parts wasn’t sure when they would be available. Thanks!

 

[missiletech]

Bobby, sent you an email. Thanks for the update.

Steve

 

[missiletech]

Any updates?

 

[johnwpowell]

Any updates?

There were some available today on the site

 

[IanMC]

Two days ago, I got an email update saying that the Steam Slayer was back in stock. I read it 6 minutes after it came in, and the website was already displaying "Out of stock". Did they really all get snapped up in <6 minutes, or was this just a glitch and they were not really available at all?

 

[missiletech]

When I looked yesterday they were OOS and I didn't see anything about the larger sizes model.

 

[Bobby_M]

The last five of the 1.5" bodies were snatched up quick. The 3" body version is still without the cap/sprayer assembly and won't be shipped for at least another week. My factory is still dark due to coronavirus. I have since mocked up the 3" body on my kettle, which doesn't really NEED any more cooling power than the 1.5" body could deliver, but I wanted to see the cooling effect at least with the 6GPH sprayer installed. The effluent temp basically dropped by about 20F with the larger body. That tells me, at least with this limited testing, that you can push a little more power in to achieve a slight increase in boil off or you can possibly get away with a smaller sprayer for the same boil intensity/volume. Overall it is an increase in performance but i'll have to do much more testing to figure out if the increase in cost is worth it.

Lastly, I also bushed the 1.5" TC port between the kettle and slayer down to camlock diameter and noticed a 10F drop in effluent temps which means less steam getting through. In the end it drives your power input max and boil off lower than if the port was larger. How much that fact matters is up to you. I was able to boil 7 gallons at 25% power (this was somewhere between a simmer and boil) without steam leakage at the lid. I ran it up to 35% and did see some steam escape and the boil intensity was a bit much. Contrast that to the 1.5" port which take enough heat away to leave the boil at 35% with no steam escape and a relative normal boil intensity.

This whole thing is quite the delicate balance of heat input and output.

 

[Bobby_M]

Some pics from test runs. You can see I had to adapt the 3 inch down to the 1.5 sprayer cap

 

[Craftfan]

Very interested in the 3” model. Keep us updated!

 

[missiletech]

I'd buy it as is if I can just get my foot in the door.

The body is important because although I can source parts, the weight will be detrimental to my configuration and I do occasional 40ish gallon batches.

 

[kgranger]

I just set up my new condenser from Craft Hardware, mounted to the kettle lid. Ran a test run with water, seemed to be working properly, but I checked the volume after an hour, and it doesn't look like I lost any water to boil off. I'm worried the steam isn't escaping properly. I'm new to boil condensing, so maybe I'm missing something obvious. I was at about 60% power on the heating element, maintaining a light roll/ simmer at 212. Water supply is fed from the garden faucet. I don't know the exact pressure, but I am guessing (based on averages) anywhere from 40-50 psi. Tubing connected to the condenser is 1/4" ID. Flow out of the spray nozzle looked nice and high. Are there some other factors I should look into to troubleshoot this?

 

[Franktalk]

If it were not working there would be steam escaping from the kettle. No?

 

[BrunDog]

The effluent should be very hot.

 

[kgranger]

I am assuming the effluent is the exiting water, right? It is cold. Steam only escapes the edges of the lid right after I open and close back up, but only a tiny amount, and after 5 minutes there is zero steam escaping the lid. I assumed it was just collecting on the walls and falling back in, but maybe I’m wrong

 

[d.felmann]

Water supply is fed from the garden faucet. I don't know the exact pressure, but I am guessing (based on averages) anywhere from 40-50 psi. Tubing connected to the condenser is 1/4" ID. Flow out of the spray nozzle looked nice and high. Are there some other factors I should look into to troubleshoot this?

If you're boiling, and the condenser is underpowered, the steam will create enough pressure to escape through the lid. If you're just testing with water I would run the element at 100% and check the effluent temp and look for steam escaping. Depending on your inlet water temp and heating power the effluent might not be super hot but it should be warm.
Water pressure and tube size sound OK, you can always check it against the specifications of the nozzle, at 45 PSI it emits 8 GPH.

Edit: just making sure... did you measure kettle volume after one hour while water is still hot? Let it cool first or compensate for the higher temperature.

 

[fun4stuff]

I am assuming the effluent is the exiting water, right? It is cold. Steam only escapes the edges of the lid right after I open and close back up, but only a tiny amount, and after 5 minutes there is zero steam escaping the lid. I assumed it was just collecting on the walls and falling back in, but maybe I’m wrong

If your water pressure /sprayer is set too high, then the effluent /exiting water won’t be hot. If this is the case and you don’t have steam coming out then turn down your sprayer/inlet. Then the exiting water will heat up and you waste less water this way.

 

[BrunDog]

It will be much warmer than the spray water alone, unless you have an absolute river of it. You do not want to "turn it down" - the sprayers are much more efficient (atomization) at higher pressures. If your sprayer is too much volume, you need a lower rated one.

 

[kgranger]

I reached out to Douglas from Craft Hardware who manufactures the condenser I have. We did some troubleshooting and discovered it was my outlet hose. I had to extend it to reach my sink, but I had a bit too much length, so it was coiled up a couple times. When the water inevitably collected in the looped portion of the hose, it blocked off the airway through the hose, which is crucial to the condenser's operation. I shortened the hose so that the water would run right out and it is working perfectly now!

 

[Bobby_M]

Well, I hope you guys appreciate the fact that I probably inhaled a cloud of coronavirus for this...

https://www.brewhardware.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SteamSlayerWideBody

 

[day_trippr]

Thoughts and prayers
But if I had a drain within reach I'd jump on that...

Cheers!

 

[Wizard_of_Frobozz]

Placed my order this morning. For once, Bobby had everything I wanted to order in stock at the same time.

Kudos for sacrificing yourself against the coronavirus so we could brew better beer!

 

[Keano41]

Well, I hope you guys appreciate the fact that I probably inhaled a cloud of coronavirus for this...

https://www.brewhardware.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SteamSlayerWideBody

Would this be overkill for a 10.5 Foundry? I am waiting for the 1.5" to come back in stock, but now that this is available I was curious.

 

[Bobby_M]

Would this be overkill for a 10.5 Foundry? I am waiting for the 1.5" to come back in stock, but now that this is available I was curious.

I don't think it's functionally overkill at all. The spray body is larger but it's fine to run a 6gph sprayer. I know that to use the lid you'll need an elbow and spool to get out over the edge and that is a lot of cantilevered weight off the thin lid. I could weld a small support onto the outward-most TC clamp that would rest on the edge of the lid. I would be more inclined to suggest welding a 1.5" TC into the upper sidewall to make it much easier and compact.

 

[Keano41]

I don't think it's functionally overkill at all. The spray body is larger but it's fine to run a 6gph sprayer. I know that to use the lid you'll need an elbow and spool to get out over the edge and that is a lot of cantilevered weight off the thin lid. I could weld a small support onto the outward-most TC clamp that would rest on the edge of the lid. I would be more inclined to suggest welding a 1.5" TC into the upper sidewall to make it much easier and compact.

I came across a thread from a while back with this photo of a modified Foundry lid

Is this what you were suggesting for the lid option. With the connection in the center the spool could either go before the elbow or after....to keep it above the hump or off the side of the kettle. Then the lid clamps should secure the lid down unless your suggesting that the thin material and cantilevered weight could cause issues.

 

[SirSpectre]

Just as I was designing my own because it was always out of stock... wide body comes in.


Also ordered it...

 

[Grant McKinley]

Ordered. Thanks for risking, hopefully the virus isn't hanging out on a piece of stainless. Do you think the condensate will have wort in it? I was thinking of pumping the condensate back into my MLT. Grant