Steam vent - what about a kettle lid?

[NoCornOrRice]

So I am in the situation of having a 2nd floor room with a window that can be completely customized for brewing. Rather that a fume hood that will carry away most of the steam, can I just put a lid on the kettle to get rid of all of the steam?

Essentially, I am thinking a tight fitting lid with a window for observing the boil, a port for adding hops / scooping off hot break, and a pipe coming out for a flue. The design in mind would be a gooseneck on the lid (with copper or CPVC) to prevent drip back into the boil and then a flexible, wide hose going out the window and down 10 or so feet.

I am wondering if the vertical drop combined with the water coming out of the steam will create enough draft to make this work? I would also have an air-replacement vent if needed.

 

[hamiltont]

It would probably draft but your condensation (DMS) would end up back in the pot. Commercial brew kettles have a trough around the top rim to catch the condensation & channel it away from the beer. Cheers!!!

 

[wailingguitar]

It would probably draft but your condensation (DMS) would end up back in the pot. Commercial brew kettles have a trough around the top rim to catch the condensation & channel it away from the beer. Cheers!!!

Are you talking about something in the stack or actually in the kettle? Where is this "trough" exactly?

 

[hamiltont]

Are you talking about something in the stack or actually in the kettle? Where is this "trough" exactly?

It's generally around the inside rim at the top of the kettle. If you look at commercial BK's they have a dome on top with a "chimney" going out. The condensation runs down the inside of the dome and it caught in the trough and whisked away.

 

[wailingguitar]

It's generally around the inside rim at the top of the kettle. If you look at commercial BK's they have a dome on top with a "chimney" going out. The condensation runs down the inside of the dome and it caught in the trough and whisked away.

I thought that was what you meant but wanted to be sure... maybe it's a new design, I have certainly never seen one like that... and I have been inside quite a few commercial brewhouses! (JVNW, BRD, Santa Rosa, Criveller, Specific Mechanical, Century, Saaz... I may be forgetting one or two) Every one of those had a polished smooth edge at the junction of the dome to the side wall. Which manufacturers have you seen do this and do you have an idea when the systems were fabricated?

Edit: I should add that all of these had either; 1) a vent stack that went to the outside of the brewery. The end of the stack having a shield of one sort or another to prevent outside debris from getting in. Or 2) a 90 degree elbow in the stack which had a condenser in it. The condenser would return the steam to liquid form and let it drop to the brewery floor at a drain.

 

[frankstoneline]

Building a condensation chamber wouldnt be hard and would allow a kettle lid DMS will condense after water, a simple 90 degree and then an expanded chamber before reconstricting and running through a fan out your window should work. if the chimney of sorts is short enough it really shouldnt matter too much.
Another way to take care of it would be in the style of a distillation head, simply run the initial up pipe higher than your outlet, this way most of the condensation ends up hauled down the outlet tube via gravity. Fan free.

 

[NoCornOrRice]

cool, I'm going to try this. I'l post results on whether I get bad DMS once the beer is on tap.

 

[ClaudiusB]

It's generally around the inside rim at the top of the kettle. If you look at commercial BK's they have a dome on top with a "chimney" going out. The condensation runs down the inside of the dome and it caught in the trough and whisked away

I thought that was what you meant but wanted to be sure... maybe it's a new design, I have certainly never seen one like that... and I have been inside quite a few commercial brewhouses! (JVNW,

No new design, has been around since ages.
The condensation trap for the copper kettle exhaust pipe look like this with internal drain pipe.
Some have an external drain pipe on the back of the kettle.

Simple illustration
http://hobbybrauer.de/bilder/grimbart/abz.jpg

Stainless Kettles look more like this illustration
http://hobbybrauer.de/bilder/grimbart/rinneb.jpg[/jpg]

Cheers,
ClaudiusB

 

[worstbrewing]

No new design, has been around since ages.
The condensation trap for the copper kettle exhaust pipe look like this with internal drain pipe.
Some have an external drain pipe on the back of the kettle.

Simple illustration
http://hobbybrauer.de/bilder/grimbart/abz.jpg

Stainless Kettles look more like this illustration
http://hobbybrauer.de/bilder/grimbart/rinneb.jpg[/jpg]

Cheers,
ClaudiusB

Maybe I'm thinking of it wrong but wouldn't there need to be room for make-up air?

 

[wailingguitar]

No new design, has been around since ages.
The condensation trap for the copper kettle exhaust pipe look like this with internal drain pipe.
Some have an external drain pipe on the back of the kettle.

Simple illustration
http://hobbybrauer.de/bilder/grimbart/abz.jpg

Stainless Kettles look more like this illustration
http://hobbybrauer.de/bilder/grimbart/rinneb.jpg[/jpg]

Cheers,
ClaudiusB

That's in the bottom of the vent stack, not in the kettle dome itself. With a long vent stack, as the steam rises out of the kettle it will, obviously, begin to cool. The condensate flows down the sides of the stack and the trough catches it before it gets back to the kettle. Maybe I misunderstood what you meant, I thought you were referring to something INSIDE the kettle at the edge of the dome and the kettle wall.

 

[NoCornOrRice]

so essentially, a well-fitting stainless steel hopper on top of the kettle with a self-draining trough at the junction between hopper and flue sounds like it may work. Thanks for the diagrams.