Beeskneesbrew
Well-Known Member
Does anyone have any issue with me building a a condensation collection system? I dont have a window to vent out. I was thinking about getting/ making a hood that was piped to a bucket? Does this sounds crazy?
ventilation/Condensation
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LandoLincoln
Well-Known Member
Does anyone have any issue with me building a a condensation collection system? I dont have a window to vent out. I was thinking about getting/ making a hood that was piped to a bucket? Does this sounds crazy?
No, I don't have an issue at all. I don't think it will work, but I'd like to see you try it out. You'll have a nice supply of distilled water to boot.
I have an 8" inline duct fan that leaks a goodly amount of water on brew days. I boil off about 2.5 gallons of water per brew day, and I get about a pint of water from leakage. So about 2.4 gallons goes out the window.
Beeskneesbrew
Well-Known Member
I was thinking about the venting pipe going up the wall and then making a u-turn back down the wall into a 5 gallon bucket.
LandoLincoln
Well-Known Member
I am by no means an evaporation collection expert, but it makes sense to me that your system would work best if you insulated the area around the collection pipe as little as possible. Your goal is to cool the air inside the pipe down as fast as you can so that it reaches its dew point and the water vapor turns back into water for collection. Putting the vent pipe inside a wall is going to insulate it pretty good, and that's the opposite of what you want.
Beeskneesbrew
Well-Known Member
Sorry I forgot to mention that I planned on attaching it to the outside of the wall.
I don't know that a big U shape would work. The warm air would initially go in there but I don't know that it will flow back down the other side. You would have better luck with something that was an L shape laying down so the short part was vertical and long part horizontal and cooled and the far end angled slightly down. You might even need a fan in it to help pull the air through.
I know you said no window. Why not install a dryer vent through the side of the wall. Even in the basement this should be an option. Maybe you rent or something where modifications are not allowed. Worst case, in the winter you will help humidify the house which isn't bad. I am sure your house gets dry like we do here in MN. At our last house we were always looking at ways to get more humidity in the air. Current house has a humidifier in the HVAC System.
Had the same issues during the build/testing of the ebrewery. I did not get the vortex fan, it was the hydro farm inline fan cut into a regular kitchen hood. I disassembled the fan housing (6 or so screws). Then I sealed the male/female lip of the fan cage and reassembled. Then I sealed all the connections/swivel connectors with silicone and foil tape over the connections. Works great. All the condensation goes out the side of the house.
Beeskneesbrew
Well-Known Member
Any pictures?
2.5 gallons on a boil? That's crazy boil off, do you have an ebrewery? I know I dialed in my auber to run in manual at 55% ( on/off ) during the boil. I adjust it when it's at 208 degrees...
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
the norm is about a gallon an hour for my 5 gallon batches...you want a vigorious boil to break down the hop oils...I was not getting this when I had a weak boil on my stovetop...
Most all grain batches have at least 2-4 extra gallons of wort to boil down after sparging... since my efficiency is around 85% with less I dont use as much sparge water as the recipes suggest but still end up with 1 1/2-2 gallons of extra water to boil down in a 5-5.5g batch.
I sometimes dial mine down to around 40/50% in manual mode and sometimes just set it to 212 and leave it.... it seems to work just as well either way.
Does anyone have any issue with me building a a condensation collection system? I dont have a window to vent out. I was thinking about getting/ making a hood that was piped to a bucket? Does this sounds crazy?
I had an issue when I brewed in my kitchen - all the cabinets would steam up, but the problem went away when I moved to the basement. I sold my stove top gear to a friend and he only sees condensation in the cabinet above his stove, must be the way my kitchen is laid out.
That makes sense, do you usually hit your pre-boil OG or do you boil a little more to get it at the end? I am newer to all grain so I am a bit inexperienced. I know with my 10.5 gallon pot and a 5.5 element I am overpowered and can easily boil off 2 gallons an hour (preparing for the future upgrade in pot size).
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
I aim for 7-7.5 gallons in the bk after sparge and about 5.5gallons after boiling ...I have only done 4 batches so far on the new system but they have all come out with a higher gravity than the recipe range indicates... still fine tuning things between each batch. I'm fairly new to AG myself with only 6 AG batches under my belt so far.
NuttyProf21
Well-Known Member
Just an FYI a lot of commercial kettles do exactly what the OP is suggesting. The condensation stack goes up then makes a U-bend to the floor. The one thing that they do is mist cold water into the stack
LandoLincoln
Well-Known Member
Yes I do run electric. My 25-gallon pot is quite wide (about 19.5") so that's why I get a lot of evaporation.
That's a big pot...awesome.
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