Steam from brewing indoors?
I see a lot of people using all-in-one systems or other electric systems indoors. How are you managing all of the steam generated during the boil? Ventilation hood? Steam condenser? Other? I am looking for a way to move my brewing inside and maybe build out a cool little brewing space in my basement,, but I worry about the moisture an indoor boil would create. Leaning towards a ventilation hood at this point, but open to whatever the best solution might be. Thanks!
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I put a 24″ 450 CFM range hood in for my basement brewery and it works great. I do get a little condensation on the grills that drips just a little bit, but it’s not a big deal. If you don’t have an HRV system in the house, you’ll probably have to open a nearby window to compensate for the vacuum created. The condensing lids are interesting too but I decided to stick with a vent hood and I’ve been happy with it.
After a really brutal winter last year, I decided to set up a brew room in my basement. I put a 250CFM range hood in, but it didn’t even make a dent in the amount of steam. Steam condensed on the bottom and it dripped down like it was raining in there. I did a bunch of research on condensing lids and went with the Spike Brewing Steam Condensing Lid. It works GREAT. No Steam in the room AT ALL and I usually boil at 65% power on my system. Very happy with that solution – highly recommended over a hood.
This is the one I bought: Spike Brewing Steam Condensing Lid
I am planning on converting a guest room in our house to my office/brewery and I’m in the same boat. In the winter I brew in my house and I just run a portable dehumidifier on full blast. If it’s not too cold outside I’ll open a window in the room too. I brew on an Anvil Foundry, so I was thinking a steam condenser lid is probably the easiest thing. I don’t want to mess with having to install anything in the room. I was planning on getting this one from MoreBeer: https://www.morebeer.com/products/brewzilla-steam-condenser
It’s apparently made for the BrewZilla or DigiBoil, but I think I would be able to make it work for the Foundry, too. I think the Spike lid looks awesome, but I’m not sure it would fit and costs a lot more. Anyone here use this MoreBeer one? Any feedback on it?
I brew in my kitchen using an electric kettle and haven’t had any problems with steam. I don’t even run the range hood over my stove. I do have high ceilings and my kitchen is very open, though.
I’ve developed an advanced All-in-One brewing system I hope to commercialize later this year. There are steam condensing systems available from Brewtools and Spike among others. The main weakness I see if this approach is the water required. I’ve developed a different approach that a fellow brewer is going be testing with his Brewtools system including comparing its performance with their Steam Hat and Condensing system. I’ll let you know how the test turns out
Very cool!!! I am looking forward to hearing more about that – I’m kicking around a system upgrade from my Anvil Foundry and plan to build out a dedicated brewery space when I move to a new house later this year. Definitely keep us posted on how it goes getting your testing done!!
Hi John – I definitely will keep you in the loop. I’m waiting for completion of the Control System, The Hardware side is just about done and I’m talking with software engineers about developing the software side of things
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