brewing in a flat - steam?

[drmick]

in the process of finding somewhere to buy as had enough of renting and its looking increasingly likely that I will have to get a flat rather than a house. Hopefully will find something ground floor with a bit of outdoor space for the boil, but most things seem to be first or second floor.

For those of you that live in flats how do you brew, or more to the point how do you deal with all the steam when doing the boil - do you have some sort of adapted lid to the boiler with a length of tubing to funnel the steam out the window? If so is this sufficient to allow all the nasty things that get boiled off to escape?

Thanks
Michael

[darkonnis]

DMS and the like is highly volatile and will boil off pretty quickly, I wouldn't worry about that to be honest.
As for the steam, I brew in my garage which is like a bloody bunker and I'm having to install an extractor fan to avoid ruining the ceiling and the roof. When I make my mini batches in the kitchen though, an open window has worked just fine for me.

Hope that helps
Cooky

[themadhippy]

I brew in the bathroom with the window open and the extractor going,piece of worktop across the bath for the boiler and the fv in the bath,no need to worry about spills , the other advantage is theirs a hot and cold water very close by,and the end of the shower hose fits the connection on my wort cooler.The only disadvantage is the delivery drivers complain about carrying 30kg+ parcels up 3 flights of stairs

[Dave S]

I boil 23 l batches next to an open window without problem. Even the smell of malt and hops, (which of course I love) in the house disappears in quite a short time.

[Twistedfinger]

I brew in the bathroom with the window open and the extractor going,piece of worktop across the bath for the boiler and the fv in the bath,no need to worry about spills , the other advantage is theirs a hot and cold water very close by,and the end of the shower hose fits the connection on my wort cooler.The only disadvantage is the delivery drivers complain about carrying 30kg+ parcels up 3 flights of stairs

That's a cracking idea as the bathroom is built to deal with steam and most have extract fans.

[koomber]

I'll pitch in fro mthe other side

I Brew in a flat with no extraction apart from an open window. There is LOADS of steam generated and I do get quite a bit of condensation running down the walls and ceiling. I'm looking at modifying it somehow to reduce the amount of condensation, because I get LOTS, water running down the walls and all the accumulated rubbish of the ceiling falling off in drips, leaving what looks like coffee spills around the place. Not ideal lol.

I'll add that my Kitchen is a dump and needs to be replaced very soon, and that when it is, I'll be getting a nice big extractor built in.

[darkonnis]

As a suggestion, you could just get some ducting (make sure its steam safe, tumble dryer stuff will likely melt over a period of time) then
either: cut a hole in the lid (not always preferable) OR get some polyprolene sheet: http://www.cutplasticsheeting.co.uk/pol ... ypropylene as its £15 for an A2 sheet, 9mm thick which should be plenty strong enough, cut a hole in that and sit that on the boiler instead of the lid with the ducting attached.

Koomber, as a suggestion, IF you can, experiment opening two windows as when I do this (patio door ajar, kitchen window open) I get lots of through flow and that carried the steam away when I was doing the bigger batches in the kitchen.

[drmick]

I hadn't thought of the bathroom - top idea, will keep that in mind when looking round places next week.

Now that's sorted just need to workout how to get the BBQ set up indoors...........

[Andy__]

I brew in my Kitchen.

I open the kitchen window and/or back door. I also open a window at the front of the house. This causes a flow of air through the house that clears the steam.

The wife and kids are all freezing mind, but my priority has to be the beer.

[Fuggled Mind]

For those of you that live in flats how do you brew, or more to the point how do you deal with all the steam when doing the boil

Thanks
Michael

I live in a third floor flat. Used to brew in the kitchen but the steam was so intense it started to damage the wooden cupboards and the ceiling would drip from all the condensation - unfortunately, it was always sticky and light brown when it dried. A bugger to clean. By brew number 3 I was relegated to the balcony. So far the neighbours haven't complained about the smell of the hops but during autumn and winter, few people use their balcony's. I've only been all-grain brewing for just over a year so have yet to see what happens in summer.

Cheers

Jason

[gregorach]

I brew in the living room of my flat, with all the windows open. It's a bit of a bugger in the middle of winter right enough...

[Rookie]

I brew in the basement and deal with the steam by opening two windows, The first is about 25 feet away from the stove and the second is five feet away on the other side. I put a box fan in the second window, facing out; once the boil gets going I turn the fan on high.