Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

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floydmeddler
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Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by floydmeddler » Sun Jan 16, 2022 2:13 pm

Hi folks,

I'm currently redesigning my brewery with the hope of being able to brew in there with the door closed. So... need to find a way of evacuating the steam. Have looked at the condenser hoods. Not for me; too much water consumption. What do you guys do? I'm thinking a hood could be the way forward. Any hood recommendations? Any other ideas?

Cheers!

FLoyd

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by guypettigrew » Sun Jan 16, 2022 4:30 pm

My garage/brewery has a large extractor fan fitted into the wall just above where the boiler is. Works a treat! Except you wouldn't be able to use it with the door closed--you need some way for the air to be drawn in before it's blown out again.

Guy

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by f00b4r » Sun Jan 16, 2022 5:32 pm

I use a 20L Braumeister indoors with the domed hood and get a a vigorous boil, although less boil off than some. When switching from brewing in the garage (back door and the front open created enough of a throughdraft to avoid any issues), I looked into this and there are quite a few solutions out there that people are using:

1) water condensers (this seems pretty rare in the UK but you can buy pre-made solutions for this on the continent - you seem to have discarded this as an option)

2) some form of extraction system utilising pipework to direct the sugary steam out of the building

3) a fan pushing the air out of the building through a window or door

There are some great examples of solution 2 on the forum, although pictures may be missing if they were hosted on Photo Bucket (it is much better to directly upload images to the forum itself as we have the space and bandwidth to keep them). You may find a few people jumping in with this kind of solution and a picture often helps massively. This can be very effective but you need to be careful around creating boilovers, access for boil additions etc.; also be careful around any choice of inline fan if you use.

I picked up a pedestal fan off of eBay for a fiver, thinking solution 3 was worth a try and and have used it ever since. It has worked in my previous house where I had a couple of tiny connected rooms and in the new house with a bigger dedicated room. All I do is have the BM near an open window (it can be quite small) and have the fan facing it just above the top so it pushes the steam coming out of the top of the BM straight through the open window.I don’t use it for the mash, as the lid is on, but it works a treat for during the boil (the room gets steamy very quickly within a few minutes if you turn the fan off).
My windows have insect nets on them and it still works fine and there is no extra cleaning involved, unlike solution 2.

It might not work that well if you have a higher boil off rate but, depending on your boiler and window placement, it can be very cheap to test. I am thinking about mounting the fan on an arm attached to the wall, so it just pulls out when needed but I am still trying to work out final placement of a few things in the room and if it is feasible.

I am assuming that you are intending to brew in a house and not a shed/outbuilding, if that is incorrect then venting to the outside may be easier.

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floydmeddler
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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by floydmeddler » Sun Jan 16, 2022 5:49 pm

Guy, could you give me the name of that fan, please?

f00b4r, thank you for your response. Most helpful. I'd love option 2 but all a bit complicated and expensive no doubt. Plus... extra cleaning!

I will be brewing in the garage. I like your idea of the pedestal fan. Very cheap option.

I have quite a big window in there. NO opening though. I'm thinking I could remove this, cut it down and put it back in. I would have room above then for a strip of pine which I could fit a fan into like Guy's set up.

Decisions decisions! :-)

I'd LOVE to see what other people do. Pics please if possible!

Cheers
Floyd

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by guypettigrew » Sun Jan 16, 2022 7:11 pm

Hi Floyd

The extractor fan came from a company called Just Fans. They were incredibly helpful. I explained what it would be used for, roughly what my boil off rate was and the size of the room. They suggested the one I have, which is from the plate axial fan range.

I got an on/off/speed controller and an isolating switch to go with it. Plus a louvered gravity cover for the outside which opens when the fan is turned on. Added a bit to the total cost, but essential.

It cost £364 back in July 2018, plus the fitting. ie cutting a big hole in the wall, fitting the fan and sealing it, and sorting the electrics out. About another £100. Not cheap, but very well worth it. The brewery/garage also houses a few thousand LPs (or vinyls as they are called nowadays) and no way was I going to risk having them damaged by steam.

Best of luck with whatever you do.

Guy

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by floydmeddler » Sun Jan 16, 2022 8:57 pm

Cheers Guy. On their website ATM. What size of impeller did you go with? Shutter looks nice, too!

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by floydmeddler » Sun Jan 16, 2022 8:58 pm

WOW on the LP collection BTW. That's incredible.

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by guypettigrew » Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:14 pm

It was either the 350 or 400mm impeller. Can't remember now and it's difficult to measure in situ.

The shutter is essential, plus it's fun watching it open as the fan gains speed!

It works like a dream. The steam from the boiler is pulled straight through the fan. A column of steam being sucked away like magic.

It may increase the evaporation rate during boiling, not sure. But I'm used to it, so no problem.

You may have noticed from the picture that there's a stainless tray under the fan, with some tubing running from it. The steam condenses on the fan, the tray catches the condensation and the tubing carries it away to a bin.

I really enjoyed setting this up, and am so pleased with the effectiveness of the thing.

The whole thing is over specd, but the difference between the costs of the various fans allows for this. I'd much rather run the fan at about 50% speed, knowing there's loads in reserve, than run it at 90% and worry about early burn out or lack of effectiveness.

Guy

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by guypettigrew » Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:15 pm

floydmeddler wrote:
Sun Jan 16, 2022 8:58 pm
WOW on the LP collection BTW. That's incredible.
Thanks. I've been buying LPs for over 50 years, and carry on doing so. There's so much good new music around now.

Guy

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by MashBag » Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:11 am

This doesn't have to be expensive at all.

I started with wok lid with a bathroom extractor attached to it. Does a cracking job. The trick really is letting the air IN to start with.

This was my forerunner to my boil-over-proof lid I built, so that I can walk away and leave it to boil.

What diameter is your kettle?
Last edited by MashBag on Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by MashBag » Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:14 am

f00b4r wrote:
Sun Jan 16, 2022 5:32 pm

.... 2) some form of extraction system utilising pipework to direct the sugary steam out of the building...
Sugary? Cripes how big are your beers 😂

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by MashBag » Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:41 am

You want an 'inline' extractor, this gives the option to screw it on a all but on wood and chuck it outside (through door or window) if you want a portable solution.

About £15

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vents-In-Lin ... 635-2958-0

You can also get units that fit permanently through the wall, but they need to neat hole. Holes are normally about £50 from the tool hire shop.

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by MashBag » Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:46 am

floydmeddler wrote:
Sun Jan 16, 2022 2:13 pm
Hi folks,

I'm currently redesigning my brewery with the hope of being able to brew in there with the door closed. So... need to find a way of evacuating the steam. Have looked at the condenser hoods. Not for me; too much water consumption. What do you guys do? I'm thinking a hood could be the way forward. Any hood recommendations? Any other ideas?

Cheers!

FLoyd
In your redesign also consider, that steam will condense in the hose and you don't want the water running back in. So you need to create a low point immediately after kettle.

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by MashBag » Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:50 am

Sorry this isn't all one post... I put a lot of thought & time into this while designing the boil-over-proof lid.

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Re: Steamy Brewery. What do you do about it?

Post by guypettigrew » Mon Jan 17, 2022 10:02 am

MashBag wrote:
Mon Jan 17, 2022 8:41 am
Holes are normally about £50 from the tool hire shop.
That seems quite expensive for a hole. Mine was free. Mind you, it cost close on £100 to get someone to chop out all the bricks so I could fit the hole!

Guy

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