Thanks. I will continue to report. Going to do a lager next so may have a sense from that.
Any reason at a homebrew scale we couldn't just make a port in the kettle top, and run the steam through something like an aluminum transmission cooler with a PC fan attached, and basically air-cool it, and not deal with water-cooling the steam? The little waterwise water purifiers are kinda like that and they are pretty effective at eliminating steam.
Would a system like this work coming out of the lid instead of through the wall of the kettle?
Also, outside of aesthetics, any reason this couldn't be assembled out of PVC?
I don't know if an air tight seal will make it better. Would need to test it. My trial test used plastic wrap and that had a good seal. You can see the vacuum created with it, but again I can't claim more is more.
You might use an instrument tee as the tee section is shorter.
Should need about an 8,000 BTU per hour capacity to just handle the phase change.
Edit:
BrunDog,
Very cool project!! One of these will be going on my setup real soon. Like, before next brew day. Thank you for blazing the trail!!
Looks like your 6 GPH spray nozzle puts you right where you need to be for the phase change if you have 50 degree input water.
With your pressure not being what the spray nozzle needs, do you fall short on the 6 gallons in an hour?
Anyone found some nozzles on amazon that could be used for this?
Also, what is the formula to convert BTU/h to gallons/h of water mist/spray needed?
My tap water is around 40-45f at 80psi year round and I'm really interested in trying this. I was thinking of mounting it on my kettle lid.
can you post some photos/videos of this thing in action?
Sorry, I don't have an excuse for missing that.See the first post.
I appreciate BB's plug, though I think crediting me for only the TC tee isn't exactly telling the whole story. I did not receive any notice, but they certainly weren't obligated to. I put the information on here freely for the advancement of the community. If they want to package the kit and make a a few bucks on it - it's all good.
In any event, here is a parts list should anyone want to piece this up themselves. This uses 2" TC, but you could perhaps go smaller as BB is. Maybe 1.5" TC would be acceptable and save a few dollars - I just didn't test that so cannot vouch for it. I used different parts in mine but I think this would be how I would do it if starting over. This will yield a 1/2" NPT female connection for you to add whatever fitting you need to for incoming water. It mounts via a 2" TC flange that needs to be soldered on, welded, or JB welded on for those kettles that don't have a TC port there. Other methods for connected can certainly be explored. For example, BrewHardware sells a 1.5" weld-less TC port that could work if going 1.5" TC.
That top TC cap fitting (2" TC 1/2" NPT Coupling) gives the 1/2" female NPT I just mentioned pointing up plus another 1/2" female NPT pointing down into the TC tee. The nipple screws into that. The reducer screws into that. The sprayer screws into that. Note: I should mention I am not 100% positive on the length of the nipple. It is possible a 2" or a 3" would be better.
In the picture above, the red arrow is pointing to a screen filter on the input of the sprayer. The connection and seal are made on the thread below it, but the incoming water will pass through that filter then go out of the nozzle. It is in place to make sure any contaminants do not clog the nozzle (would be difficult to remove if so). Hope I made sense?
BrunDog, thanks for all your work on this project! This is an awesome idea for coping with a common and major problem for indoor brewers. I had a few questions though.
1) Is the reason for using the 1/2" NPT fittings just for the purpose of using off the shelf items? In other words, if a person had the ability to just weld a longer 1/8" NPT nipple directly through an appropriately drilled TC cap, could you connect the spray nozzle with a 1/8" coupling?
2) Is there reason for using the instrument tee versus a regular tee?
3) I have higher pressure water (I regulate to ~70 psi), would I be better off going to the next smaller nozzle or just accept a little higher water usage?
I'm anxious to hear how your beers are turning out (or others who are trying this out).
Do you think I could use your parts list except go down to 1.5 Tri Tee etc?
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