The New Steam Condenser Lid by Spike Brewing: A Preview
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 29 апр 2020
- Spike Brewing sent me a prototype of their upcoming Steam Condenser Lid, and I brewed a batch of beer with it on my Spike Solo (formerly known as their eBIAB). See how it went!
#SpikeBrewing #SteamCondenserLid #Steamcondenser
Spike Brewing Steam Condenser Lid: spikebrewing.com/pages/steam-...
Support my work via the following affiliate links:
(I get small commission from each purchase you make.)
SNS Grills: snsgrills.com?afmc=BNB
JaDeD Brewing: jadedbrewing.com?aff=27
MoreBeer: www.morebeer.com/index?a_aid=...
Williams Brewing: www.williamsbrewing.com/Defaul...
Brewing America: brewingamerica.com?sca_ref=82296.c5HcaMjKum
Amazon: www.amazon.com/shop/beer-n-bb...
Join the American Homebrewers Association: www.homebrewersassociation.or...
Interested in learning how to make your own beer? Check out my Homebrewing Basics video series: • Homebrewing Basics Vid...
Buy BNB Clothing & Other Gear: beernbbqbylarry.com/bnb-gear/
DONATE - Consider supporting my channel by making a direct contribution at the links below:
PayPal - www.paypal.me/BEERNBBQBYLARRY
Patreon - / beernbbqbylarry 
Хобби
Hahahaha Larry peeking in the view port took me off guard! Great video as always!
Nice review..Thanks for your efforts to provide information to help home brewers make informed decisions on products and processes..
Been watching for a while now, great intro! You've really stepped up your editing/videography skills, well done!
Im actually looking into getting a steam condenser for my 10 gallon set up, I loved this preview..so now im just pondering to get this or the steam slayer. I may wait for the final product review to actually make my decision but thank you very much for this informed preview of the spike one.
Thanks for the review. I brew under my deck which has a roof under it. I don't see a need for this lid but I'm glad I checked out your video. I subscribed also. Happy brewing!
Amazing work and amazing spike brewing for listening to costumers.
Great job! You provided a great review. The amount of water used was a question I have been trying to find out. Thanks!
Now THAT is a review! Thank you for this awesome video.
You are very welcome.
Just got mine on Thursday! Ran a water line to mine so I wouldn’t have to use the pump, then extended a drain tube back to sink. Did a practice boil, and steam everywhere! Took me a few minutes but realized two things, one I was choking the system as water filled the drain tube, second my boil was now way too aggressive. Should have watched your video first! Lol. Got everything dialed in now with a little trial and error. Running system about 47% power, and slow water flow with short drain tube into bucket. No floor drain, but at least with water hookup I only have to manage the drain bucket and not also a pump bucket. Spot on review, had the same thoughts on the portal on the lid. I’ve actually just ditched the tri-clamp now during boil as the window stays on fine on its own without steam leaking. Doing first brew on it today!
As we had discussed the angle was a contributing factor. I do still say that the spray nozzle should extend down into the T past the horizontal opening. If look at the Steam Slayer its nozzle does extend past the port in the T. Thanks for sharing the trials and tribulations with us. And giving a inside look at the development process! Cheers! 👍🍻
BEER-N-BBQ by Larry lol you’re gonna put it on me?!! Lol challenge accepted!
Beautiful equipment...
Cheers! Commercial units have been available for many years in industry. I installed one ~40 years ago. Nice concept for homebrewing, if you need ventilation and no space etc for an exhauster. As you say, uses H2O. I would rather figure out a big ass fan!!
Lebanon, IL
Great review as always. I’ve heard people say sometimes there is an odor with the discharged water. Did you notice that? Would the water be safe to use for watering the garden?
Very nice video, Larry. I am eagerly waiting for this little beauty. I'm going to be putting my BK right next to a sink so, the drainage issue won't be a problem and I'm not particularly concerned about water usage.
Question though - why bother clamping the 4" port back on. Couldn't you just lay it on there? Wouldn't the partial vacuum sort hold it in place?
25 gallons an hour?! Holy jeebus. I’m looking forward to finishing setting up my exhaust setup lol. I turned my brew shed into a sauna last weekend haha
Great review, only the light chage from frame to frame was a bit distracting
Looking to build a lid like that for my keggel, have some copper 3" and 1-1/2" piping
cold smoke generators use same idea as this lid, venture effect, nozzle goes past the Tee. I wonder if it would work to push compressed air through the nozzle instead of cold water
Also interesting to find our if a shotgun condenser for distilling would create same effect
Great vid, one random question what kind of step stool/ladder is used under your kettle? Would love to get one myself.
LOL 😂 Larry, your face at 0:48! Great video my friend.
Home Brewing TV scared me!!! Lol
Lots of bling!
Great video!! can you reuse the water after its cooled down for another brew day but not to brew bear but to reuse in the condenser?
Been reading some comments about these types of condensers putting off a pretty strong smell. Did you experience any of that?
What about the waste water? Could you reuse it for a future batch? The smell issue makes me think the water isn't as clean. Was hoping there would be more use of the waster water besides watering my plants.
Thanks for the video Larry. Loved the intro music to this one.
Would be nice to see that 4" port with a hinge like the commercial ones. I could see myself loosing a gasket in there.
I don't expect an answer here, but I would want to run this directly off a faucet, and the discharge tube be much longer (6-8 ft) to reach a drain so I don't have to babysit 5 gallon buckets constantly. I don't know if that length messes with the partial vacuum and I also don't know if a household faucet puts out enough pressure to run the sprayer effectively. However, that'd be great questions to know the answers to as it helps illustrate flexibility of the unit.
I had to build a steam condenser because I brew in an attic apartment with high concrete ceilings. I was getting water staining. I think this is my idea but if someone else has done it I honestly didn’t know about it. My kettle lid is flat. I built the steam outlet so it’s on the edge of the lid and I added a 4 inch ferrule to the center for hop additions. I modified a 4 inch triclover cap so it has a 1/4 inch handle on it in an upside down U. On the UNDERSIDE of the central ferrule I welded another 4 inch ferrule pointing into the kettle. To that lower upside down ferrule, I attach a paint strainer bag to catch the hops. I know this isn’t something that can be done with the device in the video but if you’re thinking of a DIY project I can vouch for it working ok. In operation, the upper cap just sits on the ferrule and gasket by gravity. When steam starts to leak out from underneath it then I adjust the heat a little. You still need a pair of pliers or a glove to pick up the cap to make a hop addition but there’s no clamp to have to mess with. This is when a picture is worth 1000 words🤦♂️
Larry, I just got my steam condenser lid today. I purchased it before watching your review. Did spike brewing fix the issues with the brew kettle gaining volume?
Thanks for the video Larry. I was just wondering, what is the sight glass actually made of? Ordinary glass doesn't really work well in a triclamp fitting.
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY OK, thanks.
Hey man, could you do a all grain Oatmeal Stout tutorial? Please
Larry. I HOPE ALL IS WELL. Haven't seen you in a few weeks.
hi, does anyone know a steam condenser lid that fits the SS Brewtech 1 BBL kettle?
Route the steam line to a mash tun for your next batch and brew forever haha!
Nice to see you got it figured out. Definitely frustrating when you have time and money invested then things beyond your control mess it up! I definitely figured that tri clamp 4 inch port would be a pain in the ass. Hopefully they come up with a more sensible solution. Like some other very innovative companies have 🍻
While watching that part I was thinking "Just put a 4" butterfly valve on the thing, problem solved"
@@mattxander12 Absolutely $100 valve will probably do it or a simple stopper.
I like it! Even though it might still have a bug or two, I would still buy it as is. Did Spike give you an estimated price?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY $325... yikes, not worth it.
Watched your video and got me thinking, instead of the condenser lid. Find a corner of the garage and mount a range hood and duct straight outside. Not sure of the council by-laws in your state but it is possible. Might be lucky and have power close by that a electrian can tap into. The cost of the lid and attachment's would probably cost as much. Have a look at The Homebrew Challenge he has a good set up with extraction fan/ range hood👍.
Did a exercise on Electric brewing, 29¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh)
1kw=1000w
2200w/240v Element.
2200w÷1000=2.2kw
2.2kw×29¢=63.8¢
64¢ for a one hour boil.
Plus say about 30minute sparge to 75c -168f would be about $1 there about's all up. That's pretty good savings 👍.
Any impact on the smell of brewing? I brew in basement and wife isn't a fan of the smells a brew day produces.
Hi Larry - does using a steam condenser change the amount of water for a recipe (less?) ? It seems like there is less evaporation per hour than using a propane burner. Thanks
Yes. You need to adjust your boil off rate accordingly.
0:47 Here's Larry!
Can you slap those tri-clover clamps on and tighten with one hand? 🐄
For me, 15-20gal of water per hour is the deal breaker. When it could be 0gals/hr with a $300 hood. Here in California, the drought is real and I’m already feeling guilty in the brew water usage.
20 gallons! I've been using the steam slayer for six months or so and I've made 10-12 batches. I only use 6 gallons per hour...
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY 16 gallon Bayou Classic that I use for eBIAB with a brew bag and a 5500W element.
This is a professional review, stating the pros and cons of the equipment. I wonder how much this thing costs.
Prototype is prototype. The water nozzle is that too high up on the tee? Maybe it uses less water with a finer spray? Cheers
Had some of the same thoughts
@@ShortCircuitedBrewers My tech background kicked it so solve the large amount water used and backfill. I saw later your comment with the same thoughts
That lid is like my keg still
Larry, would it be possible to convert this for distilling?
Possible? Maybe. Would need to seal and clamp the perimeter well and replace the piping and plumbing. It's only the lid that would be usable.
Any reason why you cant use 1 bucket? pump & fill at the same time
Could you circulate it if you could chill it somehow? Maybe put a chiller in the bucket and either run some ice water through it from another bucket or use a glycol chiller?
Why couldn't you start with one yellow 10gallon igloo cooler filled with ice water and recirculate the water through the condenser lid in order to avoid using so much water.
This looked interesting to me at first but I have the Clawhammer system and I've heard the lid doesn't fit very well on that kettle. You can make it work but not a great fit. Plus the high water usage seems excessive. After some research I'm pretty sure I'll be going with a Steam Slayer from BrewHardware. I've seen people saying they only need about 10-12 gallons for a 60 minute brew.
I realize this is a year later, but did you ever go this route with your clawhammer?
@@shrumby7231 Unfortunately my answer is yes and no... I ordered the Clawhammer system and the Steam Slayer but there were delays in shipping at that time because of the "virus of unknown origin" LOL. During that time I decided to change to eating a carnivore diet because of health reasons.
Being carnivore means I only eat animal products and do not have any carbs - which means no beer. So I have all the equipment but I've never used it so I can't really say how well they work. From what I've seen from others on videos it should work great, if you don't mind the extra fiddling with setting it up for every brew session.
@@Mr.Batsu12 thanks for the reply!
@@shrumby7231 No problem. I hope you find what works best for you. 👍
Could be a complete waste of time but one idea that popped into my head...instead of using water, you could take the idea of people using intercoolers like on an air compressor, post compression. Big problem I see with that though is water building up in the radiator coils....
Did the CIP Ball actually save you any time?
Not really. It’s just as easy and maybe faster to simply hand wash the kettle. If I had a larger kettle, maybe it might be more useful, but at homebrewing scale, it’s just another shiny gadget.
Wouldn't it be better with a condenser with air cooling? I am imagining a car or truck radiator, through wich the steam goes, and a fan to cool it. Might be more proffessional with a fan coil unit ...
Free heating during winter ...
Liquid cooling is always better at cooling than air cooling.
What about DMS?
Wounded if u could turn this into a still.
Thats a destiller waiting to happen jajajajajaja
Sucking a spike meat tube......!!!! Yes!! Sold out!!!!
I was wasted Larry, I didn’t mean any of that. Your still the man!!
Can't you just attach a condenser to the upper port on the kettle? Don't see why you need a specialized lid?
@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY yeah, i realized too late that the upper port was on the basket. woops! :) however, i'm not so sure about the optimization question--there's a suction in these type of condensers that is not present in say a still. i suspect a side pick up would be just as good but as you say, it's kind of a moot point given the lack of an upper port :)
Hey I'm from South Africa the home brew is quite big here but there is little people who knows about the electric brew systems out there could you help me to hook up with company like GrainFather /brewtools/Spike /Robobrew to talk with them about their products and maybe reviewing it and advertising it
Please it would be great if you could help me🍻
I love Larry, but open your mind.......clawhammer!! Type clawhammer in Google!!!
It’s seem like a whole lot of work and not worth the money.
Great video, Larry. It's a sexy piece of hardware but I don't see this one in my future. (The water usage.) You helped me decide.