Any brewers in here use a steam condenser during their boil? I have an exhaust hood and a big dehumidifier as back up but I’m always tinkering. If you use one I would love to know your thought.
Is that to conserve water? Recapture water?
Sneezles61
It’s a tool that attaches to the BK that captures the steam and sprays cool water onto it allowing you to brew indoors without expensive exhaust hoods.
I feel like I still get a bit of moisture and would utilize one along with my exhaust hood to pull in fresh air. They do consume a bit of water, upwards of 10gal, ut I have plans to utilize that for plants.
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That is the main reason against boiling indoors of living space. I don’t have any experience with one but can you recapture the water? Of course not to brew with but maybe cleaning?
Brewing at our old house frequently doing 5 gallon batches on the stove was wrecking the spice cabinet and woodwork above the stove even with the hood.
Less problematic in the stone block garage now but still gets damp even with the mini split AC.
Yes you can capture the water, but it’s full of off flavors, especially DMS. Not sure if I want to clean with that, even though some say they do… but it would be fine for plants.
@voodoo_donut thats what I’m concerned about. I’m in a basement with 9’ ceiling. Although I don’t see anything alarming I don’t want to risk it any longer OR finally see something concerning.
Today I reached out to a machine shop for some custom BK lid work. I figure it would be easier to replace the lid if I would need to vs. the BK as it has numerous TC fittings on it.
I would build a cap similar to what you have shown vent to the outside and have a condensation trap so the condensation doesn’t drip back into the kettle. I helped design one for a brewery in CO on a larger scale.
We have one at our brewery but we took it off and vented through the roof due to water consumption. The bigger the batch the more water you use. And we knew that BEFORE trying it out so I don’t know what to expect or what to like / hate 
You don’t need a ‘cap’ like that as the cooling creates a vacuum so even a flat lid will work.
I brewed a Mexican lager today for my Oktoberfest party (yeah yeah yeah but down south they took a lot of clues from the Germans) and with the cooler weather and lower humidity there was very little moisture but in the heat of the summer / humidity I don’t want to risk it. Plus, sometimes it trips the gas vapor on my hot water heater
Well it doesn’t seem much different than a vent stack and trap other than using more water and energy
Maybe I should just build a hood/lid that connects directly to the BK. Now that would be something!
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Just a stronger exhaust fan will do alot… a make-up air helps the exhaust flow… It’s what is done here in Mn for restaurants…
Sneezles61
Could call it “brews in the hood” 
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So I’ve used the steam condenser lid three times now. I’m drinking a beer now that I made and there’s not a single sign of DMS, so it works. Oddly enough I used to knockout CLEAR wort. Now, the wort seems cloudy. But, this beer is CRYSTAL CLEAR. So not sure if it matters.
Would love to hear any other condenser lid users experience if you’re out there.
I use a steam condensing lid on my boil. I brew indoors, so it helps me avoid any moisture buildup on my ceiling, thus avoiding mold issues later. I do use the warm water to aid in cleanup at the end as well.
Have you noticed the knockout wort is cloudy? I used to have very clear wort after whirlpool and settling. Now it’s cloudy. But as I mentioned, it doesn’t seem to affect the final product.
I never noticed much change. I admit, I don’t whirlpool every time, more like 1/3 of the time. So a lot of my brews start cloudy and then clear up in the cold crash. With the lid now in place, I boil a little colder than without it, so I lose barely any volume. Less than half a gallon on a 5 gallon brew. Not sure if that temperature change has an impact.
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