garage brewery- condensation

[hesterrp]

First post. I used to brew an awful lot but has been a long time. I am looking to get back into it and am looking at setting up a Spike electric HERMS system in my garage. I have water and drainage but ventilation is a concern. I can of course open the garage doors wehen weather allows. I have looked at a variety of vent fan/hood options and I can't get past a much simpler solution. I wanted to throw it out there to see if I am overlooking something. My thoughts are to place the boil kettle adjacent to my utility sink. PLace a piece of stainless or even aluminum sheet a few feet above the boil kettle at an angle so all the condensate from the boil collects on the sheet and drips down off the low angled end into the sink.

Too easy?

[Kevin58]

Open doors or windows should be just fine. I brew in the garage year round and open the entry door on one end and a window on the other.

[Baron Von MunchKrausen]

My system is in a heated garage so I can brew year-round in MN.
In the summer the garage door is open. In the winter I put a fan in the utility window blowing out.
Condensation is not a problem.
I think putting a metal sheet over the boil kettle would create a condensation problem with it dripping down rather than dripping off the side.

[hesterrp]

Thanks for the replies. I won't worry about it ahead of time then unless it becomes a problem. I didn't want my garage wall dripping wet but I have no problem opening the doors a bit and running a fan.

[KellerBrauer]

greetings hesterrp - the stainless steel collector plate is a good idea and should work fine until it reaches the same temperature, or close to, the same temperature as the steam rising from the brew kettle. After which, the steam will simply deflect off the sheet defeating your purpose.

The cheapest way to assure good ventilation is to simply use a fan to stratify the air and open a window or crack open the door(s).  That said, if you choose to use an exhaust fan to remove the air from the space, you will need to crack open a door or window anyway.  You see, you can?t remove air from a space without replacing it with air from some other place outside the space you?re exhausting from.  Exhausting without replacing would cause the space to be drawn into a negative pressure and within a very short time period, the exhaust will continue to run, but will stop moving air completely.

Just a point to consider if you choose to mechanically exhaust your brewing area.