Arizona / Electric Brew Humidity Mitigation

[CodeSection]

Hi there,

I first started extract brewing back in January and I am now planning on going all grain with a two vessel RIMS system. Spike Brewing is customizing both my 20 gallon BK and MT and my electrician will hopefully be installing a 14-30R GFCI protected soon.

After reading various posts about humidity, many people in other parts of the country actually welcome more humidity in their homes in the winter months. I need advice on whether one would think I would have problems with humidity at some point and if so, suggestions on how to mitigate it.

My brew room will be in my game room. The size is about 15' x 21' ad 9.5' in height. It has two A/C vents blowing toward sliding glass doors. Where I live in Arizona, the outside humidity averages 22% in May and rises to 42% in July. The indoor humidity level is on average about 10% higher than outside.

I anticipate my boil off rate will be 1.9 gallons per hour. Initially, I was thinking if it got way too humid, I would lower the A/C temp, crack open the sliding glass doors and use a couple of large fans to blow air out. My wife suggested buying a dehumidifier.

So, what do you all think? Am I missing something?

Thanks

 

[BrunDog]

Don’t forget the smell. If everyone is down with that, just offset your lid a bit to let some, not all of the steam escape.

 

[Wizard_of_Frobozz]

I'm assuming you aren't in the mountains of Arizona where it gets cold in the winter.

If you've got an AC system, then a dehumidifier is a waste of electricity - it is an air conditioner that uses the waste heat to reheat the air after it chills it down to drop the moisture out. An air conditioner just skips the reheating part, so it serves the same function.

I highly recommend looking at this thread on a method to prevent the steam from getting out into your room:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...denser-no-overhead-ventilation-needed.636955/

 

[schematix]

+1 not sure you want the smell inside

 

[CodeSection]

Wow! Thanks guys for the responses and link! I never considered the smell since I have been brewing in my kitchen and no one complained. Though, my wife was out last Sunday when I was brewing and when she came home she asked what was burning!

I've read all the pages in the link and even other links that were in that thread. I really appreciate the invaluable information! Now I need to rethink the use of my kettle spider.

 

[BLL]

I live in AZ too. It's dry enough in the entire state that opening a few windows ought to help wisk the moisture away, but I don't brew in my house. I also live in NAZ and if you're in the Valley I can understand not wanting to open a window, especially with summer around the corner.

 

[CodeSection]

BLL, while not in the Valley, we are further down south and live on a dirt road. Not only does it get hot in the garage in the summer, the dust is a lot. I would prefer not to brew in the garage as it would limit how often I would brew.

I'm leaning toward moving the brew table in front of the sliding glass doors where I can crack open the doors. That way I could use BrunDog's invention/plans along with the A/C and fans to achieve a comfortable brewing experience that I can use year around.