44$ Brewery Vent

So i finished my control panel / HERMS setup before i could find some cheap (or free) metal to build a range hood out of and i was left with a problem... I wanted to test my new brewery very badly, as I am sure you can all sympathize with, but a quick test boiling water in the basement made it VERY apparent that without ventilation it would not be possible so i set out to try to build a cheap, but effective, way to ventilate my brewery..

My parts list consisted of

12$ - Steel pail from home depot
8$ - 6" x 8' Flexible ducting
24$ - VenTech 6" In Line Fan 240CFM from Amazon.com

Given the size of the vessels i figured i would need a little over 320CFM to vent it properly but the price jump to the next fan was huge so i thought i would see for myself.

This build is extremely simple, i used a piece of leftover rigid styrofoam for the window mount as a test only to see if it would work but after it worked very well i figured i would just leave it as it worked fine.

I aluminium taped up all the intersecting areas, then I used some pop rivets to go through the folded over edges in the pail, this wasn't necessary i found the aluminum tape was very strong.

All that was left after the fan was installed in the styrofoam and everything was connected was to mount it in the window, and test it out!

Pretty nice set up. I'm planning a laundry room brewery to get out of the kitchen and this type ventilation is going to be a necessity. Thanks for sharing. I like the foam panel in the window. Mine will need to be temporary to get out of the wife's way and this looks like a pretty easy method.

Quick video of the test, i'm very happy with how this works i did my first batch and it worked very will and easily pulled out all of the steam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKwIr8Ca_E0

Thanks thats exactly why i picked the foam, my brew cart is on wheels and i just move everything out of the way when i'm done.

LAHammer said:

Pretty nice set up. I'm planning a laundry room brewery to get out of the kitchen and this type ventilation is going to be a necessity. Thanks for sharing. I like the foam panel in the window. Mine will need to be temporary to get out of the wife's way and this looks like a pretty easy method.

Click to expand...

....aaaaaand??

[ame]http://youtu.be/CKwIr8Ca_E0[/ame]

Hopefully the link works!

Don't be surprised when the fan stops working; those type of booster fans are not built to handle the amount of moisture you're going to throw at it. How long it lasts will depend on how often you brew, and the lengths of the brews. It will work for now, but... This is experiencing talking; don't want to be a downer, very clever work otherwise!

My $0.02- when it dies invest in an active air inline fan, it will be a wise investment.

cyberbackpacker said:

Don't be surprised when the fan stops working; those type of booster fans are not built to handle the amount of moisture you're going to throw at it. How long it lasts will depend on how often you brew, and the lengths of the brews. It will work for now, but... This is experiencing talking; don't want to be a downer, very clever work otherwise!

My $0.02- when it dies invest in an active air inline fan, it will be a wise investment.

Click to expand...

Will the Fantech inline fans work?

For 24$ it doesn't owe me much, i want to build a full hood for my setup but i will eventually go to a three vessel system and i want the hood to do all three. If i get a dozen brews out of it i will be happy and if it fries i will try to fix it!

They have a inline fan on amazon by the same manufacturer for 55$ that moves 440 CFM of air. It may be what i go with for the final solution but until then this will work.

I am very impressed with how well it works for now anyway

To each his own. Glad to see it's working for you. I didn't want to go in on purchasing or building a hood. I saw something similar to this on here before. I've got about $150 in it including the make up air vent. I like $44 a lot better.

Seven said:

Will the Fantech inline fans work?

Click to expand...

Short answer,yes.

inline bathroom fans are great for this, i know from another hobby. theyre designed to run under hot, steamy conditions.

yours will probably work for a nice while as is though and may surprise you for a long time.