Exhaust hood ideas

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Zeppman

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Hey everyone,

I'm in the middle of an electric build which will be located in my basement. I'm looking for exhaust hood ideas, so those of you who use one, tell me a bit about it or post some pics. I'm just looking for some ideas...

The only requirement that I do have is that I plan on making a "coupling" board (for lack of a better word) where the exhaust duct will be attached to a wood board that will then fit into a window opening in my basement. This window is located about 2 feet away from the boil kettle.

Thanks!
 
Someone I know had a local fabricator create a hood for them out of galvanized steel. MUCH cheaper than what you'll typically find for range hoods of a significant size which are typically used in the food industry and as such are stainless, and therefore pricey.
 
Well, that is a great idea, but I would still think that is fairly expensive. I was hoping to go the "design a plywood box and line it with a moisture barrier" route... but I'm having trouble coming up with a good design and a material to line the hood with..

Any idea what that metal fabricator cost him?
 
Walker, that is a good idea, have you had any experience with it? I don't have any experience with exhaust hoods and condensation. I would be worried that condensation would accumulate in the hood, and that the paint won't be smooth enough to where it could drain properly... but of course this is only an issue if condensate forms inside the hood.
 
Ok, well I'll keep that in mind, and may even try it out, its cheap enough.
 
Ok, so I went with the plywood box lined with FRP paneling route. It doesn't look like much, but I'm a brewer, not a carpenter :) I believe it will work just fine. Anyway, my next problem to solve is how to route the duct and where to install the fan.

My plan is: on brew day, I will open the window and place a wood board that is cut to fit the entire window opening exactly. This board will have a piece of exhaust duct placed through it, and then it will "periscope" up out of the well. I will then have the make-up air inlet hole below the exhaust duct, and I figured I'd have to attach some kind of (probably flexible) duct to that that will lead inside, and probably on the other side of the room so the exhaust hood isn't just sucking up and spitting out the return air. My question is, how should I position the fan and exhaust duct? Should I mount the fan right in the wood panel that will fit in the window opening, since there won't be much room between the hood and the window? I was also unsure about what fan to go with, and how much CFM. I'm loosely following Kal's (theelectricbrewery.com) design, and he suggests a 450cfm 6'' diameter fan. I don't know if that will be overkill for my system.

hood1a.jpg


hood1b.jpg
 
Looks like a good start. I am about to build a FRP lined wood exhaust hood myself. If I were you I would engineer a more permanent solution to the ductwork. those "on brew day" set-up steps tend to add up. It looks like you could elbow off the side and punch a hole above the window. Just a thought.
 
Haasobrew, I would do a permanent solution if I owned the place, but I'm renting. Its been about a year now, and my method has been working out well. Its a bit of a pain and I look forward to a permanent solution once we find a house.
 
I went around and around about this. I was planning to just build one out of plywood and FRP as other have done. Ultimately I ended up scoring big time at a recycled building supply store. If you have something like that in your area, keep an eye on them for a while. I've seen 2 or 3 hoods that would work for me come through there in the past 6 months.

Here is my hood. I ended up paying $300 for it, which is more than I would have spent to build the plywood and FPR variety. It's all stainless though, and came with a 400cfm fan and lighting. I fully admit I got lucky here, and not everyone will be able to find something quite like this. My point is just that it is worth keeping an eye on these kinds of stores..you never know what will turn up.
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More detail on it in my build thread (see signature)
 
This was posted November last year in a for sale thread. I thought it was awesome..... Does the trick at least. SeanGC was the OG poster of the pic.

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^ Yea that is me in the picture. SeanGC is my brew partner. I am about to upgrade the hood to a longer tote, to cover the HLT and BK. It has been a year and still works pretty damn well.
 
You might be able to use shower pan liner, I believe it is a (30mil) vinyl readily available at most hardware stores, it shapes easily around wood, and excess could simply stapled to the opposite side of the board, and trimmed to aesthetics. Awesome idea for the hood btw..
 
Looks great, Haasobrew! That is a lot like what I had planned to build. Do you have anything on the outside of those fans to prevent drafts from coming back in when not in use?
 
Yep. Fan came with these shutters on the outside. 585 CFM each. I figured I'd need 1100 CFM for two 55000 max btu burners( sq-14's)

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I'm going to be doing Electric BIAB in my basement. I know a normal 30" range hood isn't enough, but I was thinking about using one with 6-7ft of ducting and adding an inline fan. Would this be suitable?
 
Grainier has these. Ill post the part number when I get home. They come in a few different sizes so you can get desired CFMs.

image-3634399811.jpg
 

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