Exhaust?

What are my electric brewing friends using to exhaust the steam/ control condensation?

ive seen anything from a fan blowing across the top of the BK and someone using a 48qt rubbermaid bin as a hood with sum clothes dryer ducting out the side with a small fan pulling the steam out!!

I saw that Rubbermaid jobber. I like that.

Just pickin at the genius within the HBT. What else would work?

I'm planning my electric brewing setup now as I rebuild the room it will be in. I have read Kal's stuff on theelectricbrewery.com and he is using around 420cfm's for his setup. I have seen another guy on here, his name escapes me, and he used a bath fan (guessing 70-90cfm) and said it didn't work well. It's going to depend on what size boil, how long you boil and how long is the run to the outside, as well as how many bends you end up with as to what will work best. I will be able to direct vent right out of my hood to the outdoors. I think, but I'm not certain yet, that I can vent that I should be okay with around 250cfm's. I also have a fresh air intake within 3 or so feet of the hood. I hope someone with more knowledge stops in here and shares it with us.

I'm the bath fan guy. It cant keep up. I had it lying around from a remodel. I like the Rubbermaid container upside down with a vortex fan.

Sorry mux, I couldn't remember. I saw someone on here today that made a wood framed hood with a vortex fan, they covered the interior of the hood with FRP. I think this is what I will be doing for the hood, but I may look for a slightly smaller fan to save a few dollars.

I use a ~200 cfm bath fan over my 11 gal eBIAB setup and it works pretty well.

I'm thinking along the lines of this for my direct vent, Amazon.com: 6-Inch 110VAC 250 CFM In-Line Duct Fan: Electronics

It does say use as a super quiet bathroom exhaust fan which would lead me to believe it would work for condensation.

I just installed and tied together a couple of 100 cfm bath fan vents over my eBIAB set up. It's directly vented to the outside. (Went through a couple 15 inch masonry bits getting through the stone foundation) I like that I'll have a light directly over the kettle.

Still working on the brew space (Build thread HERE), should have it completed by this Sunday and brewing the next weekend

cowgo said:

I just installed and tied together a couple of 100 cfm bath fan vents over my eBIAB set up. It's directly vented to the outside. (Went through a couple 15 inch masonry bits getting through the stone foundation) I like that I'll have a light directly over the kettle.

Still working on the brew space (Build thread HERE), should have it completed by this Sunday and brewing the next weekend

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I tried the bath fan. It didn't work for me, the condensation was insane.

You really need a hood.

I brew in 30g pots usually to capacity in the workshop of my garage. I have a 8" Active AIr 720CFM fan ducted out through the wall via 8" ducting. I don't have a hood, just a section of ducting over the BK and really only run the fan during boiling. This set up has worked great for me and I have had zero problems.

I have this:



It's a 200-300 CFM squirrel cage fan sucking up through that "cone" and exhausting through my dryer vent.

On a first run a couple days ago, I had some decent water buildup inside the ducting at the low spots just before the fan and just before the exhaust port in the wall. Had to punch holes in the low points to act as condensation drains so it stopped sucking water into my fan....other than that it works extremely well, no condensation escapes.

bullywee said:

I brew in 30g pots usually to capacity in the workshop of my garage. I have a 8" Active AIr 720CFM fan ducted out through the wall via 8" ducting. I don't have a hood, just a section of ducting over the BK and really only run the fan during boiling. This set up has worked great for me and I have had zero problems.

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I saw the Active air fans along. They are kind of expensive, but I believe you get what you pay for. I will most likely go that route. thanks for the response.

mux said:

I tried the bath fan. It didn't work for me, the condensation was insane.

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I'm worried about condensation too and my first choice would be a hood, but my brewery is in the basement with a low ceiling made even lower because it was necessary to fir down to cover old piping (real old, likely wrapped in asbestos) and wiring. A hood would be too low to the keggle.

I went with two bath vents to double up on the CFM's. I have a buddy who says he boils big batches of crawfish on a gas cooker in his basement and he put in this setup and it worked for him without any problems.

Keeping my fingers crossed it works. If not, the cone hat looks like a cool project.

mux said:

I saw the Active air fans along. They are kind of expensive, but I believe you get what you pay for. I will most likely go that route. thanks for the response.

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The active air fans are worth the $$$, solid construction and great performance and I think a 5 year warranty.

I think a hood with a vortex type fan will do the trick. I brewed today- and just used a box fan blowing across the kettle/ HLT, worked better than the bath fan. but the whole house still smells like a brewery.

When I was completing my Kal clone I decided to build my own hood out of a couple of stacked 2x6s and lined the inside with an FRP panel. My setup works fantastic and saved me a bunch of bucks compared to Kal's shiny stainless steel one (though I still am envious of that damn thing!) Here's a couple quick photos of mine. If you want more pics and/or details you can check out my build thread linked in my signature.

Matt

I like the hood idea there Natty, and that is what I will be doing as well. I haven't decided on the fan yet though, I want something cheaper than the Vortex and since i will be direct venting out the wall I should be able to come up with a solution. Do you have a cost on your hood less the fan and duct? Looking at materials I think I can build a similar hood for $40-$50 plus the fan.

NattyBrew said:

When I was completing my Kal clone I decided to build my own hood out of a couple of stacked 2x6s and lined the inside with an FRP panel. My setup works fantastic and saved me a bunch of bucks compared to Kal's shiny stainless steel one (though I still am envious of that damn thing!) Here's a couple quick photos of mine. If you want more pics and/or details you can check out my build thread linked in my signature.

Matt

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That's awesome. Did you use schedule 40? That's a good idea.

old window fan I already had...falls behind a bit during the boil but clears out the room quickly after flame out...or switch out...simple, cheap and effective

Hoosier-Brewer said:

I like the hood idea there Natty, and that is what I will be doing as well. I haven't decided on the fan yet though, I want something cheaper than the Vortex and since i will be direct venting out the wall I should be able to come up with a solution. Do you have a cost on your hood less the fan and duct? Looking at materials I think I can build a similar hood for $40-$50 plus the fan.

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I think it might have been right around 75 bucks or so. It's made of 3 2x6s and one FRP panel and then some plywood sheathing, screws, and stain.

There are plenty of ways to save money on a build, but I wouldn't advise skimping on the ventilation. If you are direct venting out the back you could probably get away with a smaller CFM fan like the 4 inch model from vortex, but honestly a quality inline fan is only $150 bucks. If it were me I'd buy a quality fan and save that money elsewhere like on the hood, or kettles. But that's just my opinion!

Matt

mux said:

That's awesome. Did you use schedule 40? That's a good idea.

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Yeah, I used PVC versus metal ducting because it was just a little easier to work with for me. I was able to push the pieces together without glue, and make the connections air tight by caulking the joints. The stuff works great, is super smooth on the inside, so it barely slows the fan speed down.

Matt

NattyBrew said:

Yeah, I used PVC versus metal ducting because it was just a little easier to work with for me. I was able to push the pieces together without glue, and make the connections air tight by caulking the joints. The stuff works great, is super smooth on the inside, so it barely slows the fan speed down.

Matt

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I'm stealing that idea! Very smart. Thank you.

Here is my rubber maid exhaust hood. Its hanging from the beam with s hooks and chain. I am not happy with the metal ducking but I was stuck trying to figure out the weird angle i have.

P.s. Quick Q for natty (not to thread jack). Whats the best way to get straight cuts when working with pvc of that size? Thanks

I struggled with it initially trying to use a circular saw and multiple cuts, but they never seemed to line up the right way. I came up with a pretty good system to get flush cuts and that was to put the PVC in between a set of two coffee can on the ground so that you can spin or rotate the pipe as you cut and keep your tool in the same spot.

I first measured my cut in several locations all around the diameter of the pipe, put the PVC into my coffee can rotating jig, and then using a jigsaw instead of a circular saw, did my best to "connect the dots" on my previous measurements. It worked out well enough for me and was much better than the spiral cuts I was getting earlier where the ends of my cuts wouldn't line up.

If you have any more questions just shoot me a PM and I can try to answer better rather than continue on the thread here.

Matt

mux said:

What are my electric brewing friends using to exhaust the steam/ control condensation?

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I am a gas brewer and we have the same problem as your electric friends.

My setup is similar to shortyjacobs' setup without a fan, slightly larger hood and a 10' run.

shortyjacobs said:

Had to punch holes in the low points to act as condensation drains so it stopped sucking water into my fan....other than that it works extremely well, no condensation escapes.

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To prevent any condensation from running back into the brew kettle I installed a condensation trap close to the hood.

Condensation trap

I use a miter saw for square cuts on PVC.

NattyBrew has a very simple system that looks good and is very functional. I seen his before I built mine and went with the wood lined with plastic as well. Nice Job! You will need a good blower to remove the steam. If you don't you have a good chance of feeding mold, then you'll say I should have gotten a bigger fan. Cheers

castermmt said:

NattyBrew has a very simple system that looks good and is very functional. I seen his before I built mine and went with the wood lined with plastic as well. Nice Job! You will need a good blower to remove the steam. If you don't you have a good chance of feeding mold, then you'll say I should have gotten a bigger fan. Cheers

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What cfm do you recommend? I'm looking at a 4" vortex fan.

I hope some starts a show me your exhaust fan thread. I'm trying to figure if the vortex fan is worth the money. I read that it's loud. The only place for me to hook up an exhaust would be to put in some sort of splitter in the duct that my dryer exhausts from

Active air

any body ever heard the active air 6'' vs the vortex 6''? I don't want to give up all the quiet if my ebuild for a loud arse fan.

Looks like you can get into the active air for ~$100 and the vortex for ~$165. Seems like most people say don't go less than 6''.

I have an Active Air 6". I've been very happy with it. It's the only inline fan I've owned so I can't make a comparison to the vortex. I wouldn't say the Active Air is loud. Our kitchen is directly above the fan and I can hear a slight hum. I believe the Active Air clocks 72 decibels and the Vortex 49.


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CidahMastah said:

any body ever heard the active air 6'' vs the vortex 6''? I don't want to give up all the quiet if my ebuild for a loud arse fan.

Looks like you can get into the active air for ~$100 and the vortex for ~$165. Seems like most people say don't go less than 6''.

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I have an Active Air 6" too. It's not silent by any means, but it's certainly not so loud that you need to raise your voice to talk to folks. In my boil tests (almost ready to roll!) so far, I can make do with it on medium speed (using a speed controller) without any change to the humidity in the room and at that speed you can barely hear it. Of course, my vent run is only 2-3 feet, so it doesn't need the full power. All-in-all... I'm happy with the fan (just need to move it to the other end of the vent run to help solve a condensation problem!)

Cool, thanks for the comments guys!

so my build is going to be in the basement in the same room as the gas furnace and water heater, about 10ft away from each. I just got my rim joists foamed and the house sealed. Do I have to worry much that I'll be sucking all the CO into the house when brewing, and not exhausting it up the chimney where it should be going? I will have a fresh air source available right near the brewstand. Just want to make sure the furnace and heater still draft up the chimney and not into the basement when the fan is going. The insulation guys did a smoke test at the water heater to make sure there was still enough pull after doing all the sealing. But if I'm adding a 300 or 400 cfm fan into the mix I have no idea what it'll do to the airflow of the house.

dcbw said:

so my build is going to be in the basement in the same room as the gas furnace and water heater, about 10ft away from each. I just got my rim joists foamed and the house sealed. Do I have to worry much that I'll be sucking all the CO into the house when brewing, and not exhausting it up the chimney where it should be going? I will have a fresh air source available right near the brewstand. Just want to make sure the furnace and heater still draft up the chimney and not into the basement when the fan is going. The insulation guys did a smoke test at the water heater to make sure there was still enough pull after doing all the sealing. But if I'm adding a 300 or 400 cfm fan into the mix I have no idea what it'll do to the airflow of the house.

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I have a 6" vortex fan about 10 ft from my heater and hot water heater. I just open a basement window to provide fresh air. I have no issues. In fact I have closed the basement window and just let the vortex pull from the house and haven't seen an issue and my joists are spray foamed and my house has been sealed so it is very tight. If you have a fresh air intake near your brewing area you should be just fine.

So I was planning on placing my brew rig about 8ft away from my furnace and water heater with only an exhaust vent. Would that be an issue? Do I need a way to get fresh air in? If not what would be the consequences?

I'm very close to purchasing either a 6inch vortex or active air exhaust fan. I just keep flip flopping on which one I should get