Help With Exhaust

So, I am thinking about re-doing my exhaust system in the brewery. Its gets a bit hazy/full of steam during the brew and I want it to not smell into the house from the brew room. I have a standard range hood over it now, but I am thinking I either need a cone/hood over the BK, or re-do the whole system.. I would love idea's from others who brew inside here are some details you may need...

All electric only need to vent steam.
Brew in my utility room with my furnace and water heater being NG
Have a 8" cold air intake into the room

Thats about all I can think of, let me know if you need any other details..
I am pretty handy, but I am about out of ideas!
Thanks
Bryan

If I was you I would fashion a big rectangular hood from sheet metal and attach it to a giant duct system with an inside tube fan. Im not sure what exactly those fans are called.

This is what I am thinking of doing anyway.

Rev, are you planning an exhaust system to run your burner in your basement?

I just run a fan across my BK on low to disperse the steam. I run a dehumidifier in the basement. So far so good. (All electric brewing)

Since you already have an exhaust fan and it is not cutting it, you need to do 2 things.

1. Capture the steam with a bigger hood. This will make any fan more effective
2. Increase the CFM rating of your exhaust system. Your current exhaust fan should have a CFM rating for each speed. Try to double that.

You can go with a commercial kitchen vent, or you could try a couple of those vent boosters they sell for putting inline on your furnace runs to help boost the heat or A/C getting to a room.

I may look into boiling all electric in my basement in the near future as well.

Linc

Another thought, you may want to duct your cold air intake to a spot directly below your kettle. This will make the draft flow directly from the cold air intake to your exhaust fan and hopefully capture the most amount of steam.

Guys - read OP

All electric only need to vent steam.

Click to expand...

rabeb25 said:

...I have a standard range hood over it now, but I am thinking I either need a cone/hood over the BK, or re-do the whole system.. ...

Click to expand...

Is your range hood passive or forced air?

Is the hood currently over your BK?

Seems to me that there isn't enough suction to both yank the steam out of the room and pull fresh air in. An 8" intake seems like it would be big enough if there were enough suction.

Before you go making permanent mods, you might try rigging a standard box fan up in your hood (clamps, zipz ties or whatever to hold it in place), and see if that is enough pull to keep the air fresh and the moisture down.

You don't need a fresh air intake if you are all electric. no CO to get rid of. I thought about hoods and various ideas, but so far just running a dehumidifier and using a fan to disperse the steam has worked for me over a year. I suppose I should really use a vent, but evaporating a gallon in an hour doesn't seem to hurt anything once a week or so. My ceiling in my brew room/kitchen is bone dry.

I had thought about just using a 12x12 HVAC-style intake vent in the ceiling and using a booster fan like others had mentioned - could all be done for less than $50, but what I do now seems to work...

Sitting next to my silent boil kettle right now brewing a kriek.

Nurmey said:

Rev, are you planning an exhaust system to run your burner in your basement?

Click to expand...

I would be for venting steam only. If i brew in the house I will augment a stove so that it has 4 large burners close together. I am too paranoid to run NG or propane in my house like that.

bakins said:

You don't need a fresh air intake if you are all electric. no CO to get rid of.

Click to expand...

You're right, but if he has a powered exhaust fan, the air has to come from somewhere. It will be pulled through the window seams and doors and whatnot. If you provide intake air, the air will come from the path of least resistance and you can control the exact flow of air. Also, providing easy intake air will make the exhaust fan work more efficiently.

Here is the setup I have currently, it works ok.

dsc03182.jpg

I was thinking of moving the hood directly over the BK, or doing a T in the system and make a hood that has a cone or something along with an inline duct fan.

I have a 8" fresh air intake on the opposite side of the room (picture lower right front)

Thanks for the replies so far.

Bryan

That looks like a pretty wimpy household exhaust fan. And it's also pretty far away.
I think if you can find a squirrel cage fan from a HVAC unit you will get enough CFM for the job, and make your hood out of sheet metal or whatever you are handy with.

you need to calculate the how much air (cfm) you will be drawing out to be shure your fresh air intake can keep up, even if your brewing equipment is all electric, if your furnace or water heater is gas and you create a negative pressure in your home, you could draw carbon monoxide/flu gasses back into home through flue pipes.

^ Very good point. I hadn't thought of that but it is a valid concern.

I have a cold air intake, with is a 8" with an inline duct fan. I am not concerned about outpacing that. Plus I have a co/cm detector at the furnace/water heater location, and though out the house.

I will start drawing up some ideas.

Thanks
Bryan

If it were my basement I would make sure to have the furnace and hot water heater units in a seperate room sealed away from any negative pressures created by your ducted fan in your brewing area as replied above. You're dealing with very little negative pressures that can create a back flow that can overpower the natural heat rise draw from those heating units.
On the brew room with the ducted fan motor I would go larger as it will help reduce the moisture and condensation as you will create a lot. A 8" duct has 50.26 sq/inch cross sectional area vs a 10" duct of 78.54 sq/inch or 1.56 times the area. About the same amount of cfm's also gained depending on the length of the ducting until out of the basement plus you must take into account the type of added restriction the damper shutter doors may create. A larger fan will keep the brew area from becoming a steamy hot sauna this making brewing a uncomfortable process. The other thing I would look into is the amount of moisture / steam the motor can handle unless it is a totally sealed or enclosed motor. It will have a tough life. Even those gable wall mounted attic duct fans can move a large amount of CFM's plus they are available and cheap at Home Depot with a adjustable thermostat. Add flexable ducting to it and the hood plus a damper shutter door against the wall.

I just ran into a few problems recently with my exhaust system, I do run propane, so I needed to vent products of combustion, heat, and moisture. Originally, I went with a cheap Home depot attic fan, bypassed the thermostat and ran it off a simple on/off switch. I had about 4' of 8" duct to the fan, at a 1000 cfm, and 4' of trunk, the fan pulled crazy amounts of air. I also had a fresh air make up supply to allow a good draft. It ran great for about three brew sessions, until it died. I found out that those fans are only rated for 104 ambient degrees, when I took it apart, it was literally cooked. Here’s a picture of the hood and duct for reference:



My solution was a high temp (450 degree squirrel cage fan, whereas the motor is mounted outside the duct. I found a lower CFM fan at Grainger, and reworked the design (sorry no new picture of it yet). The OP'r should lower the hood height (mine is about 20" off the top of the brewing system) and allow a makeup air intake, that will create more natural draft and make the exhaust work more efficiently

mrbowenz,
Do you have a link to that fan? Grainger has 87 pages of exhaust fans alone...

Thanks

rabeb25 said:

mrbowenz,
Do you have a link to that fan? Grainger has 87 pages of exhaust fans alone...

Thanks

Click to expand...

Ain't it great !, search by "high temp " fans, it's around $120 dollars, and it's a Dyton, I can't find at the moment, something lke 225 CFM

Go with the dayton or fasco squirrel cage blowers, have tried the inline fans and found that they were a joke. Something in the 150 -250 cfm range should work. Here is a shot of the hood and 150 cfm fan that I put together for the phase 2 system Picasa Web Albums - Kevin - System Testin....

I installed a Broan bathroom exhaust fan directly above my gas stove in the basement and ran the duct down the wall behind my stove where I had an old dryer vent. I used 3" duct the entire way which amounted to about 12' of total length. At first I thought it was insufficient exhaust because when I used a smoke puffer, it did not seem to pull to much away.

I brewed my next beer shortly thereafter and I was delighted to find that the homebrew smell and the condensation buildup I usually experienced was not present. It worked great!

The Broan fan cost something like $30.00 and the duct was $20.00 or $30.00. You can get all the material at Lowes or HD and install it in less than an hour. Oh.... I did not hard wire the fan into my electric panel, but instead wired it so I could just plug it into a recepticle close to my stove when I needed to use it.

Good Luck.

Salute!

bmckee56 said:

I installed a Broan bathroom exhaust fan directly above my gas stove in the basement and ran the duct down the wall behind my stove where I had an old dryer vent. I used 3" duct the entire way which amounted to about 12' of total length. At first I thought it was insufficient exhaust because when I used a smoke puffer, it did not seem to pull to much away.

Click to expand...

bmckee, By chance do you have any photos of that setup. I was considering a similar approach and am searching for ideas. No need to reinvent the wheel if someone else has good results.
My only concern was how well the fan would hold up venting that temperature steam all the time. I guess time will tell.
Thanks for posting the info.
~Bill

mrbowenz said:

Ain't it great !, search by "high temp " fans, it's around $120 dollars, and it's a Dyton, I can't find at the moment, something lke 225 CFM

Click to expand...

In the Grainger Catalog stock No. 4C724, maximum operating air temp of 200*F. It is used as a booster for furnaces. If the motor/fan unit are mounted near the discharge of the room or on the wall with a shutter on the outside the motor will not be in the direct steam and heat. My Catalog is number 394 item, listed at $61.50. At 0.40 SP 200 cfm.
The Axial duct fans are rated maximum of 150*F, come in 6, 8, 10, 14 and 14" diameter from 150 cfm to 1,100 cfm with 25' of pipe attached. Price range from $35 to $122.

The 4C728 high temp venters as example a 6" duct rated 3, 4 and 500*F
with 200 cfm at .5 SP for $244.

Without going into a belt drive system or way over the top the selection is rather small, this by Grainger's catalog alone and not checking the net.

Other HBT members should have ideas or fan manufactures to look into.

Years ago I did many total restaurant remodels with fans and hoods tossed into the dumpsters all the time all mine for the taking free, I didn't even take one stainless hood or fan for future use. Future is now.
I live in a mild climate zone year round so outdoor brewing in the patio in a rain storm is not a problem with all electric heating. A 24" fan is all that's needed with both patio doors open for cross flow in this 12' x 11' room.

Here's what I bought and installed , works great :
HVACR > Blowers > Small Centrifugal Blowers > High Temperature Blower,115 Volt,227 CFM : Grainger Industrial Supply

mrbowenz said:

Here's what I bought and installed , works great :
HVACR > Blowers > Small Centrifugal Blowers > High Temperature Blower,115 Volt,227 CFM : Grainger Industrial Supply

Click to expand...

Your blower is in catalog number 400, even in catalog 398 is is not there but other models that were close with a 4C92 number. Seems Grainger changes products available as offten as their catalogs. Good th hear your up and running. I like the feature of the motor out of the ducted heat. They sure kept ahead of inflation as I have catalogs going back to 261 and their prices have gone out of control vs inflation. I watched one model air compressor pump alone triple in 8 years, now replaced by some POS made in China.
Heck my new Dell computer is made in China, assembled in Mexico.