DIY Exhaust Hood Help

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ToastedPenguin

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In the planning stages of my basement brew room. I will be using a 3 keggle HERMS and will be going all electric so the exhaust hood will be mainly for moisture removal. Since most above range/kitchen exhaust hoods aren't powerful enough and commercial versions cost some serious $$$ I am trying to find a way to build one myself.

So far I know I can use standard steel duct work with a vortex fan to expel any moisture/fumes coming from the boil but I am trying to come up with an actual hood design that I can attach the duct system to. I have seen some wood hoods that use inserts but the inserts I have found so far are pretty much the equivalent to off the shelf range hoods or commercial (and expensive) range hoods just inserted into a nice wood housing.

I was thinking I could build a wooden "box" that is the length of my brew setup that is mounted above it to which the duct is attached to but it needs to be easy to clean. I thought of installing stainless steel or equivalent panels inside the box with sealed seams to protect the wood and create this easy to clean surface .

Has anyone attempted to build something like this? Any suggestions or comments are welcomed as I am trying to find the best solution at the best price.

Thanks,
David
 
Haven't done it, but I have been thinking abhout it just like you. A wood structure would give you the support you need and you'd only need this SS sheeting to line the inside. As long as everything is sealed well and you use the proper materials (ie. stainless fasteners, etc.), I can't see why it wouldn't work.
Tom
 
That is what I was thinking as well. Build the "box" any size I want and then I can plaster whatever I want on the outside to cover up the wood and/or make it look better and stick with all SS materials on the inside.

Anyone happen to know where you can get SS sheets for such a project?
 
Do to the size, shipping would be a pain. I would personally go to any metal fabrication shops. I'm sure they would be able to source it, of not in stock, and get it for you. Also, those screws they use for metal buildings (the ones with the rubber gasket to seal the hole) come in stainless and would be ideal for attaching the stainless.
Tom
 
True it might be cheaper to work with a metal shop in my area and not deal with shipping costs. I'm in the Chicago are so I should be able to find quite a few. Besides I might need to have someone curl the edges at the bottom at 90 degrees to create a fluid channel so I can prevent dripping from the hood.
 
When planning your exhaust systems make sure to take air replacement into account. If air is removed from a space it has to be replaced from somewhere else. If the air removed is significant it may be replaced by reversing the draft of the flues of your furnace/hot water heater/fireplace. This is more of an issue in the winter when the house is closed up. All restaurants running cooking exhaust fans have a fresh forced air replacement system running as well.

I have a 30" whole house fan and I have to make sure there are enough windows open to avoid the reverse draft issue during the warmer months.

Check out Kal's electric build. He has a section on ventilation
 
I think a hood for sporadic use could easily be done with galvanized sheet metal rather than incurring the expense for stainless. First, you won't need to scrub accumulated grease off of it regularly and it will only get wet during brew sessions.
If you've got a long run to the outside, you might want to put a condensate drain in the line somewhere especially if you're forced to have a low spot.

Intake air would best be served directly under the brewstand so that it doesn't make the room too cold. If you use round duct to get the air there from outside, it would be a good idea to put an internal manual (or electric if you want to be fancy) damper in there to shut between brew days.
 
When planning your exhaust systems make sure to take air replacement into account. If air is removed from a space it has to be replace from somewhere else. If the air removed is significant it may be replaced by reversing the draft of the flues of your furnace/hot water heater/fireplace. This is more of an issue in the winter when the house is closed up. All restaurants running cooking exhaust fans have a fresh forced air replacement system running as well.

I have a 30" whole house fan and I have to make sure there are enough windows open to avoid the reverse draft issue during the warmer months.

Thanks for reminding me of this requirement.

My brew room will be a sealed self contained environment so I should be able to accomplish replacing the air for this particular room with a fresh air return vent/baffle. Do I need to install a fan to force fresh air back into the room or will I be able to get away with a passive fresh air return system?
 
I think a hood for sporadic use could easily be done with galvanized sheet metal rather than incurring the expense for stainless. First, you won't need to scrub accumulated grease off of it regularly and it will only get wet during brew sessions.
If you've got a long run to the outside, you might want to put a condensate drain in the line somewhere especially if you're forced to have a low spot.

Intake air would best be served directly under the brewstand so that it doesn't make the room too cold. If you use round duct to get the air there from outside, it would be a good idea to put an internal manual (or electric if you want to be fancy) damper in there to shut between brew days.

I like that way of thinking....gotta cut costs where I can before the wife closes down my project.

When I look at where the brew stand will be in relationship to the size of the room and where the ducts need to be run to the outside wall (in the pictures attached the pic with the small white bucket in it is the side of the room with the outside wall), the exhaust to the outside will actually be pretty short, maybe 4-5 feet max. The room is ~12 feet across and the stand will be against the long wall in the picture.

Since the brew room is below grade in my basement would I still need to put the air intake vent below the brew stand?

Beginning_oF_Brew_Room_2_Scaled.jpg


Beginning_oF_Brew_Room_1_Scaled.jpg
 
I had been thinking of making a wood vent box and putting plastic shower/bath wall panels on both sides. Should look and work fine.

Barry
 
I have "empty basement" envy. Mine is full of 20 years of crap. :(

I think a passive duct into the space would work but I'm no expert on the subject. That will take some testing on your part.
 
I have "empty basement" envy. Mine is full of 20 years of crap. :(

I think a passive duct into the space would work but I'm no expert on the subject. That will take some testing on your part.

Empty basement envy :) The wife gave me the go ahead to start finishing the basement this spring so I added a brew room and pub that will sit in front of the brew room into the plans just need to finish up the odds and ends like this before I get to it. I didn't have much to clean up down there, but what I did got put in the crawl space in the back of the basement.

Ya, when I install the vent for the fresh air return for the brew room I can always test the effectiveness of it and it fails add an active intake fan that gets turns on when the exhaust fan is on.
 
True it might be cheaper to work with a metal shop in my area and not deal with shipping costs. I'm in the Chicago are so I should be able to find quite a few. Besides I might need to have someone curl the edges at the bottom at 90 degrees to create a fluid channel so I can prevent dripping from the hood.

I'm definately interested in what you come up with. I'm thinking about turning my basement kitchen into my brewery and I'm also in Chicago.
 
I'm in a very similar situation looking to build an all-electric brewery in my unfinished basement. Depending on your time requirements you can scour craigslist and possibly find a used commercial hood that will work for a good price. Regarding the homemade hood (which I'm also considering), I don't think you'd need to go all-out with actuall sheet (stainless or galvanized) if your purpose is to provide a moisture barrier to the wood frame. Either plastic (as already mentioned) or thick foil should do the trick. Foil and even some very thin sheet metal can be shipped rolled up which reduces cost. There is even stainless foil with adhesive backing already applied, although I don't know what the temp rating is on the adhesive. If you're meticulous you might be able to completely line the interior and outside of a plywood framed hood and make it look like stainless for considerably less cost. There are some options on mcmaster.com. I've just started thinking about this but I'm already guessing the gutters around the perimeter with a drain would be very useful with a bunch of steam condensing. Let us know what you come up with!
 
I have just finished the ventilation system for my basement utility room electric brewery. I couldn't find a reasonably priced stainless hood, so I built mine using 3/8 baltic birch plywood. I stained and sealed the outside and painted the inside white. I haven't used it yet, so I can't say if lots of condensation will occur or not. I have a five inch duct and an inline vortex fan rated for 900 cfm (as I recall). The make up air will come from opening a window in an adjacent room.

I am (so far...) not concerned about protecting the wood more than I have, since I reason that the moisture exposure will be short term and sporadic.
 
I suppose I could also use FRP panels on the inside of the exhaust hood. They run about $24-26 per 4 x 8 foot panel and its easy to cut and seal. Since I am only dealing with hot liquid vapour and not grease this material should be good enough to protect the wood while creating an easy to clean surface. But I would still need to figure out how to create a channel at the base of the hood to direct water to a single egress instead of having it drip all along the edges.
 
I have built a box with wood, mounted a bathroom fan on it. with flex hose. it sits a foot above my pot. I just move it out of the way when I need to be in the pot. closer to the pot, smaller the fan.

FRP pannels are heavy....
 
Here's a cool idea , make a hood box out of 1/2" pressure treated plywood to your specific dimensions , then find yourself a roll of aluminum flashing , like 16" wide x 30 foot roll, they sell this at Lowes or HD. this has the look and feel of SS , is really cheap and you can cut it with a scissors , apply this roll Aluminum with a waterproof 3M adhesive , use a rolling pin to spread and flatten as you go , you can also use a wallpaper seam roller, any areas you need to have an edge, simply buy some flat stock, 90 degree stock or "c" channel to finish the edges( they also sell this at the HD/Lowes) Moreover, the seams of this roll flashing butt up to each other nicely, so only the edging needs treatment. Aluminum looks great, is water resistant and wipes clean with mild detergent. I think it cost about $24 dollars a roll and goes a long way, no metal brake or special tools need to apply it = simple cost effective solution. Spend any extra money on your fan, try Grainger or the like, they need to be rated to withstand high heat and moisture, I know because I fried two different ones that weren't rated for that application.

Make up air is important too , google it !
 
I have built a box with wood, mounted a bathroom fan on it. with flex hose. it sits a foot above my pot. I just move it out of the way when I need to be in the pot. closer to the pot, smaller the fan.

FRP pannels are heavy....

I imagine a 4 foot x 8 foot panel would be heavy but I intend to make cuts to fit the inside size of the hood so the weight would be distributed. It shouldn't be heavier then stainless I would think.
 
Here's a cool idea , make a hood box out of 1/2" pressure treated plywood to your specific dimensions , then find yourself a roll of aluminum flashing , like 16" wide x 30 foot roll, they sell this at Lowes or HD. this has the look and feel of SS , is really cheap and you can cut it with a scissors , apply this roll Aluminum with a waterproof 3M adhesive , use a rolling pin to spread and flatten as you go , you can also use a wallpaper seam roller, any areas you need to have an edge, simply buy some flat stock, 90 degree stock or "c" channel to finish the edges( they also sell this at the HD/Lowes) Moreover, the seams of this roll flashing butt up to each other nicely, so only the edging needs treatment. Aluminum looks great, is water resistant and wipes clean with mild detergent. I think it cost about $24 dollars a roll and goes a long way, no metal brake or special tools need to apply it = simple cost effective solution. Spend any extra money on your fan, try Grainger or the like, they need to be rated to withstand high heat and moisture, I know because I fried two different ones that weren't rated for that application.

Make up air is important too , google it !

Great idea, thanks for the suggestion. I think I will go this route as it provides the most flexibility at the lowest cost.
 
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