Show me your ventilation

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Curious as to what other electric brewers have for ventilation on their setup? :rockin:

This
IMG_2250.jpg

See link in signature for more details.
 
In_Place.jpg
Hood_Vent.jpg
Vent_Pipe.jpg

I scored my hood on craigslist and use a 6" vortex fan. Had to make some modifications, but it's worked out pretty well. You can see more of it in my HERMS build thread in my signature if you like

Things I have learned since building are....

1) size matters! while a 6" fan works pretty well, an 8" fan can move more air at a slower speed and therefor more quietly.

2) While a nice big stainless hood looks nice, you don't have to have one that covers the entire brewery. As long as your HLT and MLT stay covered most of the time, they don't put out a ton of moisture. schematix's hood above should work fine even with a 3 vessel system.

3) While many use it, I would recommend not using flexible duct. These move a lot of moisture, much of which collects on the walls of the ducting and will end up in the folds where it may be hard to dry out.

4) Condensation can build up on the outside of the duct. Some duct insulation will stop that from happening.
 
Check my build thread in my autosig..I built my own from 2x4s and mending plates. Mounted it, dry walled it into the building and added the vortex motor, a little plastic lining and caulk in it and it's worked great for me. I think it cost me $200 to build with the motor included.
 
This is my 50 quart inverted salad bowl with 6" insulated duct connected to a 6" in-line fan. This is modified from an idea I found on this great site.

 
This is my 50 quart inverted salad bowl with 6" insulated duct connected to a 6" in-line fan. This is modified from an idea I found on this great site.

This is the approach I'm looking to do too. Can you throw out a little detail on your setup?
What fan are you using, how's the condensation, how's the volume of the fan itself, etc?
 
I bought this on Ebay but couldn't find one there now (NewEgg price is about the same as what I paid on Ebay):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5KV1V02280

I then purchased this duct collar from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058IUUDG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Using the duct collar as a template, I drew a circle on the bottom of the salad bowl with a sharpie. Then drilled a "starter hole" that would accept a jig saw blade. Using a metal cutting jig saw blade in a variable speed jig saw, I cut the 6" hole and affixed the duct collar to the salad bowl with self-tapping sheet metal screws.

All the literature I've read suggests it is better pull the air rather than pushing it hence the decision to mount the fan as near to the outside as possible. I purchased this fan (Specifications: 452 CFM - 2800 RPM - 1.2 Amps - 140 watts - dBa: 49):

https://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/vortex-vtx-series-inline-blowers.html

I also purchased a speed controller from them that only produced a hum from the fan when connected. I would suggest forgetting about speed control as the fan with insulated duct is not very noisy and the CFM is about what is needed to efficiently exhaust steam. The insulated duct is from the same web site:

https://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/thermoflo-sr-insulated-duct.html

The literature suggests that hard metal transitions are necessary when changing angles with insulated duct so I used a 6" 90 degree elbow from Ace Hardware to connect the vertical and horizontal runs of duct. You can push the outside layer of insulation back enough to cut the inner duct a little short so the insulation can then be pulled back over the 90 degree elbow. All the duct work was attached to the fan, metal elbow, duct collar, and exhaust vent with professional sealing duct tape. There is a specific type of tape for this yet often others will recommend a mastic tape or zip ties. I felt confident with the duct tape I used (IPG AC698 UL 181 B-FX) which is intended for attaching insulated duct:

http://www.itape.com/en/Products/DUCT-TAPE

The exhaust vent had to go through a 2x6 wall with drywall on the interior and OSB under cedar siding on the exterior. This is the unit I used:

https://www.famcomfg.com/featured-p...-loaded-damper-gasket-and-screen-painted.html

I do get some dripping from the fan housing that creates about a six inch diameter wet spot on the floor. The dripping starts at about 60 minutes after the boiling begins. My goal is to drill a small hole in the housing and attach a small drain tube that empties into the sink.

Hope this helps and I'd be happy to help further if need be.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
View attachment 292258
View attachment 292257
View attachment 292259

I scored my hood on craigslist and use a 6" vortex fan. Had to make some modifications, but it's worked out pretty well. You can see more of it in my HERMS build thread in my signature if you like

Things I have learned since building are....

1) size matters! while a 6" fan works pretty well, an 8" fan can move more air at a slower speed and therefor more quietly.

2) While a nice big stainless hood looks nice, you don't have to have one that covers the entire brewery. As long as your HLT and MLT stay covered most of the time, they don't put out a ton of moisture. schematix's hood above should work fine even with a 3 vessel system.

3) While many use it, I would recommend not using flexible duct. These move a lot of moisture, much of which collects on the walls of the ducting and will end up in the folds where it may be hard to dry out.

4) Condensation can build up on the outside of the duct. Some duct insulation will stop that from happening.

Curious what the reason for all this (badass) work you went through was for when you can just crack the garage door and turning on a box fan?
 
In all honesty, I don't have a hood. I have a 6x10 to 8" round duct box on the wall just above the BK. I have my hydroform fan attached at the other end and when that's on, it sucks the heat and moisture right off the top of the kettle. If I put my hand above the kettle (above the top of the duct box), I don't feel any heat or moisture, the walls and ceiling in my basement have never gotten damp with moisture during a 60 min boil with that fan on. Since the box is mounted to the wall, no moisture ever drips back into the BK. I can see it forming in the box but that drips down into the vent box where it gets exhausted out or drips out a drip hole I drilled.
 
Curious what the reason for all this (badass) work you went through was for when you can just crack the garage door and turning on a box fan?

It's nice to keep things a little more closed up when it's cold outside. My garage is fully insulated and sheet rocked and I didn't want to risk moisture collecting on it. I also have pinball machines that I don't want collecting moisture. I've seen sheet rocked garages streaked with condensation from brewing. I gave less than $200 for the hood, and besides, I like to build stuff!
 
I bought this on Ebay but couldn't find one there now (NewEgg price is about the same as what I paid on Ebay):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5KV1V02280

I then purchased this duct collar from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058IUUDG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Using the duct collar as a template, I drew a circle on the bottom of the salad bowl with a sharpie. Then drilled a "starter hole" that would accept a jig saw blade. Using a metal cutting jig saw blade in a variable speed jig saw, I cut the 6" hole and affixed the duct collar to the salad bowl with self-tapping sheet metal screws.

All the literature I've read suggests it is better pull the air rather than pushing it hence the decision to mount the fan as near to the outside as possible. I purchased this fan (Specifications: 452 CFM - 2800 RPM - 1.2 Amps - 140 watts - dBa: 49):

https://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/vortex-vtx-series-inline-blowers.html

I also purchased a speed controller from them that only produced a hum from the fan when connected. I would suggest forgetting about speed control as the fan with insulated duct is not very noisy and the CFM is about what is needed to efficiently exhaust steam. The insulated duct is from the same web site:

https://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/thermoflo-sr-insulated-duct.html

The literature suggests that hard metal transitions are necessary when changing angles with insulated duct so I used a 6" 90 degree elbow from Ace Hardware to connect the vertical and horizontal runs of duct. You can push the outside layer of insulation back enough to cut the inner duct a little short so the insulation can then be pulled back over the 90 degree elbow. All the duct work was attached to the fan, metal elbow, duct collar, and exhaust vent with professional sealing duct tape. There is a specific type of tape for this yet often others will recommend a mastic tape or zip ties. I felt confident with the duct tape I used (IPG AC698 UL 181 B-FX) which is intended for attaching insulated duct:

http://www.itape.com/en/Products/DUCT-TAPE

The exhaust vent had to go through a 2x6 wall with drywall on the interior and OSB under cedar siding on the exterior. This is the unit I used:

https://www.famcomfg.com/featured-p...-loaded-damper-gasket-and-screen-painted.html

I do get some dripping from the fan housing that creates about a six inch diameter wet spot on the floor. The dripping starts at about 60 minutes after the boiling begins. My goal is to drill a small hole in the housing and attach a small drain tube that empties into the sink.

Hope this helps and I'd be happy to help further if need be.

Thanks for the details. I've been struggling to find definitive answers on cfms and these types of fans. I really like that the fan is toward the end of the line instead of directly connected to the "hood" aka bowl :mug: that makes much more sense to me as well.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've used the same hood/fan idea on both my breweries.

The current Electric Brewery circa 2013+:

IMG_2668_2.jpg


IMG_2215.jpg


The original Electric Brewery, circa 2008-2011:

IMG_7066.jpg


More pics and details on the ventilation setup here: http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/ventilation

Kal

Yeah, I love your hood (uhhh).

Cost some coin, but the stainless look is hard to beat.
 
just to be comedic...

0705151604_zpsbyjioicg.jpg


my brew system is on the right (blue brew stand) and had a few buddies over for brew day... the garage door about half open is usually my ventilation
 
Here is mine being installed.

I have a basement storage room, not directly connected to house, need to walk outside and around back of house to get into. Poured in place concrete and steel trusses and roof with concrete poured over. Doors aren't airtight, and there is A/C duct, but no exhaust or return duct. This will put some negative pressure in the room (about 900 sq ft?) with the door closed when the A/C unit is off. Have a friend in the business of installing these and he gave me a deal.
The mushroom fan assembly there is now mounted outdoors on the wall. He put a plate slide out on the exhaust screen to obstruct airflow when I'm not using the hood. Has a channel on the inside to collect any condensate but I doubt there will be much. Haven't got my electric brewery setup yet. Trying to sell my propane rig to fund the electric setup.

TD

DSC_0181.jpg
 

Latest posts

Back
Top