Water in my steam hood vent

[Jako]

Sunday i was brewing having tons of issues (normal lately...) and i noticed the hood vent ducting was dripping water like lots of it! so i grabbed my near by drill and put a few holes. about half a gallon drained out....... I have pictures to post but will do so from my phone. I own a steam hood vent built by Fast Kitchen Hood its a 4x4 with the fan attached directly to it. this is the first time i had a issue with the vent or any moisture. the duct runs out from the 10" fan and directly out the house it has a one way flap to keep as much outside air as possible.

i was thinking i might have had the fan on too high pulling the steam out too fast causing it to blow past the hood and into the duct where the cooler air caused it to condense creating my issue.

 

[day_trippr]

Actually, velocity is your best friend, followed closely by good ductwork insulation.
You don't want to enable condensation to form within the hood by allowing vapor to linger...

Cheers!

 

[Jako]

Actually, velocity is your best friend, followed closely by good ductwork insulation.
You don't want to enable condensation to form within the hood by allowing vapor to linger...

Cheers!

The hood has a drip tray, but you are saying full rip then it never has the chance to turn into water?

thanks for all the help lately much appreciated

 

[day_trippr]

That's my take, yes I don't use a hood for that reason, I have a pair of dropped "sippers" over the back halves of my hlt and bk to catch steam and most of the exhaust, the rest rises to the ceiling and gets sucked out of the second half of that twin squirrel cage blower (650 cfm). That concentrates the airflow where it's most needed (mash tuns don't need venting, imo).

If you are brewing in a cool space and have to cover a long run to the outdoors, once you've maxxed out velocity, insulation becomes key. My run is quite short and all of the ductwork gets warmed up so I never get condensation...

Cheers!

 

[Jako]

Thats a rad set up! Are you running gas burners? If so how do you like it. Part of me wants to go back to it.

Sweet lord it took me ages to find a decent picture

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

These vents must have drip holes!

 

[day_trippr]

Have to say that's a pretty good looking setup. I think you do have to tape all of the seams including the "adjustable" ones in the elbows if you're fighting condensation, and then insulate. How much further beyond that wall does the duct travel before it hits the great outdoors?

Yes, I'm still as gasser I run a pair of Blichmann bg14 burners (the old "Floor Burners") that run at least as clean as the big burners on our kitchen range. I do open a window for make-up air (that blower moves a lot of air!) and have a CO detector at chest height (it's never gone off) for safety sake, otherwise nothing special. I occasionally get tempted to do an electric conversion, but then I have a brew day like the last one that goes so smoothly I end up standing pat agin

No drip holes in my system. No drips, either. But the outside is only 18" from the blower output, and all of that ductwork is kept warm enough to prevent condensation given the speed the steam moves through...

Cheers!

 

[DuncB]

It can't be that easy to stop condensation. The stainless steel hood and tubingis going to be cooler than the steam so condensation will occur. As well as insulating the vent pipes if they can angle down as soon as possible the water will run away from the hood. I see from your pictures that wouldn't be possible and as far as increasing velocity with that sized hood expect you would look like you were holding a van de graaf generator. In my early days I tried attaching flexible ducting direct to the top of the boil vessel with a fan about 6 foot away below the lid of the boil vessel. It was a bit Heath Robinson poking out thru the back door, it worked steam coming out was warm BUT still had condensation in the vent tube and had to put a bit of a U bend in it before the fan with a hole in the bottom to let the water out. I didn't like the water trickling across the fan ( 240v) even with the electrics on the top.
I've now made a steam condenser and that's been great, quiet, safe and much less energy needed to boil off and no fan energy. Do factor in that you get less boil volume loss in your brew plan though. The self made condenser was Less than half the price of the Brewtools steam condenser which costs $525 here in NZ ( if you could get even get one).
Looks easy based on your brewery photo to have a tube catching the condenser outflow straight into the "shower tray".
Didn't realise that I needed to take photos of this last brewday as well as the trub trap, but if I was psychic!
I will get some photos of my condenser assembled and in pieces at the weekend.

 

[DuncB]

Maybe look at this thread BIAB & Steam Condenser

and the ones it links to.

 

[Jako]

Have to say that's a pretty good looking setup. I think you do have to tape all of the seams including the "adjustable" ones in the elbows if you're fighting condensation, and then insulate. How much further beyond that wall does the duct travel before it hits the great outdoors?

Yes, I'm still as gasser I run a pair of Blichmann bg14 burners (the old "Floor Burners") that run at least as clean as the big burners on our kitchen range. I do open a window for make-up air (that blower moves a lot of air!) and have a CO detector at chest height (it's never gone off) for safety sake, otherwise nothing special. I occasionally get tempted to do an electric conversion, but then I have a brew day like the last one that goes so smoothly I end up standing pat agin

No drip holes in my system. No drips, either. But the outside is only 18" from the blower output, and all of that ductwork is kept warm enough to prevent condensation given the speed the steam moves through...

Cheers!

Thanks man. Definitely still tons I want to do. The vent runs right out of the house at the wall so all you can see is all the duct. Not a bad idea with adding more tape would definitely help increase air velocity at the hood.

 

[Jako]

It can't be that easy to stop condensation. The stainless steel hood and tubingis going to be cooler than the steam so condensation will occur. As well as insulating the vent pipes if they can angle down as soon as possible the water will run away from the hood. I see from your pictures that wouldn't be possible and as far as increasing velocity with that sized hood expect you would look like you were holding a van de graaf generator. In my early days I tried attaching flexible ducting direct to the top of the boil vessel with a fan about 6 foot away below the lid of the boil vessel. It was a bit Heath Robinson poking out thru the back door, it worked steam coming out was warm BUT still had condensation in the vent tube and had to put a bit of a U bend in it before the fan with a hole in the bottom to let the water out. I didn't like the water trickling across the fan ( 240v) even with the electrics on the top.
I've now made a steam condenser and that's been great, quiet, safe and much less energy needed to boil off and no fan energy. Do factor in that you get less boil volume loss in your brew plan though. The self made condenser was Less than half the price of the Brewtools steam condenser which costs $525 here in NZ ( if you could get even get one).
Looks easy based on your brewery photo to have a tube catching the condenser outflow straight into the "shower tray".
Didn't realise that I needed to take photos of this last brewday as well as the trub trap, but if I was psychic!
I will get some photos of my condenser assembled and in pieces at the weekend.

Please do. Sounds like a decent solution. My brewry doesn't have any windows so water is definitely a no go. I refuse to deal with mold issues haha.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I had a he*l of a problem with my condensate hood. Finally, solved by letting a floor fan run while the vortex fan is running. No more condensate problems.

 

[Jako]

just a simple fan box fan?

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

just a simple fan box fan?

Yes, on the floor. I still get a few drips from the vortex fan weep holes, but no dripping from the condensate hood. The vortex fan unit is away from the kettles so I simply direct the few drips into a 5 gallon bucket.

 

[mabrungard]

Definitely make sure that any condensation cannot drip back into your kettle. Volatilization of DMS into the kettle steam is the way that we keep the DMS content of finished wort low. Most professional brewing systems have a drip ring inside the vertical segment of the vent stack. There is a drain port on that ring that directs any collected condensation to a waste drain that keeps it out of the kettle. If you were to taste or smell the condensate in the vent system, more than likely, you would perceive the corny, cabbagey flavor and aroma of DMS.

 

[Jako]

fortunately i don't have the issue of it dripping back into the kettle just collecting in the duct. one thing i don't understand is why its all collecting in the duct and not the drip tray on the hood.

 

[day_trippr]

If you have an IR temperature gun you could likely find out: I'm betting there's a significant temperature drop beyond the hood...

Cheers!