JONNYROTTEN
Well-Known Member
My brew day. The walls are dripping. Think it might be time for an exhaust fan except that it's freezing outside and I'd rather not suck the heat out of my house. This is why I brew when the wifes not around
Holy steam Batman
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JONNYROTTEN
Well-Known Member
Here's the concern, mold. I realize it seems improbable, but it's not. You really do need to address the condensation and be sure you have accounted for make up air. That is a lot of steam. I'm surprised.
JONNYROTTEN
Well-Known Member
Mold would suck.Is pretty much bone dry this time of the year.Plus I have a wood burning stove that drys it out even more. SoI kind of welcome the steam.Its only like this for the last half hour of the boil.The walls get wet but dry quickly.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
Since you have a wood burning stove you might see the soot running down the walls now that they have gotten wet Or are your wall that clean still? I know an airtight stove keeps the smoke out of the house but I still get a bit in my cabin when starting the fire regardless...
I had to wash the ceiling and walls in my brewroom since I brew in an old bedroom that hasnt been painted in likely 30 years or so (house is about 170 years old)
Anyway the steam made a nasty sticky mess of my walls when I tried brewing without the hood...
suprisingly the ventilation system I use now does not really make the bedroom cold during brewing since the heat from the brewing process still warms things up in there..
dyqik
Well-Known Member
1977Brewer
Free Dan Hess.
I thought the aliens from Independence Day had invaded his house.
mikescooling
Well-Known Member
I've been thinking hard about this, I do have a 8" inline fan that really sucks. But where do I pipe all this steam? It's 0*F outside and I can tell you for a fact, all the heat gets sucked out of my home in about 2 minutes. Sooo I was playing with the idea of running a super long discharge duct and letting most of it condense back into water, then pipe the rest into a shop fan and blow it around the other rooms in my home; as I'm doing this I'll keep a fan on in each room. Keep in mind I don't know if this will work? Once it gets above 35* again I'll just pipe it out side.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
IDK my house is ancient and drafty and I have no issues venting outside with the house getting noticeably colder because the brewing produces heat..... its -4 outside right now with a -19 windchill.
At the very least Johnny, get a fan to circulate the air indoors so the steam is mixed with the entire house volume. Just simply getting the air moving, even a little desk fan would break up that cumulus nimbus. Then crack a few windows and you will be much better off. Ignoring a cloud structure will likely condensate on the cold walls.
Move the air, bring in some fresh if you can / want, all good. I see in the pic you have base board heat / wood stove, so there is no air moving, I use to get som clouds in my basement, but a little fan pointed skyward disperses the clouds and avoids condensation on the walls.
Move the air, bring in some fresh if you can / want, all good. I see in the pic you have base board heat / wood stove, so there is no air moving, I use to get som clouds in my basement, but a little fan pointed skyward disperses the clouds and avoids condensation on the walls.
Bowtiebrewery
Well-Known Member
My SWMBO would kill me if I did that, even if she wasnt around. Spend the time/money now for a vent fan or brew near an open window with a fan blowing out the steam...
If you think you are going to spend more money blowing heat out the house from brewing, think about the cost of repainting, repairing drywall, mold removal, and more importantly, a very unhappy wife...
If you think you are going to spend more money blowing heat out the house from brewing, think about the cost of repainting, repairing drywall, mold removal, and more importantly, a very unhappy wife...
mikescooling
Well-Known Member
I brew with electric and the BK has the vent hood on top of the 25 gallon pot, I boil off about 1.5gallons per hour, so the 8" fan has to be on full speed. I make almost no heat from brewing.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
I brew with electric and the BK has the vent hood on top of the 25 gallon pot, I boil off about 1.5gallons per hour, so the 8" fan has to be on full speed. I make almost no heat from brewing.
Strange, I brew with electric also... and my brew room gets so warm that my temps go up noticeably on all my non temp controlled fermentors...
I only loose 1 gallon per hour with my setting however..
Dude I laughed so hard when I saw that picture..You absolutley need to vent that steam/cloud/grave yard mist/whatever that is....You will start to have serious internal mold problems and your hobby with become your former hobby when the wife finds out..
Mine would so kill me if that was my home..
Putting an inline fan with proper ducting to an exhaust outside of your house is your best bet to vent it all properly..I built a homemade hood from 2x4's and picked up a 6" inline motor(475CFM) an installed it all in my brew shed. It gets warmer in my brew shed when I brew, but the fumes and steam all go outside which is very nice. I usually crack a window to keep proper draft when I brew and run the motor. Works very well and no steam/cloud hanging around inside. :rockin:
Mine would so kill me if that was my home..
Putting an inline fan with proper ducting to an exhaust outside of your house is your best bet to vent it all properly..I built a homemade hood from 2x4's and picked up a 6" inline motor(475CFM) an installed it all in my brew shed. It gets warmer in my brew shed when I brew, but the fumes and steam all go outside which is very nice. I usually crack a window to keep proper draft when I brew and run the motor. Works very well and no steam/cloud hanging around inside. :rockin:
JONNYROTTEN
Well-Known Member
I think its safe to say Im going to have to try to figure something out.I tried a 12" fan held up to the ceiling,didnt really work.I have headers over every door.I was thinking a bathroom ceiling fan duct through the roof but again its my kitchen and that's not gunna fly with the wife.Id like to brew tomorrow.Its supposed to be record breaking lows with 30 MPH wind. It'll get real cold real quick with a window even cracked.Takes the fun out of it.The thing is I like brewing on these ice cold days for some reason. -10 and Im brewing,I like that. Im going to look into some sort of a 4" inline fan with a makeshift hood.My project for the day.
madscientist451
Well-Known Member
I brewed last night and even though it was 5 degrees outside, I opened the door to let the cloud out. If I had an exhaust fan, I'd just run it and throw more wood in the stove to make up for lost heat.
JONNYROTTEN
Well-Known Member
That's true,if I open the door for 30 seconds every once in a while it should let enough out.Same as someone coming in or out,whats the difference.Still going to try to find some sort of cheap inline setup like pictured a few posts back
Doed
Belching Dog Brewery
hey jonnyrotten, thanks for the laugh, can't add anything additional to the thread, but that picture is hilarious
JONNYROTTEN
Well-Known Member
what do you think of this fan.$15 cheap enough.I can scew it to the top of my hoist over the pot.Run a flex pipe into a Rubbermaid bucket.Hopefully by then the steam turns back into water and Ill the dump bucket.Seems like it would work
http://www.homedepot.com/p/NuTone-V...Ceiling-Mount-Exhaust-Bath-Fan-696N/100081599
http://www.homedepot.com/p/NuTone-V...Ceiling-Mount-Exhaust-Bath-Fan-696N/100081599
1977Brewer
Free Dan Hess.
It'll work if the bucket is cold enough. Should alleviate the self cotained weather system you're currently creating though.
JONNYROTTEN
Well-Known Member
Im gunna run up and buy this now.
Oddly enough The Weather Channel asked if they could move there monitoring equipment from the airport to my kitchen.
Sorry Jonny, if you think that cheap nu-tone fan and some flex pipe will condense your boil off I think you are being way way optimistic.
I still think you should try and move some air and crack a couple windows. Did you point something like the fan linked below at the cloud....? Put the fan on a table and point it skyward at 45 degrees, to get some air moving and break up that weather system you have forming.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007CNHAGA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
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JONNYROTTEN
Well-Known Member
So I hooked it up real quick. Took about 5 minutes if it works it works if it doesn't it doesn't I can always return it at Home Depot. If it does work it'll be kinda nice it has those tabs you just slide over a screw head so I can pop it off really easy. I was worried about it being over water and getting knocked off so I'm drilling a D clamp just to be on the safe side. Even comes with a plug all I need to do is plug in an extension cord simple simple
View attachment 1423855995091.jpg
View attachment 1423855995091.jpg
That's pretty close to what I did on my 1st attempt, and it did practically nothing. Most of the steam just went around the fan.
JONNYROTTEN
Well-Known Member
Ill give it a shot and see what happens,worse case I lose nothing.I have a Brake and Trim coil(for siding) I could bend up a hood real quick to trap the steam.But Id be worried it would end up dripping on the floor or back into the pot.The more I rig it and need to setup and brake down my mobile setup the less interesting it becomes and more stuff I need to store.We'll see where it goes.
BGBC
Well-Known Member
.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
I made a hood out of foam core and dual window fans in the window behind it ....works great never had any condensation drip down from it once...
geckholm
Well-Known Member
perhaps you should brew more when it's warmer out....enough to get you through the winter anyway.....some nice stouts perhaps....and take 3 months off during the winter. 30s is warm enough for me to be outside.
mikescooling
Well-Known Member
I switched over to BIAB on the stovetop, until the weather breaks.. "They" say it's going to be in the 40's and 50's next week.
