10 Gal Batches With No Vent Hood

[BrewingPilot89]

I'm in the process of building my eherms system that will be a clone of Kals electric brewery setup. I currently live in a town house that is about 1300 square feet and is all one level.

I have a spare room that is going to be used as the brewing room. It's probably about 200 square feet. There is a window that's about 5 ft tall that opens that I was planning on putting the brew stand against which would put the BK less than 2ft away from the window.

My plan was to use a similar setup to this guys and just crank open the window on brew day and turn the fans on. I plan on selling the town house in about a year or so otherwise I would go with a more permanent solution.

Is there anyone else going no venthood and having issues? I suppose the other option is to mount a hood and do a similar setup as above but connect the ductwork to the board that sits in the window with the fan.

The least permanent solution is what I'm looking for.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I brew in my basement without a hood.

I put a window fan in the window behind the kettle, and have a small desk top fan pointed upward to mix the room air.

I run the fans for 20-30 minutes after flame out to flush the room.

Works fine and is very easy. There is a slight bit of humidity during the boil, but the room clears very quickly after flame out.

I find a hood not needed, a fan in an open window moves a lot of air, the second fan mixes the room air to keep steam collecting at the ceiling, been doin it this way for years.

 

[Rivenin]

your plan sounds fine.
when i lived in an apartment, i brewed in the back in the kitchen and kept both windows and the door open with the fan going. It was mostly fine.

then i moved and brewed under a window with a $20 box fan... worked perfect.

however, now i brew in the garage and keep the door open during the boil portion and all is well.

but yeah, window with a fan works just fine

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Here's one of my 10 gallon brew days with no venting. It was winter and bone chilling cold creating a literal cloud in my kitchen...an open window with a good fan should work just fine otherwise no one would be boiling water on the stove on pasta day https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=516099

 

[jeffmeh]

Here's one of my 10 gallon brew days with no venting. It was winter and bone chilling cold creating a literal cloud in my kitchen...an open window with a good fan should work just fine otherwise no one would be boiling water on the stove on pasta day https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=516099

Do you do 60 or 90 minute boils with your pasta?

 

[TorMag]

Do you do 60 or 90 minute boils with your pasta?

Don't you? You are missing out......

 

[wilserbrewer]

already built
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008XET9/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

a second fan to mix the room air is also a good idea so you don't get a cloud at the cieling like JR above.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Honeywell-Turbo-Force-Air-Circulator-Fan-HT-900-WMT/16503230

 

[Islandboy85]

If you don't want to vent outside you might be able to use a bathroom vent fan that pushes the air through a bunch of scotchbrite pads or an old shirt. Basically it would work one the coolescer sock inside the environmental system on aircraft. It stops moist air from going down the duct. You'd need a drain path also, but it's an idea.

 

[Islandboy85]

Check out most of the way down the page where it says water separator. http://www.b737.org.uk/airconditioning.htm

 

[jddevinn]

I'd recommend a vent hood..... that said I've never built one. Open a window for air in and one for air out. Box fan on the air out blowing out and another box fan behind the kettle blowing to the out window works fine for me.

 

[wilserbrewer]

The "catch" with building a hood is that you can't go half way, you need to build it very well or you introduce another set of problems with condensate in the hood and vent lines.

IMO much easier to vent the entire brew room with fans than trying to capture the steam with a hood, given that this is for sporadic use....if you plan on brewing everyday, sure build out a Cadillac hood, otherwise easier and effective just to "over ventilate" the room with fans....jme and opinion.

 

[kh54s10]

I think it all depends on whether you can remove a good bit of the moisture to outside. I would not want several gallons of moisture added to my kitchen. I have seen quite a bit of moisture on the cabinets and ceiling above my stove, using a vent, doing only a 4 gallon BIAB!!!!

 

[wilserbrewer]

Yep, you need to make the room rather breezy and drafty!!!!

The average kitchen range vent pretty much sucks, or doesn't suck nearly enough.

 

[kh54s10]

Yep, you need to make the room rather breezy and drafty!!!!

The average kitchen range vent pretty much sucks, or doesn't suck nearly enough.

The best I can do in my kitchen is half under the vent. It is through a microwave so I open the door. Some goes through the vent, some goes through the open door and out, some just goes up the cabinet above to the ceiling. The nearest window is a few feet to the left. I only brew indoors in the winter and I don't want the window open.

When and if I ever move entirely indoors it will be with a very good vent!

 

[wilserbrewer]

Most micro wave over stove type fans are just a screen type filter to remove cooking smoke and grease and don't vent outdoors at all. Even in the winter I suggest cracking a window to get some fresh air in the mix.

 

[sonex]

I think it all depends on whether you can remove a good bit of the moisture to outside. I would not want several gallons of moisture added to my kitchen. I have seen quite a bit of moisture on the cabinets and ceiling above my stove, using a vent, doing only a 4 gallon BIAB!!!!

If the circumference of the boil kettles for a 4 or 10 gal batch is the same, the evaporation rate should be the same.

 

[kh54s10]

If the circumference of the boil kettles for a 4 or 10 gal batch is the same, the evaporation rate should be the same.

Right.

But the amount of water added to the air wouldn't. I boil off about 1 gallon when doing a 3 gallon batch. If I do a 5 gallon batch it boils off almost 2 gallons. That goes into the room unless you can use a vent or fan to get some or better yet most of it out of the house.

 

[kh54s10]

Most micro wave over stove type fans are just a screen type filter to remove cooking smoke and grease and don't vent outdoors at all. Even in the winter I suggest cracking a window to get some fresh air in the mix.

Mine vents to the outside of the house. I still can't get all the moisture out.

 

[Rockn_M]

When I do stove top brewing I'll have about a gallon boil off which means there's a gallon of steam in my house. Last year it was so cold outside that the vapor condestated on the Windows then froze. I would do a test boil and see what you think. Without enough fresh air moving into that room it'll will be on the damp side.

 

[rudylyon57]

Check out most of the way down the page where it says water separator. http://www.b737.org.uk/airconditioning.htm

I'm intrigued by this discussion. Brewed in basement this weekend with AC running and thought I was taking a shower when the HVAC ducts started to sweat. It was a long boil but not good and I need to do something different.

In my case there are no windows or easy access points to vent outside so I'm thinking on the lines of condensing and collecting water vapor rather than pushing it outside. What if I directed exhaust from hood and fan through an old HVAC evaporator coil with cool water circulating through the coils? They are already designed to collect condensate and I bet a junker can be found cheap.

 

[Islandboy85]

I'm intrigued by this discussion. Brewed in basement this weekend with AC running and thought I was taking a shower when the HVAC ducts started to sweat. It was a long boil but not good and I need to do something different.



In my case there are no windows or easy access points to vent outside so I'm thinking on the lines of condensing and collecting water vapor rather than pushing it outside. What if I directed exhaust from hood and fan through an old HVAC evaporator coil with cool water circulating through the coils? They are already designed to collect condensate and I bet a junker can be found cheap.

Another option would be to simply build a cone or cylinder the same size as the kettle, mount it a few inches above the kettle, and run a ducted fan from that out the window. You could run it through a board like the design linked on your first post.
For that matter, ice is cheap. Fill a cooler with ice, and duct it down into the cooler. The vapor would condense when it hits the ice. That would be a lot simpler than an AC unit.

 

[wilserbrewer]

JMO, I don't think building a condenser would be an easy task???

Wouldn't this be a still lol