Easy & Cheap Stainless Vent Hood

[schematix]

Sexy...

 

[stickyfinger]

Here are a couple videos of my boil test. For one I used an incense stick to see how far away the hood would collect fumes, pretty strong pull at quite a distance

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9UerfozU_9IMjU4Q0pnNXFqM095ZUJLb2FwajhzbndzSU9N/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9UerfozU_9IdHhOUUd4RFJlaDA/view?usp=sharing

 

[gtc352]

Great idea with the stainless steel bowl. Here is mine. I didn't want to drill holes in the ceiling or wall so I built a box to support the vent hood. What do you guys think?

 

[stickyfinger]

Upon first inspection, I don't like the exhaust through the door, but it's closed off and locked anyway. Also, the duct going down is probably not great, but if that works, it should be fine. Honestly, unless you think you are going to move the stand around, I would just tie into some joists and hang the fan. It will open it up a lot more. It looks and maybe feels (?) a little cluttered? It is a nice idea though, if you really don't want to put a few holes into your ceiling.

 

[stickyfinger]

Looks like you don't have pump covers either. I would make those. I just used a piece of 6", ultra cheap, aluminum duct and cut it with some tin snips. It looks and works great. I did a trial run with some plastic sheets over my pumps and found that there was at least one drop on top of the sheet. You don't want to damage the pumps!

 

[gtc352]

Yes, I chose the door to keep from having to drill into the wall. I have a brick house and no windows in the garage. As far as hanging the vent, I may do that later. I'm going to give this a trial run and see how it does.

 

[stickyfinger]

I understand. I would have no desire to drill that large of a hole through a brick wall either!!

 

[awarner322]

Looks good--- placeholder

 

[BrewWho]

So the old lady was nice enough to get me a nice exhaust fan. Been playing around with it for an hour or so. Little steam escapes with no condensation build up. I am getting a small amount of water coming out of the fan but that's no big deal. Very happy with it. Can't wait to brew
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1424307343.944613.jpg

 

[stickyfinger]

Did you test the boil for a good 30 minutes? I didn't have much fan condensation until I had left it on for awhile, then it started dripping a fair amount. If it just drips onto the floor, no big deal, but mine was dripping onto my exhaust hood and bouncing onto my brew table and the edge of my brewpot, so I have to collect it in a small pan under the fan. If you brew with it and find you have too much condensation, try hanging a bread pan right under the fan from the rafters or the fan mounting bracket. It seems to work really well.

 

[BrewWho]

Let it boil for at least an hour. Wanted to boil some hops and see how well it removed the smell throughout the house (not that I'm the one complaining). Still after the hour boil no dripping. Planning on brewing this weekend.

 

[theck]

Anyone who's purchased and tried those cheaper fans how'd they work for you?

 

[BrewWho]

Got an update on the fan. Brewed this weekend and by the time I got to the boil I could hear water moving inside the fan. I noticed some falling on the floor. So I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the fan and boom out comes the Niagara Falls!!! Luckily I had a cup near by. If I keep up on it the water can be kept to a minimum. Every 20 minutes or so I would unplug the fan and water would come out in my cup and then plug back in and rock and roll. Not a big deal but if you did like I did and not drain until your boil your gonna have a mess. Just a little input and maybe some of you have a way to reduce this.

 

[stickyfinger]

You could try hanging a small container directly under the fan. I used an old bread pan that I hung from the joist or the fan mounting bracket. It just collects in the bottom and then dries out. I guess I should drill a hole in my fan bottom to make sure the water is all draining out adequately. Now, it just drips around through the fan housing seem that runs all up the fan, but there might be a gasket in there impeding water flow I guess. I get a fair amount of water dripping out of my exhaust tube as well. I leave the fan on low for a couple hours after the brewing is done make sure it all dries out.

 

[schematix]

There is nothing you can do to stop the condensation inside the fan except to either heat the fan so it doesn't condense or collect the condensate drain it. My vote is to collect and drain.

 

[JumboBlimpJumbo]

I haven't built this yet but I think it will work well and help eliminate the condensation problem people are having in the fan. I replaced my old downdraft cooktop and I'm planning on re-using the blower from that - they are designed to deal with steam condensing inside of them and will not collect condensation if mounted in the proper orientation with the outlet facing downward. These run on 120V so it's easy to hook them up and you can find used ones on ebay in the range of $50-80. Most of them don't list how much air they move in CFM's but most newer ones are at least 400 CFM if not upwards of 1000 so they move a lot of air for a good price.

I'm planning on mounting the fan at the low point where the exhaust goes through the wall to outside rather than at the top. This way it will be the low point in the system and I don't think I will be collecting water anywhere. It's possible it won't blow as well with the ductwork upstream of it but I'll post and let everyone know how it goes. Probably won't get around to it for another month or so though.

 

[Tomabrew]

This is my most recent project. The vent motor is a Fasco A165 model number 7062-3958. I used it on my last brew day and was very surprised as to how efficient it worked. I got the unit from a local HVAC provider that I know. It was pulled out of an old furnace. If you look closely at the pictures you will see that it actually as two drip nipples built into the unit. I initially used a hose to vent directly out side but the water collected in the loop. I then plumbed it straight out with a slight downward pitch to the pvc. It worked great. I hooked up a 3/8 inch to the bottom drip nipple which allowed the blower to release any condensate in the blower. A bonus to the whole set up was the low noise created by the blower. What an addition to my electric boil kettle. I brew 31 gallon batches and lose approximately 5 gallons to evaporation each session. Got pretty humid in the garage even with all doors open.

 

[Tomabrew]

Another view of the vent blower andp icture of drip nipples.

 

[jsprinceiii]

Looks Nice.. Great job!!
Assuming that is connected to the boil kettle, how do you manage negative pressure in the kettle?

 

[orangehero]

Assuming that is connected to the boil kettle, how do you manage negative pressure in the kettle?

The vaporization from the boil?

 

[jsprinceiii]

The vaporization from the boil?

not the condensate..
Negative pressure (air pressure) in the kettle caused from the fan.
I did not see any place air returns to the kettle..

 

[Tomabrew]

Well, that is a good question that I had not thought of. Considering that the fan sounds the same with the top on or off, I would assume since the lid is not sealed that air is moving into the kettle between the lid and the kettle. I did cut a corny keg lid opening in the boil kettle lid to add hops and stir if necessary. So for a large part of the boil the corny lid was off. I also can slide the boil kettle lid off about 1/4 with no steam floating out. The vent blower still pulled the steam out.

 

[jsprinceiii]

Well, that is a good question that I had not thought of. Considering that the fan sounds the same with the top on or off, I would assume since the lid is not sealed that air is moving into the kettle between the lid and the kettle. I did cut a corny keg lid opening in the boil kettle lid to add hops and stir if necessary. So for a large part of the boil the corny lid was off. I also can slide the boil kettle lid off about 1/4 with no steam floating out. The vent blower still pulled the steam out.

Real Nice!!!
This looks fantastic.

 

[theck]

It seems like PVC might be the way to go, if you bring it straight up then do ~1-2" per foot drop to the outside ideally the moisture that collects would just drain right out right?

 

[Tomabrew]

It seems like PVC might be the way to go, if you bring it straight up then do ~1-2" per foot drop to the outside ideally the moisture that collects would just drain right out right?

That was the thought behind it. Most of what I had read on this topic indicated that you do not want any condensate dripping back into the boil kettle, which makes since.

 

[orangehero]

You can also do a condensate stack.

https://conical-fermenter.com/Condensate-Stack.html

 

[Tomabrew]

You can also do a condensate stack.

https://conical-fermenter.com/Condensate-Stack.html

That's the explanation to the wife I was trying to avoid. It would have also taken a lot of expensive modifications to my system to make it work. The condensate stack is a 6 inch tri clamp. I don't think I could have touched that type of system for less than $600.

 

[orangehero]

That's your homebrew setup?

 

[Tomabrew]

That's your homebrew setup?

Yes, it's a 1.5 barrel system I have been working on for the past 10 years. It all started when I picked up steam jacket kettle for nothing and took off from there.

 

[Mhendricks82]

Hello all - great thread... lots of useful info! Can anyone tell me if there are any dangers or major drawbacks of using galvanized vs stainless for a hood application? i am working on my eBrewery design right now and I am considering using one of these as a hood... http://www.amazon.com/Behrens-35-Gallon-Round-Steel-Tub/dp/B002TR9FUI

Same general concept as using the stainless mixing bowl, the above mentioned tubs are about 30" in diameter though, vs the smaller diameter of the mixing bowls.