Electric Brewing - Ventilation

[Bonas96]

Another inexpensive option is to employ a rectangle Rubbermaid tote as your hood (Google: Rubbermaid exhaust hood brew).

View attachment 247331

I was going to use the SS bowl or tote idea but I just so happen to have a Rubbermaid tote in the basement. I will be placing the fan up against the tote so that it's pulling/pushing as much steam through the fan as possible to eliminate as much condensation build up in the fan housing as possible.

Have you expereinced much condensation on this setup, or any issues with water dripping down into kettle from the tote?

What size fan are you running and are you doing anything for makeup air?

 

[thomasjr16]

Have you expereinced much condensation on this setup, or any issues with water dripping down into kettle from the tote?



What size fan are you running and are you doing anything for makeup air?

I haven't had any experience with the setup as I'm just building my first exhaust hood now as well. I PM'd the original developer/poster of the above picture and he said that it ran smoothly and only experienced some condensation within the fan housing that would drip out.

I suspect that the condensation within the fan housing is a result of his placing the inline fan down line of the hood. The steam will start to condense as it travels through the vent on its way to the fan and as a result build up condensation.

If you attach the fan to the hood, steam is pulled through without condensing and the force of the air movement pushes it outside (on a shorter run, 5-8ft ???) before it condenses.

Im using a $65 (shipped) inline 6" Ventech booster fan I bought on eBay the other day. It was $65 shipped as a "buy it now" item and not an auction.

 

[thomasjr16]

Have you expereinced much condensation on this setup, or any issues with water dripping down into kettle from the tote?



What size fan are you running and are you doing anything for makeup air?

I haven't had any experience with the setup as I'm just building my first exhaust hood now as well. I PM'd the original developer/poster of the above picture and he said that it ran smoothly and only experienced some condensation within the fan housing that would drip out.

I suspect that the condensation within the fan housing is a result of his placing the inline fan down line of the hood. The steam will start to condense as it travels through the vent on its way to the fan and as a result build up condensation.

If you attach the fan to the hood, steam is pulled through without condensing and the force of the air movement pushes it outside (on a shorter run, 5-8ft ???) before it condenses.

Im using a $65 (shipped) inline 6" Ventech booster fan I bought on eBay the other day. It was $65 shipped as a "buy it now" item and not an auction.

 

[thomasjr16]

And the makeup air will be provided by a small basement window that will be open on the other side of the basement.

 

[wilserbrewer]

To clarify, I am going to do the salad bowl w/ fan to vent, but just rely on the door for makeup air.

If it is a breezy day, perhaps the open door is all you need

Sorry but all this horse beating is making me silly...

 

[kal]

I don't fully understand how to determine the need for makeup air, and given that I will likely only run any fan at around 300 cfm, I am trying to avoid drilling 2 holes into the side of my house. The wife is already not thrilled about 1 hole (even though she did get me the electric kettle for Christmas).

The need for make up air is a combination of how tight your house is and how strong the exhaust fan is. As an interesting data point, where I live a make up system is required by code if your range hood fan is more than 290CFM. So in the basement of our current house (built to 2010 code) there's a massive 12" duct that comes from outside, that opens/closes with an electronic baffle whenever we run our range hood. The air is heated with a 3000W heater if the air's too cold (it was -31F today so it definitely gets cold here).

I have a separate make-up vent in my brewery so that when I brew I can close the brewery door and no suck heated (or cooled) air out of the rest of the house.

Kal

 

[Bonas96]

I have plunged....

Stainless Steel Bowl

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KYR0ZF4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

6" VenTech Inline Fan

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YXDQZU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

VenTech Variable Speed Control

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EVYGPJQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Now I just have to figure out how to drill a hole or two in my house....will post pictures as the adventure unfolds!

Thanks to all for the comments / ideas!

 

[augiedoggy]

I have plunged....

Stainless Steel Bowl

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KYR0ZF4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

6" VenTech Inline Fan

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YXDQZU/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

VenTech Variable Speed Control

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EVYGPJQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Now I just have to figure out how to drill a hole or two in my house....will post pictures as the adventure unfolds!

Thanks to all for the comments / ideas!

I may have missed it but No basement windows? or are they glassblock...

 

[Bonas96]

I may have missed it but No basement windows? or are they glassblock...

No windows in this unfinished section of the basement, only an exterior door. That said, the brew section may ultimately get framed in so the short term solution of using the door for makeup air may be exactly that, short term.

 

[schematix]

I employed a 6" in-line blower and a hood constructed out of wood and plexiglass. Since this is an electric brewery, the wood and plexiglass is not an issue. Works well. The plexiglass allows more light into the brewing area from the overhead light.

Perhaps I missed this but what are the approximate dimensions of your hood? Do you get any condensation dripping from it? This happens to be quite similar to a design I was considering but I think my hood area might be a big larger.

 

[mabrungard]

That hood is about 2 ft by 4 ft. I don't ever get condensate dripping from the hood, but I have had condensate leaking out of the ducting and fan in the winter.

 

[FamilyTradition]

Might want to look on Craigslist, I'm finishing my basement and found this one. It had a blower with forward curved blades that were completely filled with grease. Soaked the blower in pbw and used a toothbrush on it. Had to duct it about 20 ft so I but a booster fan at the end. Gave it a test before drywalling everything and everything is bone dry. 80$ on craigslist View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1421944039.949896.jpg

 

[Trillium]

The need for make up air is a combination of how tight your house is and how strong the exhaust fan is. As an interesting data point, where I live a make up system is required by code if your range hood fan is more than 290CFM. So in the basement of our current house (built to 2010 code) there's a massive 12" duct that comes from outside, that opens/closes with an electronic baffle whenever we run our range hood. The air is heated with a 3000W heater if the air's too cold (it was -31F today so it definitely gets cold here).

I have a separate make-up vent in my brewery so that when I brew I can close the brewery door and no suck heated (or cooled) air out of the rest of the house.

Kal

Have you thought about installing a HRU in your brew room to recover the heat from the exhaust in the Winter time?

 

[kal]

Have you thought about installing a HRU in your brew room to recover the heat from the exhaust in the Winter time?

No. I don't think that would make much sense (at least for me) given how rarely the system is producing a large amount of heat.

Most of the time when I'm brewing, my brew room is closed and my make up air vent to the outside is completely open, and the fan running on low speed because the lids are on all the kettles. When it's cold out I barely need to have the fan running.

Most of the heat is generated when I boil: I turn the fan up all the way to get rid of the steam.

That's only about 1 hour/month for me. To install an expensive heat recovery unit (HRU) to recover that 1 hour/month of heat doesn't make any sense. It's not economically feasible.

Most home use HRUs (be it an HRV or an ERV) are not meant for 100% humidity steam-laden air anyway. You'd need some sort of special commercial unit I would imagine. I don't even think restaurants use something like this. Instead, they set up their systems to use pump in makeup air directly into the hood so that that air is exhausted instead of heated or cooled building air. (I apply to the same principles to my setup).

Kal

 

[Trillium]

I found an excellent document describing makeup air design.

Design guide 2
"Improving Commercial Kitchen Ventilation System Performance: Optimizing makeup air"

http://www.fishnick.com/ventilation/designguides/CKV_Design_Guide_2_031504.pdf

 

[Rock_Toy]

So I am in the final stages of setting up my brewery and need to focus on ventilation. I have converted a former closet in my basement room into the brewery so I actually have somewhat of a built in "hood". See the pics below. I was thinking about simply cutting a 6" hole in the upper corner of the "closet" (see blue circle in pic below) and running a 6" fan from there out to the street. Do you think that will work or will I have to install a hood in there? I'll be brewing 5 to ten gallon batches.

 

[Rock_Toy]

Anyone have an opinion or should I just try it and see what happens?

 

[KartRacer54]

You might want to put a water proof /washable material on the ceiling. At times more moisture will be generated than the fan will be able to remove.

 

[wilserbrewer]

The amount your fan will pull will vary w type of fan and duct length.

I would try it...worst case just let the fan run for an hour after flame out to vent the basement and return humidity levels to normal.

I basement brew with a fan in an open window, while it doesn't capture and expel 100% of the steam, it certainly provides adequate ventilation. After all, it's only steam not toxic gas.

I also use a small desk top fan to move the room air a bit to prevent steam and mix the room air.

This would help with any condensation on the ceiling if any....

 

[LandoLincoln]

Personally, I'd just test it and see what happens. If you get some condensation then you know you'll have to do some plastic sheeting.

 

[Rock_Toy]

Yep, that looks to be the best solution. I will install a little 300CFM fan and see if I can get away without a hood. I'll keep you updated.