Galvanized Steel for ducting...

[Black_Z28]

Hello, this is something I've been wondering, as I know that galvanized can be an issue with food setups. I'm building my vent hood. I currently have a 6" inline fan, a 30qt S/S bowl, and some semi-rigid ducting. But, I may need to use some galvanized duct work to make some the bends. Is it ok to use this stuff? Only reason I ask, is because some of the condensation might collect and drip back into the kettle...doubt it would...but it might.

Is this a problem...or am I over thinking this project?

 

[jleiii]

Hmmm, did you somehow see my pile of parts? You pretty much described exactly what I have ready to finish.
I've been pondering the condensation issue as well, and had not considered the galvanized pipe. In my design the inline duct fan is attached to the bowl 'top' and will connect to flexible duct to a nearby window.

Any condensate in the bowl won't be an issue, but in the pipe, maybe. I'm hoping for enough flow in the pipe that the condensate will be minimal. The flexible duct is a whole other issue. I may need a drain on that!

I'm hoping to get it up and running over the holidays, and see first hand how it plays out. I brew electric in my basement, on a 3 tier brewing tree, and everything above the kettle is pretty wet by the end of the boil.

It will be interesting to see if anyone has ... been there, done that.


Just had a thought, for $12 I can get a 6x18 sheet of stainless and make a new fan pipe. No more galvanized pipe. Easy for me, maybe not for many.

 

[Black_Z28]

I'm also using the semi-rigid ducting. What I may end up doing is just routing the semi-rigid ducting to just suck the steam away from the kettle. And just for go the mixing bowl for now. My fan should easily have enough CFM to pull it away....I can say this it will be better then what I was doing before. I brew in my garage, and I would crack a window, then turn the heater up, that would kick the heat up, and the fan...thus moving the air around and out the window. It worked, but then the garage got even warmer.

So, we'll see how it goes..I'm going to brew tomorrow, I think.

Here's how it looks when I'm boiling.....then after about 5 minutes with the heater on. Then lastly my fan setup for the window.

 

[Black_Z28]

Here's what I ended up doing. It's pretty cheesy, but works just fine.....as I don't want anything permanently in the way. Like I posted before, I would get tons of condensation in the garage during brewing...today nothing. So, that works for me.

Here's a quick video.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtBFxodqnJM[/ame]

 

[user 125772]

I would imagine you would want to avoid sharp bends in you ductwork since that usually drops moisture out of the airstream. ...so, it might be better to stick with the semi rigid flexible duct and skip the elbows.