Help with exhaust fan for electric indoor brewing

[Bobby_M]

I really don't know if it's too much or not but I have a few ideas about how much you need in real life evacuation. Since we're not talking about evacuating combustion gasses and only removing steam, let's talk about how much steam we need to move. 1.5 gallons of water will boil off over 60 minutes (approx.) 1.5 gallons expands to 2550 gallons of steam or 340cuft over an hour. That's only 5.6 cuft of steam per minute. I think the practical requirement for airflow would be based on how precisely you only remove the air/steam from the kettle. If the intake is 2 feet above the kettle, you have to move a lot of air to ensure the steam gets out. If it's 2" above the kettle, a real 10 cfm net would probably be enough. I'm also not an HVAC guy so grain of salt and all those types of disclaimers.

 

[Clayton]

I really don't know if it's too much or not but I have a few ideas about how much you need in real life evacuation. Since we're not talking about evacuating combustion gasses and only removing steam, let's talk about how much steam we need to move. 1.5 gallons of water will boil off over 60 minutes (approx.) 1.5 gallons expands to 2550 gallons of steam or 340cuft over an hour. That's only 5.6 cuft of steam per minute. I think the practical requirement for airflow would be based on how precisely you only remove the air/steam from the kettle. If the intake is 2 feet above the kettle, you have to move a lot of air to ensure the steam gets out. If it's 2" above the kettle, a real 10 cfm net would probably be enough. I'm also not an HVAC guy so grain of salt and all those types of disclaimers.

10cfm , thats way way way to slow, at that speed it would be just fast enuff for the steam to condence and drip back down , the volume of air has to be large and fast enough too keep the humidity in the air , and to keep the surfaces dry

 

[BrewBeemer]

My bathroom fart fan's rated at 116 cu/ft a minute it's not enough this is in a hazardous environment.

 

[Dgonza9]

Thanks for all the opinions. There was a sale on the active air 8" inline fan

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/active-air-720-cfm-inline-duct-fan-p-2756.html

Looked like a great price and I wanted to be sure I had all the fan I needed, especially if I move to 10 gallon batches.

Another good option seemed to be this one... for anyone still looking.

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/suncourt-10-inch-inline-booster-fan-wpowercord-p-2304.html

I'm not sure exactly how I will duct it in. I like Bobby's idea of the lid with the duct attached, but since I'm doing heat sticks that will stick out of the keggle I'll need to do some planning.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll post some pics once the setup is done, hopefully next week.

 

[Dgonza9]

Okay, I bought this fan:
http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/active-air-720-cfm-inline-duct-fan-p-2756.html

I mounted it on the wall and I'm trying to attach rigid duct work to go over the pot. All I need is a 90 degree bend and an 8"-10" increaser. But duct tape doesn't stick well to the fan. It's got a ceramic coating. The foil tape works best, but over time it seems to slip off. I need to support the ducting from above, I suppose, but any other ideas? What type of tape works best?

I'm just trying to keep it simple. I don't think I can screw the ducting into the fan flange as the fan impeller is very tightly mounted behind the flange.

Thanks for the help. Maybe with some long nylon ties or pipe straps and the tape it'll work okay. Just hoping for something that looked a bit nicer than that.

Thanks.

 

[Bobby_M]

I'd think you put the rigid duct over the short stub sticking out and add three screws evenly spaced around the circumference. Predrill a small hole of course.

 

[Dgonza9]

Yeah, I was reluctant to drill holes as the intake side of the stub seemed perilously close to the fan impeller. But it worked out fine. Gotta get the kids to bed but I'll post pictures when I'm finished with it.

Thanks again, Bobby.

 

[ftlstrings]

sure takes a long time to get your kids to bed! Mine goes down pretty fast, relatively speaking!!

~M~

 

[Dgonza9]

Here it is! Kids finally are asleep. LOL.

 

[rayf]

Here it is! Kids finally are asleep. LOL.

How well does this work for you?