Matthewjscott
Well-Known Member
I am sorry for all of the questions. Thank you all for the advice. I cannot wait to get started.
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Home Brew mobile app
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Home Brew mobile app
Very nice! Do you have a way to heat/cool it?
Almost Famous Brewing Company
Tentatively, going to look at a True GDM unit tomorrow evening. Plan is to do a temperature controlled chamber with the True unit, and an electronic heat wrap for the heating needs. Still looking at 'heat' options... but I think the unit should provide a nice fermentation cave.
Still looking at 'heat' options... .
Are you talking flex watt heat tape?
I ran into very similar clearance issues as well, but was able to squeeze the 6 inch ducting into the joist space after removing some bracing for a gas line and then reinstalling the supports. I had a b*tch of a time trying to fit the 6 inch vortex (440 cfm, almost identical to your's) into the joist space, so I had to cut the 6 inch intake hole into the top of my vent hood and set the vortex fan on top of the vent hood vertically instead of horizontally in the joist space. I then used a 6 inch 90 degree elbow off of the top of the exhaust end of the fan into my 6 inch ducting, which travels straight out the side of the bond of my house (about 25 ft.). I wasn't thrilled about cutting a 6 hole into the bond of my house, but with that long of a run, I didn't want Bernoulli's Principle to haunt me for the rest of my brewing days. All I can say is that after a few batches through my new brewery, the vent has worked fantastic. There's no doubt that the performance of your 440 cfm fan is going to be hindered, but by how much can only be determined by trial and error. As long as your run isn't excessively long and the fact that you used flexible ducting to create a gradual turn to the fan instead of a rigid 90 may work in your favor. I'll be curious to see how it works. Good luck!!!
Hoppopotomus,
I have the same fan and did the same setup as you. I did a test boil yesterday, and it worked great! Except the fan itself leaked. I had water drip out of the fan housing with it mounted that way. Have you experienced this, too? It wasn't a lot, but the concrete floor had a wet spot and small drips were visible on the bottom edge of the fan. Of course it's still cold here, so it could be the hot air hitting the cold outside air.
if you wanna see whats going on, check out the twitter link and follow!
I looked back and couldn't find your twitter handle. What is it again?
Not sure if you are aware, but if you are using a carbon filter in that housing for chlorine removal, about the maximum flow rate you can achieve with that size of filter (9.75" x 2.5" ish) is 1 GPM. Stepping up to a 9.75" x 4.5" ish filter housing, you can achieve 3 GPM with some filters.
Question for Hunter or Brewman... I saw a water filter at the LHBS (not the same as this one--more for the "grow" side of Brew-n-Grow), and they told me that for every 1 gallon of filtered water, 2 gallons go down the drain. Is that the case for this kind of housing and carbon filter?
With a carbon filter like Hunter is using, there is 0% watre wastage. 100% of the water that goes through it is usable.
Your LHBS was probably showing you a Reverse Osmosis treatment system, some of which do put a lot of water down the drain. Especially the "home" type RO systems, which do not have a booster pump on the input. Though all RO systems do put condensate down the drain.
So now that you've used your system/setup for a while, what, if anything, would you change or do differently ?
I think some sinks can have a drain board added to it. Might want to look into that based on your manufacturer. Might be a simple and relatively cheap solution.3) Gotten a cleanup sink with a drainboard... Would have made cleaning the kettles and cashed-kegs a whole lot easier
A couple of things stand out:
1) I'd go with 20G Kettles foremost.
2) likely have dropped my vapor hood down about 12-18" as it sits a bit too high to be fully effective.
3) Gotten a cleanup sink with a drainboard... Would have made cleaning the kettles and cashed-kegs a whole lot easier
4) Gone with the thicker hose material (I got the standard walls, the thicker ones help hold temperature when in the mash/herms step). Right now I have to set my HLT pid 2 degrees higher than mash temp to maintain a good temperature gradient through the grain bed.
Your kegerator is in the basement. Do you find that convenient or are you thinking of moving it to the main floor ? Like you my brewery will be in the basement. I'm not sure if making a trip downstairs to the brewery for a beer is a good thing or a bad thing. Would be more convenient if it was on the main floor though.5) Bigger Kegerator!! You can make beer so easily, 2 taps isn't enough. I'd recommend 4 minimum.
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