Exhaust Fan For Un-flooded Font

[gibbocore]

Hi, thought i'd share a little project i did last week.

I wanted some cold air in my font to stop the first beer being poured from being all head, so i figured a little exhaust fan to grab the cold air from under the element and blow it up some tube, into the font hole under the wooden bar. I had 240v power source so i got a computer fan from jaycar and built a box from plywood that i had lying around. I need some 25mm conduit for my herms i'm building and used that for my ducting. A 240v illuminating switch and hey presto.

Maintains between 4-6 degrees at the very top of the font, i could probably get it colder if i had the conduit running right up the top but my hole is a little small so its just wedged in there at the moment., if its humid it get condensation on the outside if you're into that. All i know is that after having in on for an hour or so, the first beers are pouring perfectly. Probably overkill but i like to tinker.

 

[Fourstar]

Looks like a good idea. How long do you think the wooden box will last? I would have used a Plastic hobby box just to be water safe.

 

[Pennywise]

Looks good mate, I have just got the ok from the minister to buy a keg fridge so I think I'll be usuing that idea.

 

[gibbocore]

wooden box should be fine, its pretty damned dry in there.

 

[Fourstar]

Cool Bananas!

 

[fraser_john]

With your little bit of towely (Don't forget a towel) stuffed up you font, would this not stop the air from returning or make your fan work harder than it needs to? If you removed that there probably would be better cool air circulation and the font might get a little cooler?

John

 

[jayse]

snipped>
Probably overkill but i like to tinker.

No such thing as overkill in craftbrewing

 

[gibbocore]

With your little bit of towely (Don't forget a towel) stuffed up you font, would this not stop the air from returning or make your fan work harder than it needs to? If you removed that there probably would be better cool air circulation and the font might get a little cooler?

John

Thats not a bad idea, i'll do some testing, i reckon you'll be right when i get the ducting jammed further up the hole.

 

[MarkBastard]

Good work gobbo. Obviously works great if it's getting down to 4 degrees. If I was doing it however (not to be a pain in the arse) I would have tried to mount a box to that cooling plate at the back there. Maybe even using those screws that are right there, then sucking air into the box using the fan. Have the part of the box that touches the cooling plate open so that the plate chills the box, and the fan blows air past it. I reckon that may get it down even colder because those plates look almost iced up.

And as above the towel may be stopping the circulation. Does that conduit go all the way up the font?

Just something to think about if you ever revise, but 4 degrees sounds perfect and that setup is nice and neat as it is.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

exactly the solution I have been planning for my keggerator - thanks for the confirmation that it works.

cheers

TB

 

[gibbocore]

No Problemo mate. Just be sure to put your box in the coolest part of the fridge and seal it up well. Or i saw a cool idea with a balloon also. Food for thought.

 

[Franko]

Great work mate nice to see it works well.

Franko

 

[Munut]

I know its an old post but I'm new to kegging and it was playing on mind that The first beer and any beer a little while after the first was heading up so much. If I pull two in a row the second is just like pulling it at a bar (I know I've worked a bar for a while) so I have copied your idea.

So here's some pics of my cooling box not yet installed. I went for a hobby box as mentioned above about the wood and moisture. The wiring is still temperary till I get a soldering iron. The air out port is a retic stopper drilled out and alraldited in place. I'm gonna use retic pipe as my ducting so I can use the elbows for a nice fit around the fridge. I'll run the duct to the top of the font and leave the hole un blocked in the hope that the air I push up there displaces the warm air and creates circleation that keeps the whole lot at the same temp.

The fan cost $11 brand new and the box $10 got some retic pipe in the shed just need 2 elbows.

 

[malbur]

I know its an old post but I'm new to kegging and it was playing on mind that The first beer and any beer a little while after the first was heading up so much. If I pull two in a row the second is just like pulling it at a bar (I know I've worked a bar for a while) so I have copied your idea.

So here's some pics of my cooling box not yet installed. I went for a hobby box as mentioned above about the wood and moisture. The wiring is still temperary till I get a soldering iron. The air out port is a retic stopper drilled out and alraldited in place. I'm gonna use retic pipe as my ducting so I can use the elbows for a nice fit around the fridge. I'll run the duct to the top of the font and leave the hole un blocked in the hope that the air I push up there displaces the warm air and creates circleation that keeps the whole lot at the same temp.

The fan cost $11 brand new and the box $10 got some retic pipe in the shed just need 2 elbows.

Munut,
Keep us posted, i am just about to convert a chest freezer in to my kegerator with unflooded font, and i didn't know if one fan was enough to curculate cold air in freezer and push it up the font as well.

 

[Smashin]

Brilliant stuff gibbo, i've been planning something similar for some time, great to see it in action and hear well it works, now its a must to kill these summer time frothies.

 

[kenlock]

Awesome! :icon_chickcheers: Just the solution I was looking for. Cheers Gibbo and Munut.

 

[Beerbuoy]

+1
I made my own font from 4 inch stainless and have a computer fan set up the same. Works fine. I can't se the point of going to a flooded font, to much trouble. Mine keeps the tap and top of the font covererd in condensation when its turned on and the beer poors well.

 

[Munut]

For those that were following, this has made a huge difference. I can still tell between the first a second pour. If I tilt my glass and go for no head the first pour probably has not even half a centimeter, the second none.
So its cooling off here now so in summer it may not be quiet as effective?
But compared to before, the first pour I would do half a glass to get things cold set it aside. Pour the second no worries, grab the first fill it up then suck off some froth and top it up.
Well worth the twenty odd I spent on the fan, box and switch, but if you did some scavaging you would build it for near nothing.

photos of it installed.

 

[gibbocore]

good stuff mate, glad to see it worked!

 

[Batz]

I like the fan in the jiffy box idea, that'll be nice for a circulation fan in a chest freezer,just sit it on the hump.Very neat.

Batz