SWMBO Saves Brew Day

Got a late start yesterday. By the time I was ready to boil the temperature outside with wind chill was –7 degrees. After cleaning MLT I look over and notice the boil not even close to starting. Look under the pots and only see a trickle of flame. My guess is that there was condensation in the gas line and it froze up.

I'm thinking of how I can save all this wort and try the boil after it warms up outside when the wife says, “What about the camp stove?” I though that there was no way it would be hot enough, but the little Coleman had both pots boiling in around 20 minutes. All was good until the CO2 alarm went off, but cracking a couple of windows did the trick.

Woke up to a happily bubbling carboy this morning.

(Yeah, that’s two pots so that I can AG in the kitchen.)

Nice!!!! I never thought about my coleman stove... using coleman fuel or propane?

I've got a HUGE 3 burner coleman fuel stove laying around I've never used.

Yeah, there's nothing like some good old fashioned CO poisoning to finish off a brewday...

You're a braver man than I... propane or coleman fuel, cooking with these stoves inside the house can kill ya. Even with venting. Carbon monoxide poisoning... hence your CO2 alarm going off.

If you hover over your brewpot like I do, your breathing it in... venting or no venting. Sorry to be an alarmist, but it happens every year.

videoman said:

You're a braver man than I... propane or coleman fuel, cooking with these stoves inside the house can kill ya. Even with venting. Carbon monoxide poisoning... hence your CO2 alarm going off.

If you hover over your brewpot like I do, your breathing it in... venting or no venting. Sorry to be an alarmist, but it happens every year.

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Actually, with good ventilation, LP does not produce CO, but only CO2. The problem is, inside most of us wouldn't have good enough ventilation. CO production happens because of incomplete combustion of LP by lack of oxygen. There are a few people here who regularly use LP inside (notably BierMuncher). Although I'm not saying it's not dangerous, when proper precautions are taken, such as having a CO alarm and properly opening windows before starting, most of the danger can be thwarted.

mrfocus said:

Actually, with good ventilation, LP does not produce CO, but only CO2. The problem is, inside most of us wouldn't have good enough ventilation. CO production happens because of incomplete combustion of LP by lack of oxygen. There are a few people here who regularly use LP inside (notably BierMuncher). Although I'm not saying it's not dangerous, when proper precautions are taken, such as having a CO alarm and properly opening windows before starting, most of the danger can be thwarted.

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I have gas logs in my basement that burn LP. They are 40,000 BTU and unvented. We run them a lot in the winter with the windows closed and the CO alarm never sounds.

Why are my gas logs safe to run in an enclosed indoor space but an LP cooker is not?

I'm not trying to start a fight, I'm just curious if anyone knows the difference.

Are your gas logs in a fire place with a chimney or vent? There are vent free gas fireplaces that have burners that burn very clean.

My burner for boiling wort is difficult to get to burn real clean, this may be the difference, plus the amount of gas burned is much more off your burner.

missing link said:

Are your gas logs in a fire place with a chimney or vent? There are vent free gas fireplaces that have burners that burn very clean.

My burner for boiling wort is difficult to get to burn real clean, this may be the difference, plus the amount of gas burned is much more off your burner.

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My gas logs are in a fireplace with a chimney. They do burn super clean. Nice blue flame all the time...no yellow at all.

The burner I use for brewing is only 55,000 BTU, not that much more than my gas logs. It too burns pretty darn clean.

Nice!!!! I never thought about my coleman stove... using coleman fuel or propane?

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Why are my gas logs safe to run in an enclosed indoor space but an LP cooker is not?

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My Coleman is the propane type. I was wondering the same thing. My kitchen stove is propane and I can run two or more burners cranked up and the CO2 alarm never goes off, and there is no special venting. With the Coleman it went off about a half hour in. The Coleman did bring the pots to a boil much faster, so that’s probably it. Do they regulate the amount of heat a kitchen stove can produce to prevent the CO2 problem?

anoldur said:

Do they regulate the amount of heat a kitchen stove can produce to prevent the CO2 problem?

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I'm not sure. I suspect there is a design difference between indoor and outdoor appliances with respect to how much cleanly they burn or how CO they give off, but I'm not sure what it is. I was hoping somebody here might know.

Anyone use a gas stove in the kitchen? Notice there is not a vent to the outside on that! I also live in the land of ice fishing in the winter and they even make propane ventles heaters for your garage or fish house. Granted the ventless heaters have O2 monitors, but they still do not vent to the outside. I use a huricane burner in my garage during the winter and for the heck of it I bought a CO detector and it has not gone off yet. I must admit though I do crack the garage door during the boil plus I put in two bathroom fans in the celling just for better ventilation. Everyone has there own opinion and so do I, just be carefull. Any fossil fuel that is burned gives off CO.

In the Winter I do all of My brewing in the basement with a 100,000 BTU Propane Burner. I open the 2 windows and the Walk Out Door, and I have yet to have an issue.

Changing the subject slightly, if you use 2 pots to do AG brews, how do you cool your wort?

Changing the subject slightly, if you use 2 pots to do AG brews, how do you cool your wort?

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The small pot (3 gallon) had two gallons of wort and started boiling around 13 minutes before the large pot (4+ gallons in a 5 gallon pot.) The small one was done with its 60 minute boil and chilled just about the same time the second pot had completed its boil.