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LooyvilleLarry

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I have a modified chest freezer fermenter with 2 5 gal batches in it right now. I was in the garage, and thought I heard water running!

Figured it out - it was the beer fermenting into the blowoff !

I opened the lid and the alcohol smell just about blew me away:drunk:

One of the beers is starting to slow (day 9), but the other is booming away. There is almost a constant gurgle in the blowoff container.

Sure does make it hard to go to work :)
 
Yes, you got to love that. I was recently at a brewery taking a tour, and when the tour made it to the fermentation room my girlfriend goes "It smells exactly like your basement in here!" (due to having 5 carboys fermenting). There's nothing better than those ferment smells!
 
I think the "smell" that blew you away was much more likely a nice big whiff of CO2, which burns the ol' nostrils pretty good. Chest freezers will fill up with the stuff when you ferment in them.

Unless you're really just talking about the smell of the beer.
 
Yeah, I'm sure it was the CO2. It was a good thing !

I am fermenting these at 64*, which requires the cooler to be at 58*. Nice and cool!
 
is their any potential issues with fermenting in a chest freezer? i plan on doing this, but should i partially vent my freezer?
 
is their any potential issues with fermenting in a chest freezer? i plan on doing this, but should i partially vent my freezer?

No, you won't have any issues unless you plan on getting inside the freezer with multiple fermenting carboys and shutting the top :D (and even then I think you'd be OK)
 
is their any potential issues with fermenting in a chest freezer? i plan on doing this, but should i partially vent my freezer?

I ferment in my chest freezer, along with kegs that are conditioning and all my specialty grains!
 
Phew. Man. I got my first CO2 burn two weeks ago. I was emptying out my carboy in the yard and figured "Hey, I'll shake it around and pour it out to get most of the crud off!"

Right before I pour, I realize I haven't gotten a good smell of the beer...so, i stick my nose in there and....BAM! All of the CO2, originally dissolved in the beer, was rushing out.....burned me like no other.
 
No, you won't have any issues unless you plan on getting inside the freezer with multiple fermenting carboys and shutting the top :D (and even then I think you'd be OK)

Venting it certainly isn't necessary, but you would NOT want to be in there. Breathing this stuff hurts bad, it pretty much makes for an involuntary reaction.
 
Talking about Co2 makes me think of when I go to work in the fall time and have to make wine. Nothing better than walking into the winery prior to the exhaust fan coming on and getting a face full of C02 before you have your coffee. Wakes you right up!
 
Fermentation chambers must be notorious for that. When I first got my chest freezer fermentation chamber I wasn't sure what was going on - I'd stick my head in and my eyes would start watering and my nostrils burning. Hahah.. I figured it out, but it was hard to believe that 1 or 2 carboys of fermenting beer can fill a 15cu foot chest freezer with CO2..
 
I used to have a planted aquarium setup as a previous hobby, CO2 really helps aquatic plants grow since there's not a whole lot dissolved in the tap water. We used to mix sugar, water, and bread yeast and pipe the resulting CO2 into the tank. It worked great.. I subsequently got out of that and into brewing, but still think that it'd be pretty sweet to start up another tank and run a blowoff tube into a planted tank. Only problem is that it'd kinda have to be in the garage.. not much benefit of having a beautiful planted fish tank in my garage...oh well
 
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