basement for brewing?

Does anyone do all grain in the basement? gas or electric? ventilation?

Nope, but I'd never try using propane. Some guys are using hot water tank element in their kettles. You'd need a way to evaporate all that humidity though.

I have my HERMS all grain system in the basement. Electric for the Lauter tun and propane for the kettle.

I ferment ales in the basement if the freezer is full of lager, but I'd never try using propane there. Just carrying 5.5g wort down into the basement in a glass carboy is enough excitement for me.

-a.

I brew on my first floor which is sort of like a basement. From crushing my grain to kegging, I do it all there.

I'm setting up my basement for brewing right now. I will be using heat sticks and for a little while I'll be opening the window and going with a big fan to help deal with humidity.

Later next year I may put in a range hood. I'm going to see how it goes at first, though I know moisture will be an issue.

I brew right out back the walk out basement. I do most of the stuff inside and do the burner business outside. Though I do use the propane burner for a half hour or so inside while running off the mash. I just leave the door open, but have never had any sign of an issue from it since I started doing it that way in January this year.

But if I didn't have a walk out basement, I am not sure I'd want to do all that propaning in the basement. Though I may change my tune come winter!

I brew in my basement, but after several all grain batches I'm worried about my HVAC ductwork. The cold air return duct over my brewing spot has far more visible handprints than anywhere else on the ductwork. I have not handled the ducts, and presume the condensation from brewing is getting to be more than the galvanizing can take. I don't want to rust those, so I'll be moving to the back of the basement by the door, where no ductwork is exposed. I also plan to open the door and use a fan for ventilation during the boil. A range hood would be really nice, but will have to be a bit further down the line.

I am using natural gas &/or heatsticks. I don't own any propane stuff.

I have a walk out basement...not the dungeon style.

I brew all grain in my basement on a gas stove.

No hooded ventilation...I just open the door...

barside laundry said:

Does anyone do all grain in the basement? gas or electric? ventilation?

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Don't use gas without sufficient ventilation. I brew in my basement but I have a walk-out area that I have the burner set up just outside the door and everything else just inside the door. You could always throw a used home or commercial vent hood int he basement if you definitely want to do gas.

Electric has its own set of challenges with proper power supply and the risk of killing yourself if you don't know what you are doing electrically.

I'm also setup for all grain in my basement.

Propane burners with overhead vent + fan, 2 fans circulating air, all setup near the open door and a CO monitor next to the brew stand. Durring testing I never went above 23ppm CO even with the fans off. However, I'm constantly worried about it. I will probably switch to electric in the near future.

I brew in my basement using 3 wok burners on the house gas. Hooded and vented.

Works great, gets a little warm and the humidity gets pretty high.

CO2 and smoke detector have never gone off. And the fire extinguisher is close at hand.

floyduww said:

I brew in my basement using 3 wok burners on the house gas. Hooded and vented.

Works great, gets a little warm and the humidity gets pretty high.

CO2 and smoke detector have never gone off. And the fire extinguisher is close at hand.

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Same here...no detectors ever went off.

I run a dehumidifier when brewing...

It is nearly impossible to find a dehumidifier here in Colorado. But I like that idea alot. I think I am going to go on the hunt for one again.

Thanks for that idea.

I brew 5 gallon all grain batches in my basement with a 99,000 BTU propane burner. My burner\brew kettle are directly under a window with an exhaust fan, and I have a second fan moving air from the other side of the burner\brew kettle area to get a good cross draft going across that area. After about 15 batches I haven't died even once ... yet. In all seriousness, I plan on building a much stronger exhaust system in the next few weeks.

Redstar said:

I'm also setup for all grain in my basement.

Propane burners with overhead vent + fan, 2 fans circulating air, all setup near the open door and a CO monitor next to the brew stand. Durring testing I never went above 23ppm CO even with the fans off. However, I'm constantly worried about it. I will probably switch to electric in the near future.

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You really shouldn't worry. Most restaurants use large gas burners inside with no problems. Yes they have a hood for ventilation but that really is mostly for the steam and grease coming off of the cooking foods.

+1 on a CO2 monitor though. Why not be sure?

I brew in my basement with my 30l electric kettle and have recently installed an extractor fan, my next brew will verify if it will remove the fog efficiently...

I now brew in my basement as well with heat sticks and and inline exhaust fan.

Check out my setup HERE.

Last weekend it was pouring rain so I brewed in my basement with my propane tanks. Two batches, at times burning side by side. I had the kettles next to open windows with a standard oscillating fan blowing from the back of the basement towards the kettles out the windows. It wasn't until about midway through the second boil that the CO detector went off. It got so hot in the basement and even right above the brewing, in the kitchen. I wouldn't do that again unless I needed to.

burning propane doesn't produce much carbon monoxide as long as you have a nice blue flame.... what you need to be concerned with is that burning propane or any other combustible consumes oxygen in the room so you will want to have an adequate source of fresh outdoor air into your basement to compensate for this and the air being sucked up the vent hood.

Also, you need to be concerned with is the fact that gaseous propane is much heavier than air or natural gas; if there is a leak in any part of your system it will pool in the low spots in your basement; this is obviously bad because because any small spark can cause your brewery to go BOOM!

+1 on mashman

mashman said:

Also, you need to be concerned with is the fact that gaseous propane is much heavier than air or natural gas; if there is a leak in any part of your system it will pool in the low spots in your basement;

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Yeah, I love how people talk about how dangerous electric can be cause it can kill you through electroshock therapy. At least you won't take the wife and kids along with you if that happens- unlike a stratifying propane bomb. And re: electric- an easy fix to then just use rubber brew gloves, stand on a rubber mat, etc. just for the hell of it.

As far as I'm concerned:

Electric- stuff to worry about during the build (220V, sealing the elements, grounding)
Gas- stuff to worry about the whole rest of the time (if you want to do indoor)

I brew in my apartment with 1/2 bbl electric system. I don't have any "detectors" except a really nice Ground Fault Interupt Breaker in line to the plug. I have tripped it on occasion. Doh!

Also, in NY it's awesome to be able to brew indoors.