Brewing with propane inside the garage

This past spring I started brewing with a propane burner. Its cold outside (though nothing like further North) and It'll take forever to boil with the temps the way they are. Soooo, I have seen a lot of home brewer’s pics boiling it up in their garages but always with the doors open. I can't do that because it will chill the rest of the house down so what about brewing with the doors closed?
I have an RV and know about using gas stoves inside and the venting required. Is this stupid, dangerous or what? I know, probably a really dumb question but all opinions invited.

Thanx

I have a sticky on the subject at the top of the equipment section...


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/propane-safety-tips-basic-brewing-podcast-97069/

I usually brew in my garage with the door open all the way (2-car, 1 big door). But when it is really cold outside, like under 40°F (I love the south )
I open the door a foot or two. I haven't had any problems thus far and really don't expect any. Safety is #1.

Last brewday high was 17F. Kept double wide garage door open about 8 - 18 inches. Kids kept going in and out, froze me tush they did!

Be aware of ventilation and you should be fine.

I would recommend a cheap CO monitor if you plan on brewing without the door all the way open. I picked up a plug-in one for $20 on Amazon. Hopefully I will never have needed it, but 20 bucks for peace of mind suits me...

phidelt844 said:

I would recommend a cheap CO monitor if you plan on brewing without the door all the way open. I picked up a plug-in one for $20 on Amazon. Hopefully I will never have needed it, but 20 bucks for peace of mind suits me...

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The CO monitor is a great idea...I have one in the kitchen that I'll move to the garage brewing day and keep the door open a foot or two.
Thanks!

Vent out the garage with a cheap fan. If you don't have solid connections the propane leak falls to the ground. If you leak enough of it, it could be a problem too. So if you're just going to crack the garage door, a cheap box fan would be a good bet. The same fan takes care of any possible CO issues too.

-OCD

I'll work on a sig: I'm new here...

:rockin:Without commenting on the rest I brewed in my garage last night with the door open full. (The door opener doesn't stop 1/2 way).
The to was -7 . Start to finish 90 minutes for a full boil for an hour.:rockin:
So the burners can keep up.
It was too cold to enjoy it though.

I always brew in my garage. My side is a 2 car and my wife's side is a 1 car (all attached). In the winter I crack both doors about 18", have a box fan running pointing out of the 2 car door and always have a fire extinguisher handy.

I have a carbon monoxide detector mounted on the ceiling in the garage. It doesn't have a digital readout, but it's never gone off while I'm brewing (self-tests say that it works though).

Take similar steps and you'll be just fine.

beersydoesit said:

:rockin:Without commenting on the rest I brewed in my garage last night with the door open full. (The door opener doesn't stop 1/2 way).

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How about pulling the door release off your opener and propping it open with a cinder block or milk crate or something? Then you(usually) just hit the opener again the the track thing will ram right into the holder again and everything is back to normal? Or you have a prehistoric opener - and I'm totally wrong.

Either way props to you for having the 'nads to brew in that weather.:rockin:

Beerocd That will work. Thought about it but decided I was in a hurry to get started, and I didn't realize it was that cold.

beersydoesit said:

:rockin:Without commenting on the rest I brewed in my garage last night with the door open full. (The door opener doesn't stop 1/2 way).
The to was -7 . Start to finish 90 minutes for a full boil for an hour.:rockin:
So the burners can keep up.
It was too cold to enjoy it though.

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Dude, thats cold!

Dave in Madison - you brewed last night?? Come on dude - do another batch TONIGHT!! whats another 14 degrees below last night!! if you can brew in -21F you can brew in any weather. In fact - DON'T close the garage doors!!


Rod From Columbus WI

Our brew night has many spectators. A few weeks ago it was too cold outside (25 degrees is cold in Bammer), so I tried keeping the garage door closed.
After about 45 minutes, I noticed folks were drunker than thye should, including one guy that wasn't drinking. Decided to raise the door from then on.
Ain't it great fitting into your stereo type? A bunch of drunk, red-neck, homebrewers die while brewing indoors!

Rod in Columbus. Good to hear from you.
Tell you what. You brew tonight, and I'll phone to see how you're doing.
It'll be fun!

Holmesbrewer said:

Our brew night has many spectators. A few weeks ago it was too cold outside (25 degrees is cold in Bammer), so I tried keeping the garage door closed.
After about 45 minutes, I noticed folks were drunker than thye should, including one guy that wasn't drinking. Decided to raise the door from then on.
Ain't it great fitting into your stereo type? A bunch of drunk, red-neck, homebrewers die while brewing indoors!

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That is one benefit of being from the South. If you do something stupid, people aren't as surprised!

When I brew in the garage, I leave the garage door open approx 2 ft. I open the back door to allow easy air exchange in the garage. The last brew session was two batches. The burner was running about 4 1/2 hours without a problem. If I didn't have a back door in the garage, I'd have to leave the garage door completely open. The key is ventilation.

One other reason to go electric in the basement

In the winter I brew in the garage as well, door about 1 foot open, that creates good ventilation since my garage is open to the attic space which is of course vented.

It was -15 here this morning, no way I'd brew today outside.

It is 4 above today with the high expected in the low teens...nope, ain't gonna brew even with the door opened a foot or two..this is the South and that is just too cold!
Maybe somebody should start a thread titled "Arctic Brewing Techniques" or "How to brew while freezing ones arse!"

Revvy said:

I have a sticky on the subject at the top of the equipment section...


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/propane-safety-tips-basic-brewing-podcast-97069/

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Revvy,

Meant to thank you for the thread...very informative and helpful! Cheers!

I always brew with garage door wide open, the rear door open and a CO monitor hanging from the garage door opener trolley release cord. I'm a big chicken I guess.

we had a high of -5 yesterday and it's -15 here in Aurora, IL this morning BUT tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 20's. That's a heat wave and I'll be wearing shorts while brewing. :cross:

Im brewing on Sunday ... where hopefully it will be up to 31 degrees up in CT. My issue is actually water, I have a large shed that I brew in ... I have CO2 monitors, keep a window fan blowing air on my brew system and then two doors open.

But; I have no water in the shed ad need to run a hose from the house to here (120 feet). We have 4 inches of snow / ice on the ground and making sure the hose doesnt feeze is an issue!

Any advise from people on freezing hoses?

Doing a 20 gallon batch of Irish Red .... good drinking brew! It should go nice with my imperial porter and brown ale on tap

Just a heads up - I was brewing in my garage about 2-3 weeks ago with the garage door open about 1ft. Well about 30-40 minutes into the boil the CO detector in my basement started going off. I have a door from the house to the inside of the garage and I think what was happening was the wind was coming in the garage under the door and blowing the CO into the house (every time I went from inside the house to the garage) where it was seeping downstairs (because it is heavier than air) and triggered the CO alarm.

I am sure we were far away from getting poisoned but I would absolutely recommend a CO detector to make sure everything is cool. Actually even if you are not a brewer I would still put one in the basement (if you have one) or anywhere you have a gas burning device AND one on each floor with sleeping quarters. It's not worth someone getting killed to save the 40$ or whatever they cost.

Mike

Hose freezing at 31 shouldn't be an insurmountable problem.
Two options come quickly to mind.
One, just roll the dice that it is warm enough.
Two, just leave a trickle running.
I guess a third idea is to make sure the silly thing drains when you're done.
Good luck

Buy one of those turkey friers, you can boil at any temp it may be outside,
Maybe even at -15 degrees without the wind chill!! (Welcome to Wisconsin!)
That`s really cold!!

Eischman said:

Buy one of those turkey friers, you can boil at any temp it may be outside,
Maybe even at -15 degrees without the wind chill!![/U]!![/B]

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Yep. Here's some pictures of brewing at around -10F.

http://newmud.comm.uottawa.ca/~pete/brewday/snowbrew1.jpg

http://newmud.comm.uottawa.ca/~pete/brewday/snowbrew2.jpg

It's warming up today, reaching zero. If I had been brewing yesterday, it would have been at -25F.

Hay pete_hickey...welcome to the board.
I notice your from Hull, Quebec..took a look at your pics;


Thats a pretty neat setup...love those big scoop shovels..good idea for windbreaking

the other picture I think I see some cool looking snow shoes;



Cheers
Steve

I brew in the garage when it's cold out. I only leave the door open a couple of inches at the bottom. I don't know what your doors are like, but when the bottom of mine is open a little, the top is also open from where it rolls back. I've brewed several batches this way and the CO alarm has never gone off.

Mike

pete_hickey said:

Yep. Here's some pictures of brewing at around -10F.

http://newmud.comm.uottawa.ca/~pete/brewday/snowbrew1.jpg

http://newmud.comm.uottawa.ca/~pete/brewday/snowbrew2.jpg

It's warming up today, reaching zero. If I had been brewing yesterday, it would have been at -25F.

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That is the exact same brew pot and burner that I started with!!!

I was up in Montreal this past week... you can keep your weather!

I brew inside with a gas stove. I run all four burners at the same time while brewing. I just purchased a propane system.

My neighbor owns a propane company. I asked about the co issue. MY question to him was the differnce from the 4 burners on the stove to one propane burner.

He said the difference was small. He said his concern was not the co, but having an unmounted flame inside a building, which could be knocked over. He said the flame would not turn off and could catch a building on fire.

BeerCanuck said:

Hay pete_hickey...welcome to the board.
I notice your from Hull, Quebec..took a look at your pics;

Thats a pretty neat setup...love those big scoop shovels..good idea for windbreaking

the other picture I think I see some cool looking snow shoes;

Cheers
Steve

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You win the award: "Arctic Brewing Techniques" or "How to brew while freezing ones arse!" :rockin:

Glad to see a lot of people are using CO monitors.

I brew in the garage in the winter with the garage door cracked too. With the steam produced from the HLT and kettle, the temp in there can rise to 20 above ambient.

I brewed a week or so ago and set up my CO monitor out there with the door closed, just for ****s and giggles. Even with just one burner going (full blast, nice blue flame) the CO monitor was reading 30ppm in a few minutes!

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH GUIDELINE FOR CARBON MONOXIDE

So just common sense stuff...ventilation, away from flammables, keep the tank as far from the flame as the hose will allow, etc.

Brew on!

BeerCanuck said:

Hay pete_hickey...welcome to the board.
I notice your from Hull, Quebec..took a look at your pics;
....
the other picture I think I see some cool looking snow shoes;

Click to expand...

I need the snowshoes to beat down a path to my composter, so I can dump the spent grain. It's a pain to be post-holing through the snow with a cooler of grain.

Baunno said:

You win the award: "Arctic Brewing Techniques" or "How to brew while freezing ones arse!" :rockin:

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I'm rarely cold. I do that 10 feet from my front door. I'm inside most of the time. The only real problem is that my hands often get wet, and when it's -10F or colder, the wet hands freeze and stick to metal.

Note that in cold weather like that, the air is quite clean, and there is less chance of something 'dropping in' than there is in the summer.