Fermenting Wine in same room - 100 gallons!

[WineAllDay]

Ok so I've been searching the internet to see if sleeping in the same room as wine fermenting is safe i.e. would I die or go into a coma from the amount of carbon dioxide produced. Most of the responses are geared towards small batches like 5 gallons. I've got about 20 5 gallon FDA approved buckets or 100 gallons of wine fermenting. Is this still safe?

 

[Toto's]

I am not sure if it's dangerous but i would at least open the window a little. But the safest would be....
Sleep on the couch!!!!
Or moove you bed in the livingroom because it does smell quite strong. I do ferment 20g in a room and the first week it does smell!!!

 

[WineAllDay]

Haha, I hear ya! Anyone else, please chime in! Really need a serious answer to this question as I was hoping to begin making tonight.

 

[Camelot Legends]

As far as I knew or remember reading about, I think fermenting wine gives off 40 times the amount in co2. If the room is closed off and sealed, I think you may have a problem. Is you have a heating or air conditioning system that air is circulated through and exchanged you might be ok.
I do have a winery near me that closes off tours inside the production area because of the dangers of co2 but they are probably fermenting quite a bit more.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I would sleep on the couch for the first few days, just to be safe. Crack a window in there so it doesn't purge the whole place of breathable air.

OTOH, it's probably one of the more pleasant ways to 'go'.

 

[bracconiere]

what was that movie where the moon people, were getting tips from NASA how not to die from co2?

i'm no nasa scientist but, why not put blow off tubes through the window?

 

[WineAllDay]

Question, would 5, 5 gallon buckets be safer?

 

[Jayjay1976]

Question, would 5, 5 gallon buckets be safer?

Sleeping in a room with 25 gallons of fermenting wine would be 75% safer than curling up next to 100 gallons. I'd sleep in a room with 5 active fermenters no problem.

 

[passedpawn]

Ok so I've been searching the internet to see if sleeping in the same room as wine fermenting is safe i.e. would I die or go into a coma from the amount of carbon dioxide produced. Most of the responses are geared towards small batches like 5 gallons. I've got about 20 5 gallon FDA approved buckets or 100 gallons of wine fermenting. Is this still safe?

I don't think there's any problem here if you're running a central heating system (or AC, not sure where you are). The air exchange rate (full air change) in most systems is about every 3 hours.

On the other hand, if I don't see another post from you, I guess I was wrong - I'll make a note.

For peace of mind, you might consider a cheap air quality monitor on Amazon. They display CO2. Some of them are "logging", where you can get the data and observe the graph over time. For $30 - $40, might be a useful gadget in your world.

 

[Birrofilo]

Ok so I've been searching the internet to see if sleeping in the same room as wine fermenting is safe i.e. would I die or go into a coma from the amount of carbon dioxide produced. Most of the responses are geared towards small batches like 5 gallons. I've got about 20 5 gallon FDA approved buckets or 100 gallons of wine fermenting. Is this still safe?

No it isn't safe.
I live in a wine-producing country, Italy.
We are told at primary school that it is easy to die for the consequences of excess CO2 just by walking in the fermenting room. You lose your senses and in the long run you can die or suffer serious damage. The consequences are like in the case carbon monoxide although you have to breathe more of it.

It's a serious danger.

Provide ample aeration in any case, and don't sleep in the room where the fermentation of a serious quantity of wine happens. And, contrary to popular belief in this forum, CO2 does tend to accumulate near the floor if the air is not stirred and if the environment is confined, so don't let your dog there, either.

 

[jgmillr1]

Haha, I hear ya! Anyone else, please chime in! Really need a serious answer to this question as I was hoping to begin making tonight.

Here's a back of the envelope calculation:
100 gallons of juice at 21brix that takes 7 days to ferment will produce an average of 8.9 cubic meters of CO2 per day. A worst-case tiny room of 10ft x 10ft x 8ft holds 22.7 cubic meters. So if the room did not have adequate ventilation, I would presume that the CO2 would pose a hazard. However even a cheap bathroom fan moves 70 cubic feet per minute (2 cubic meters per minute), so having a fan to exhaust the room should safely eliminate the hazard of CO2 buildup.

Details on the calculation for those who are interested:
100 gallons = 378.5 liters
378.5 liters * 21% sugar = 79,485 g sucrose
79,485g sucrose / (342 g/mole) = 232 moles of sucrose
232 moles sucrose * (12 moles CO2/mole sucrose) = 2789 moles CO2 evolved
2789 moles CO2 * 22.4L/mole = 62,472 L CO2 evolved = 62.5 cubic meters CO2 evolved
Assuming steady fermentation of 7 days, then 8.9 cubic meters CO2 evolved per day

1 cubic ft = 0.0283 cubic meters

 

[Birrofilo]

However even a cheap bathroom fan moves 70 cubic feet per minute (2 cubic meters per minute), so having a fan to exhaust the room should safely eliminate the hazard of CO2 buildup.

If I were the OP I would provide at least three fans under an UPS. A fan can fail, the supply of electricity can be interrupted, the small probabilities of that happening should be weighted with the heavy consequences. If something doesn't work while one sleeps, there can be no coming back. CO2 will not wake you up.

A CO2 revelator able to sound an alarm would also be a good purchase in this case.

 

[Toto's]

So..
As i said, sleep on the couch, in the car, pop up a tent outside if you can..
When they say alcohol can kill you... well i guess it can do it in many ways lol

 

[Jayjay1976]

What an epitaph tho:

Eyes are red, lips are blue
Might look like a crime scene
But yeast farts ended you.

 

[WineAllDay]

Update, I decided to break the load up around the house, just for a peace of mind. I wish to live to enjoy these wines and see them come to fruition. I've got 6 in my room and about 6 in the hall way. I put off making any more until these are done. Still alive, thus far...

 

[Tennessee Brew]

Wanted to add my reply here as well on this topic.

From a 22 year firefighter AND animal control, Carbon Dioxide can be very dangerous and in places where there is no air circulation it can be fatal. The same gas is used in euthanasia. Even with good circulation you can get dizziness, headache, hyperventilation , irregular heartbeat etc.
I would suggest some tubing (fish tank tubing or oxygen hose) a bunch of T connectors and fit them to the fermenters and run all of that outside into an airlock which can be easily made. Don't chance it more than you have to.