OK so my daughter is about to start walking which means my Primary is going to have to find a new home. My "best" option is my 100 year old basement realy nasty down there and cold! My plan was to get rubber maid containers and fill them with water put the fermenters in with an aquarium heater or two. My problem is that I have a NEW coopers kit for my primary. It doesn't not have an air lock, it uses what they call i believe the burp system, with a lid that due to pressure inside lets air out but not in. Think I will run into any problems with this set up in my nasty basement?
Damp Nasty Basement
- Thread starter Dennis_W
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medusa1066
Well-Known Member
How cold? Is there any visible mold in the basement? I would roll with it. Take some extra precautions with your work area and equipment. Your alternative is to not brew, or take over a closet or bath tub.
I would say mid to high 50's. There is some mold that you can see that is growing on paper and stuff that has been sitting down there for awhile. I will still brew and sanitize upstairs in the kitchen and then move it downstairs.
Is there any sort of a floor drain? If so you could set up a dehumidifier to dry things out a bit.
LiquidLunch5211
Well-Known Member
LiquidLunch5211
Well-Known Member
My opinion, I think 50 degrees is on the cool side could you build a room in the basement that you could control the moisture and temp
LiquidLunch5211
Well-Known Member
The other thing you could try also is they sell a moisture sealant that gets painted on and could help to keep moisture out. I used it on my basement walls when I finished it. Seems to work well for me. Read the instructions first to see if you could benefit from it
starrfish
Well-Known Member
"I have a NEW coopers kit for my primary. It doesn't not have an air lock, it uses what they call i believe the burp system, with a lid that due to pressure inside lets air out but not in."
Seal buckets with lid and airlock or burper and clean burper well. I like the aquarium swamp heater idea if needed. Brew some kolsch, steam beer, and alt... probably stays pretty moderate in the summer too.
I had a similar room where I used to live, place was below street level, floor got wet at times, so I put fermentors up on milk crates. Fermentation and aging was fine, never had a spoilage issue from that room, and if it were going to pick up mold it would have been there. That being said I always held my literally breath when I needed to open lid down there, so not to blow anything into bucket...
Seal buckets with lid and airlock or burper and clean burper well. I like the aquarium swamp heater idea if needed. Brew some kolsch, steam beer, and alt... probably stays pretty moderate in the summer too.
I had a similar room where I used to live, place was below street level, floor got wet at times, so I put fermentors up on milk crates. Fermentation and aging was fine, never had a spoilage issue from that room, and if it were going to pick up mold it would have been there. That being said I always held my literally breath when I needed to open lid down there, so not to blow anything into bucket...
Do you have a closet that you could store it in? Why not get a cheap exterior door lock set and install it on a closet door? Then you could lock it while the beer is in there and she won't be able to get in, and you don't need to store it in your dank basement.
No closets that I can store it in.
I don't have a certain one I use or anything like that. I don't think the Temp. is going to be an issue down there. I'm going to be heating water, that the primary is sitting in.
Sounds like I should get a bucket with an airlock if I plan on using the basement...?
Dr. Francois
Well-Known Member
Are you a customer or a rep for this company? Looks interesting. Anyone have experience with a WAVE Ventilation unit?
LiquidLunch5211
Well-Known Member
Lol no im not a rep for the company. I hear their ad on the radio everyday and I have a small moisture issue in my basement. I am tires of emptying my de humidifier every day in the summer. I am thinking of getting one and I think it would help for home brewing as well. Maybe I should be a rep for them though
HopDr
Active Member
I have a 135 year old house and the basement is damp in the summer, and there is definitely some visible mold when it gets wet after big rain storms when it is warm out. I have a dehumidifier which I run in the summer but it doesn't make that big of a difference.
I ferment in the basement and have never had an infection, and I think my beer tastes pretty 'clean'. I also have a tendency to mess around with my beer a lot during fermentation and open the fermenter frequently. I just take the regular precautions. One thing I do not do, though, is put the wort down there until I have pitched the yeast and sealed the fermenter. So I would not worry about it too much.
It sounds like you have similar tempt to my basement too, at this time of year it is in the high 50's/low 60's, and warmer near the heater. I think it actually works perfectly because my beer usually gets up to the mid to high 60s in the wort at those temps during fermentation which seems to work for me, and if need be, it is always easier to warm beer than cool it during fermentation (with my equipment, at least).
I ferment in the basement and have never had an infection, and I think my beer tastes pretty 'clean'. I also have a tendency to mess around with my beer a lot during fermentation and open the fermenter frequently. I just take the regular precautions. One thing I do not do, though, is put the wort down there until I have pitched the yeast and sealed the fermenter. So I would not worry about it too much.
It sounds like you have similar tempt to my basement too, at this time of year it is in the high 50's/low 60's, and warmer near the heater. I think it actually works perfectly because my beer usually gets up to the mid to high 60s in the wort at those temps during fermentation which seems to work for me, and if need be, it is always easier to warm beer than cool it during fermentation (with my equipment, at least).
Mid-to-high 50's is perfect IMO. People sometimes don't realize how hardy some yeast strains can be; they will not only work at that temperature range but produce very clean beer. You could use a lager yeast like S-23 that loves that temperature range; I would even try US-05.
Dr. Francois
Well-Known Member
osagedr said:
Notty chugs in the 50's.
Agreed, S-23 is a great choice. My basement is at 58 right now...deciding between S-23 and Notty for my next session beer.
Parkinson1963
Well-Known Member
What I did in my damp nasty basement was to build a fermenting area using 2" blue Styrofoam. (2' square bottom, 30" high with a lid) This separates the fermenting area from the mold, I can clean the fermenting area easily, and keeps the beer at a fairly constant temp.
