It stings the nostrils...

[Lando]

When racking my IPA to secondary last night I stuck my head down to the bucket for a whiff of my brew and it burned like hell! Was that from the CO2 or something else? I gave it a few min after starting to rack and the burning subsided to a nice IPA smell, but I am pretty sure that first snort was pure gasoline!

 

[shecky]

Yeah, don't do that. It's not pleasant.

 

[chumprock]

Try that on a cider sometime... :cross:

I tricked SWMBO to get a big whiff of the airlock a week into a cider once. Now she wont even drink the stuff!

 

[Lando]

Yeah, Noob mistake I know. But damn it smelled good after that subsided!

 

[steelerguy]

When my first lager was fermenting in a chest freezer I stuck my head in to take a look at it...quickly learned to hold my breath when doing that in the future.

 

[menschmaschine]

Was that from the CO2 or something else?

Sort of... it's technically carbonic acid that causes the burning sensation.

 

[JohnnyO]

60% of the time, it works every time...

 

[SmugMug]

It puts the lotion in the basket....

Sorry, first thing that popped in my head when I read the thread title.

 

[COLObrewer]

That'll blow yer kilt up in tha marnin ladee, . . . It's a good sign.

 

[SmugMug]

That'll blow yer kilt up in tha marnin ladee, . . . It's a good sign.

But will it "kick yer arse out tha winda?"

 

[RedIrocZ-28]

Sort of... it's technically carbonic acid that causes the burning sensation.

You sure about that?

Reference?

 

[taylornate]

Sort of... it's technically carbonic acid that causes the burning sensation.

It's CO2. When dissolved in water, some CO2 turns to carbonic acid. In the air, it's all CO2.

 

[Mad_Milo]

[wipes this one off before lobbing it out there]

CO2 could be hitting your moist sinus cavity, changing into carbonic acid right there in your schnoz.

Anyhoo... yeah I think all homebrewers have done this once, maybe twice. Three times if yer a slow learner. I know to not put my head into the chest freezer if I have a pail or carboy in there doin' it's thing.

 

[SmugMug]

Mental note:
Be sure to tell my brother to stick his head in the fermenter and take a big whiff should he stop by on bottling day.

check.

 

[menschmaschine]

CO2 could be hitting your moist sinus cavity, changing into carbonic acid right there in your schnoz.

There's your answer. Carbonic acid can be in the air as well due to CO2 dissolving in the aqueous vapor present in a humid, enclosed fermentation chamber.

 

[dfohio]

Anyhoo... yeah I think all homebrewers have done this once, maybe twice. Three times if yer a slow learner. I know to not put my head into the chest freezer if I have a pail or carboy in there doin' it's thing.

Yep, I'm pretty sure I nearly suffocated once trying to clean up a blow off mess in the bottom of my 3.5 cu ft freezer. Once I got dizzy I realized the bottom of that freezer was probably just one big layer of co2. Good times...

 

[taylornate]

There's your answer. Carbonic acid can be in the air as well due to CO2 dissolving in the aqueous vapor present in a humid, enclosed fermentation chamber.

Converting to carbonic acid when it hits the surfaces inside your airway probably is the source of the sting, but I am pretty sure it is not present in a gas, regardless of humidity.

Yep, I'm pretty sure I nearly suffocated once trying to clean up a blow off mess in the bottom of my 3.5 cu ft freezer. Once I got dizzy I realized the bottom of that freezer was probably just one big layer of co2. Good times...

With CO2 you would not asphyxiate without noticing like you would with CO or inert gases. You would feel like you were suffocating. Likely, you were light headed from bending over and standing up.

 

[menschmaschine]

Converting to carbonic acid when it hits the surfaces inside your airway probably is the source of the sting, but I am pretty sure it is not present in a gas, regardless of humidity.

CO2 + H20 --> H2CO3

Carbon dioxide can combine with water vapor to form carbonic acid.

CO2 MSDS

Moisture in the air can lead to formation of carbonic acid...

 

[taylornate]

CO2 + H20 --> H2CO3

Carbon dioxide can combine with water vapor to form carbonic acid.

CO2 MSDS

I stand corrected.

 

[dfohio]

With CO2 you would not asphyxiate without noticing like you would with CO or inert gases. You would feel like you were suffocating. Likely, you were light headed from bending over and standing up.

Oh I definitely knew something was going on in the freezer and it wasn't from bending over. No harm, no foul.

 

[RedIrocZ-28]

"It has since been shown, by theoretical calculations, that the presence of even a single molecule of water causes carbonic acid to revert to carbon dioxide and water fairly quickly. Pure carbonic acid is predicted to be stable in the gas phase, in the absence of water, with a calculated half-life of 180,000 years."

This is from NASA. I tend to believe their study.

Also, doesn't carbonic acid need to be under pressure to exist? I was under the impression that once exposed to 14.7psi (1 atmosphere) that it dissociates almost immediately into CO2 and H2O.

 

[SmugMug]

"It has since been shown, by theoretical calculations, that the presence of even a single molecule of water causes carbonic acid to revert to carbon dioxide and water fairly quickly. Pure carbonic acid is predicted to be stable in the gas phase, in the absence of water, with a calculated half-life of 180,000 years."

Wait...wha? I think half my head just asploded.

 

[menschmaschine]

Yeah, I read the Wikipedia too. These types of reactions go back and forth. In moist air, CO2 and water are reacting back and forth simultaneously to carbonic acid and the constituents CO2 and H20. But to say that while water vapor and CO2 are existing simultaneously in air, no H2CO3 is being created (and destroyed) is too black and white. To say that it is zero is too absolute for these types of reactions that happen in nature.