Room Ventilation/Safety

[brewNYC]

Hi all, does anyone out there take precautionary measures to ventilate their brewing spaces during fermentation? I know gas burners, etc come with a lot of warning labels, but nobody seems to think about the assortment of scary gases produced by brewing (co2, diacytal, sulfur)- at least, I’ve never seen a warning about it on the beer kits I buy. Since I live in a small apartment with kids, in a building that has lots of apartments. I want to make sure my brewing is safe for my family, and make sure nothing is seeping under my door into other people’s apartments that could be harmful to them.

Seems like figuring out safety analytically would be impossible (you’d have to calculate off-gassing for every beer recipe and new yeast used, determine where those gasses stratify, figure out how air-tight your apartment is, determine thermal currents, on and on), so I suppose we have to determine safety based on best practice. Does anyone use caution to ventilate their brewing rooms during fermentation?

 

[OnePlate]

You have nothing to worry about. In fact, many of us are airlock sniffers.

 

[myelo]

The main concern would be CO2 and commercial breweries do have to be careful with this. So if you have a 10 barrel fermenter in your bathroom it would be a problem. But typical home brew batch sizes won't be an issue even in a small apartment.

 

[doug293cz]

A typical 5 gal batch of beer will produce around 400 - 500 liters of CO2 (14 - 18 cu ft) over 3 - 4 days. If the fermenter was in a sealed room that is 10' x 10' x 8' (800 cu ft) then the CO2 concentration, worst case would be 18 / 800 = 2.25%. Here is some information about CO2 exposure limits and effects. You can see from the link that 2.25% is enough to be concerned about.

However, it's not likely that you will have a sealed room condition, and as the CO2 spreads out into a larger volume, the concentration will be diluted. In a sealed 500 sq ft apartment, the average concentration (given the above fermentation) would drop to 0.45%, which is not an issue.

So beware of confined spaces, but typical living spaces shouldn't be a problem.

Brew on

 

[day_trippr]

Hi all, does anyone out there take precautionary measures to ventilate their brewing spaces during fermentation?[...]

Literally zero thought about that in going on 16 years of home brewing...

Cheers!

 

[doug293cz]

Literally zero thought about that in going on 16 years of home brewing...

Cheers!

You never stuck your head into a fermentation chamber with an active fermentation? I ferment in a chest freezer, and I don't want to inhale again while I have my head in there.

Brew on

 

[day_trippr]

All three of my chambers are upright fridge units, and I suspect there's a huge difference in exposure potential vs a chest cabinet, as I can't recall ever noticing much more than the wonderful aroma of fermentation when simply checking on business.

I have whiffed an active ferment near the airlock and curled my nose hairs, so I know the sensation, I just don't get it from opening a chamber here...

Cheers!

 

[Rob2010SS]

You never stuck your head into a fermentation chamber with an active fermentation? I ferment in a chest freezer, and I don't want to inhale again while I have my head in there.

Brew on :mug;

Lol ive done that in my fermentation chest freezer. It burns the hell out of your nose hahaha.

 

[jrgtr42]

Yeah, you don't want to stick your head in the fermenter and breathe deeply, (though a couple breaths will likely take up anything there) but as a general rule, your health is more affected by drinking the alcohol than any extra CO2 etc that is produced.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

You never stuck your head into a fermentation chamber with an active fermentation? I ferment in a chest freezer, and I don't want to inhale again while I have my head in there.

Brew on :mug;

I did that...once. Holy crap! Lesson learned.

 

[Jag75]

You never stuck your head into a fermentation chamber with an active fermentation? I ferment in a chest freezer, and I don't want to inhale again while I have my head in there.

Brew on :mug;

I did this with my first time using one for a Lager. Opened the lid stuck my face down there and it was like an upper cut . I do like smelling the airlock but in a closed space it's no bueno .

 

[brewNYC]

Thanks, folks. Looks like I have nothing to worry about. Happy brewing!!

 

[coonmanx]

Just be aware that bed bugs are attracted to CO2. That is how they find their prey... LOL.

 

[THESULLI]

You have nothing to worry about. In fact, many of us are airlock sniffers.

HAHA! This is me every time I walk by the fermenter...

 

[coonmanx]

I love when I get that first smell off of the airlcok during some active fermentation. I have to sit down and put my nose right over it and take a big whiff....

 

[jtrux]

CO2 creates a burning sensation in your lungs like when you hold your breath too long (bc holding your breath also causes CO2 build up in your lungs). But it does not permanently bind to blood cells like CO. So if your lungs burn, get fresh air but no permanent harm done. CO on the other hand (from burning propane etc indoors) is a different story. It strongly binds to blood cells and doesn’t let go when you get fresh air. And thus is very dangerous

 

[NitrogenWidget]

You have nothing to worry about. In fact, many of us are airlock sniffers.

airlock sniffer.
hahahaha!

it's funny because it's true.

that said i always give my ferm chamber a few minutes to air out after I open the door so I don't end up sitting on the floor of my basement.
again.

I use a fridge to ferment in and usually have 10 gallons going at once.
lot's of CO2 buildup I learned the hard way.

 

[Qhrumphf]

The main concern would be CO2 and commercial breweries do have to be careful with this. So if you have a 10 barrel fermenter in your bathroom it would be a problem. But typical home brew batch sizes won't be an issue even in a small apartment.

This is very much an issue at commercial breweries, especially in large unventilated cellars (edit: large cellar referring to tank volume relative to room size- large tanks in cramped cellar is the danger mix). The wiser breweries use CO2 meters to monitor it, as it can easily exceed OSHA limits for safe long term exposure.

At home, unless your fermentation is in a small enclosed area (like a chest freezer), I wouldn't sweat it. The bigger risk in my eyes is a keg system CO2 leak, particularly in a chest freezer.

 

[THESULLI]

that said i always give my ferm chamber a few minutes to air out after I open the door so I don't end up sitting on the floor of my basement.
again.

I learned this lesson 2 brews ago. Popped the lid, stuck my head in the bucket, and took a fast and deep inhale. I wont ever do that again! It was pretty rough. I knew there was co2 in there but that fact escaped me when all I wanted to do was smell my beer. It was definitely an "im an idiot" moment hahaha! Its funny... With nothing but time on my hands, I seem to be having quite a few of those moments...

 

[Nate R]

This is very much an issue at commercial breweries, especially in large unventilated cellars (edit: large cellar referring to tank volume relative to room size- large tanks in cramped cellar is the danger mix). The wiser breweries use CO2 meters to monitor it, as it can easily exceed OSHA limits for safe long term exposure.

At home, unless your fermentation is in a small enclosed area (like a chest freezer), I wouldn't sweat it. The bigger risk in my eyes is a keg system CO2 leak, particularly in a chest freezer.

Anyone ever see the huge bladders that Sierra Nevada uses to collect their C02 blowoffs? I have only read about them, but they basically claim they do noy have to buy any C02- they just reuse the "natural" C02 they capture.
Smart and cost effective.

 

[day_trippr]

There may be huge bladders involved along the way, but apparently Sierra Nevada has gone to scrubbing then compressing fermentation-produced CO2. At least in their Fletcher, NC, brewery.

That's pretty cool. All I need is a femto-scale version

Cheers!

 

[THESULLI]

There may be huge bladders involved along the way, but apparently Sierra Nevada has gone to scrubbing then compressing fermentation-produced CO2. At least in their Fletcher, NC, brewery.

That's pretty cool. All I need is a femto-scale version

Cheers!

Awesome! Really interesting

 

[day_trippr]

Ugh - this ******* forgot to post the link...

https://www.beveragedaily.com/Artic...ds-sustainability-practices-with-CO2-recovery

Cheers! (In my defense, I'm old, brewed today, have been drinking, yada yada... )

 

[Nate R]

Ugh - this ******* forgot to post the link...

https://www.beveragedaily.com/Artic...ds-sustainability-practices-with-CO2-recovery

Cheers! (In my defense, I'm old, brewed today, have been drinking, yada yada... )

You had me at "*******"....

 

[day_trippr]

lol! Thanks for that

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Ugh - this ******* forgot to post the link...

https://www.beveragedaily.com/Artic...ds-sustainability-practices-with-CO2-recovery

Cheers! (In my defense, I'm old, brewed today, have been drinking, yada yada... )

I found this also.
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2016/cg_3.html