Fw: Home brewing and carbon monoxide

FYI: more on the CO2 thread from Boreal Brewers. - Al ----- Forwarded by Allan V Boyce/MN/USB on 04/11/2005 09:29 AM ----- "Harvey & Frannie Tjader" 04/08/2005 10:17 PM To cc Subject Re: Home brewing and carbon monoxide Thanks to everyone for the tips. I brewed this evening, again on the kitchen range. This time, I stacked two of the iron things that the pots sit on, so the brew pot sat higher and the flames got better draft. I also opened several windows and had a good breeze going through the house. The carbon monoxide detector read '0' throughout the process. I appreciate the value of good ventilation, but it doesn't seem possible to brew outside or with a good breeze blowing through the house in the middle of the winter. Some day, I may install an air exchanger. However, I am holding by my hypothesis that the wide pot sitting low over the burner with the burner on high creates a condition of poor combustion due to insufficient draft. The next time I brew on a cooler day, I'm going to try stacking the stove irons to raise the pot off the stove, but leave the windows shut, and then watch the CO detector. I'll let you know the result. I'd like others who brew on a gas range , but don't have a CO detector with a digital readout to be aware that they could be creating a minor health hazard in their home. To your health! Harvey Mike Norden wrote: The college is required to have mandated levels of fresh air which is very good. Usually at least 15 CFM/person (occupant load). Houses in MN are also required to have .35 air exchanges/hr. Unfortunately the code is not enforced much out of the Metro areas (northwoods, independent, don't tell us what to do attitude). The air inside your home is at least twice as bad as the outside air and on average 5 times worse than the air outside. Hence, we are suffering from unprecedented levels of Asthma, Allergies and other respiratory ailments. Move it outside is absolutely correct! But this only solves this small piece of the bigger puzzle. Get fresh air in your homes!!!!!!! and for that matter every place you work and play. Mikey Steve Benson wrote: Move it outside and use a tukey cooker size burner. I've been teaching brewing classes in Grand Rapids, in a lab at the community college. On brewing nights, we have two turkey cooker burners going with two batches of beer. We keep one window open, and the classroom door open, and my CO detector has never ticked up off of zero. - Steve Benson On Apr 3, 2005, at 7:32 PM, Harvey & Frannie Tjader wrote: I have a carbon monoxide detector in my dining room. It reads "0" all the time, except this morning while I was cooking up a batch of IPA, when I noticed it read 56 ppm. I brew on the kitchen gas range in a 20 quart kettle. My guess is that the wide base of the kettle and the fact that the heat is turned up to the max results in incomplete combustion. I opened a few windows and turned on the exhaust fan over the range and the detector reading went down into the high 30s to mid 40s. A few minutes after I shut the heat off, the reading returned to zero. I'm going to look for a way to raise the brewpot a bit higher from the range top and see if that solves the problem. A CO level of 50 is the highest permissible level for an adult to be exposed to over an 8 hour period, according to OSHA. Harvey ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Electronic Privacy Notice. This e-mail, and any attachments, contains information that is, or may be, covered by electronic communications privacy laws, and is also confidential and proprietary in nature. If you are not the intended recipient, please be advised that you are legally prohibited from retaining, using, copying, distributing, or otherwise disclosing this information in any manner. Instead, please reply to the sender that you have received this communication in error, and then immediately delete it. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. ==============================================================================