Good Day Folks,
I just bought an older SABCO Brew Magic system that is gas fired. I am in PA and the winter is too cold to brew with the garage door open. Does anyone in a similiar situation have any advice on how to deal with the fumes? Did you buy a vent hood? If so, what size, etc…? I want to make sure I do this safely.
Of course, I could wait till spring, but…
Thank you for any advice or guidance you can provide.
Doug
Definitely vent the gases out by whatever means but you have to bring in fresh make up air as well. I had a vent hood assembled out of HVAC sheet metal. Vented through the outside wall. Return air was piped in opposite wall. Also used a inline power fan to vent.
HopDen offers some good advice. However, the most important thing is to make sure the gas burner is properly balanced.
The flame cannot have any yellow — none. If it does, the burner is starving for air and that’s bad. If the flame is lifting off the burner, that indicates there is too much air, that is also bad. Most importantly, if you do not feel comfortable making gas burner adjustments, don’t.
Call an expert.
Thank you very much. I found a good vent on vevo - but did not think about the return fresh air. Much appreciated.
I used to brew in the garage here in Michigan. If I remember correctly the coldest day that I brewed was 15°F. I just bundled up and opened the garage door. I didn’t do that too many times. For the most part I stopped brewing from about mid November to sometime in April. That limitation to my brewing season is what drove me to go electric and buy and all-in-one to start brewing in the basement.
That is exactly why switched to a clawhammer biab system. I also live in Michigan and going electric worked great. I brew in my heated pole barn now and its great.
Similar to Kevin I brew in the Chicago area. I put my burner near the garage door and open the garage door to about half way the height of the burner.
Also at least here it is not cold all the time. I wait until it is high 30s or better. For example Dec 26 is an expected high of 44. Guess what I will be doing???not doing returns that’s for sure