# Kinda a dumb question...



## scubaman2151 (Sep 11, 2007)

Ok,


So I do all my winemaking in the basement of my house, perfect temp down there, my question is.


How C02 is being released from the carboys and primary fermentor?


Enough to cause a problem if my dog sleeps down there as well?


I know im being paranoide but......


Also,


the basement has been hitting 77 degress latey, I am going to assume that temp is still ok but try not to go any higher then that?


Thanks for all the help so far,


Scuba


----------



## smurfe (Sep 11, 2007)

Your dog will be fine. I think you are confusing Carbon Dioxide (CO2)with Carbon Monoxide (CO)Your temps are fine. They are pushing the high side but not by much. You probably have plenty of cool spots closer to the floor.


----------



## scubaman2151 (Sep 11, 2007)

Thanks Smurfe,


so wines produce CO not CO2?


----------



## scotty (Sep 11, 2007)

My temps indoors rarely get below 77 for 6 months down in florida. I guess thats why my primaries have a tendency to drop SG rather quickly.


I think that timing some fermentations for cooler temps that will allow slower fermentingare suposed to produce better wine. 


Ill just make do with what i fave.


----------



## smurfe (Sep 11, 2007)

Wine produces Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Your furnace (if gas) produces Carbon Monoxide (CO) It is carbon monoxide levels that can harm you. You will never be able to have enough fermentation going on in your basement for expelled Carbon Dioxide to ever be an after thought. Remember, every time we exhale we emit CO2 You and your dog will be fine.


----------



## smokegrub (Sep 11, 2007)

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a byproduct of the incomplete combustion of organic matter and is toxic. Carbon Dioxide is a common byproduct of respiration and is used by plants in the process of photosynthesis which produces the byproduct Oxygen (O2). Carbon dioxide could be toxic to us but only when it significantly displaces oxygen in the atmosphere to such an extent that you suffocate from lack of oxygen. In a large area such as a cellar you have no reason to be concerned at all by CO2 emitted from a fermenting wine.


----------



## scubaman2151 (Sep 11, 2007)

Thanks guys.


----------



## pizzaerick (Sep 13, 2007)

NOTHING is a dumb question. I actually had a similar concern. co2 is not poisonous, but it is not oxygen either. Unsafe levels of co2 can and do cause problems in some industries, but not enough to cause concern for the home winemaker.

Of course, we will all need to buy carbon credits to make wine


----------



## dfwwino (Sep 13, 2007)

Smokegrub said:


> Carbon Dioxide is a common byproduct of respiration and is used by plants in the process of photosynthesis which produces the byproduct Oxygen (O2).




I guess I'll start fermenting mywine in a greenhouse




.


----------



## bovinewines (Sep 13, 2007)

Don't laugh..I actually thought "...so what would happen if I found some inside plant to put in the spare bathroom (aka winery)?". That thought came to me during my enology class two weeks ago when we were discussing CO2. I haven't done anything yet...but I still might! If I do end up putting a plant in there, I'll report the results. 


Guess I'll have to find a plant that doesn't need sunlight!


As mentioned above, CO2 only becomes a problem in very tight enclosed spaces where oxygen is displaced. Think about those huge steal fermenters you see at the big wineries. 


I'm happy to report that my cat has survived the last several days of primary fermentation in my apartment; I do have the guest bathroom closed off to the cat. While cat hair is consdered an seasoning around my apartment, the winery is off limits to the cat. I have to put my foot down somewhere...and that's whereever the cat will allow me put my foot down!






Bovine


----------



## geocorn (Sep 13, 2007)

Now all of you are contributing to "Global Warming". Wonder if Al Gore knows the wines he drinks causes more global warming? Oh well, he can just buy some more carbon offsets. (Sorry to be so tacky, but wine does create CO2, so technically, I am as correct as he is!)


----------



## dfwwino (Sep 14, 2007)

We need to get busy making some more wine to catch up with Al Gore's CO2 output with his fleet of SUV's and use of private jets. We simply are not doing our part to warm the earth and give Al Gore a continued platform to shine the spotlight on himself. Let's all purchase another kit from George and let the fermentation gases emit.


----------



## masta (Sep 14, 2007)

I have been doing my part of helping produce C02 over the years but as this article suggests it might have an cooling effect over time! 


Researchers on three different continents agree; CO2 is not the devil we once thought.




Last week I reported on a new study by the Belgium Royal Meteorological Institute that stated the effects of CO2 on world temperatures had been "grossly overstated". The RMI's conclusion is supported by a pair of recent papers, both of which severely downgrade the warming effect of carbon dioxide.


The first is by atmospheric scientist Stephen Schwartz, of Brookhaven National Labs. Entitled, "Heat Capacity, Time Constant, and Sensitivity of Earth's Climate System", the paper is based on more accurate estimates of feedback processes in the Earth's atmosphere. It concludes the IPCC estimate of 2 - 4.5C degrees warming (from theanticipated 1900-2100 doubling of CO2 levels) is much too high, and the actual figure should be closer to 1.1 degree. 


The conclusion is very significant as we've _already_ experienced some0.7 degrees of that warming. That means over the next century, _only an additional 0.4 degrees warming is expected_. And after that, the warming effect will nearly vanish.


The reason why is CO2 only absorbs in a very narrow band of infrared. Climatologist Timothy Ball, who was not associated with this study, explains with an analogy: "The relationship between temperature and CO2 is like painting a window black to block sunlight. The first coat blocks most of the light. Second and third coats reduce very little more. Current CO2 levels are like the first coat of black paint."


The second study is by Chinese researchers Lin Zhen-Shan and Sun Xian. Using a technique called Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD), they decoded temperature changes into three natural cycles-- 6-8 years, 20 years, and 60-years, along with a fourth signal, a non-periodic rising trend, which they associated with CO2-based warming. They found that the largest effect on temperature change was due to these natural cycles, and that the CO2-based trend could only be responsible for a maximum of 40% of the warming attributed to it. 


Most astonishingly, they concluded that global *cooling* will result for at least the next two decades, as the longer cycles are now both in downward motion. 


The factor all three of the above studies have in common? That CO2's role has been massively overstated. The political consequences of this are widespread-- is it worth spending trillions of dollars to reduce emissions of a gas that will have almost no effect over the next century, and essentially none at all after that? *Edited by: masta *


----------



## uavwmn (Oct 16, 2007)

OMW.....that avatar is hilarious!!!!!!!



uavwmn


----------



## PeterZ (Oct 16, 2007)

Remember that the gas that causes 95% of the "greenhouse effect" is water vapor.

Scub - when you hold your breath what makes you want to breath is not a lack of oxygen. It is the build up of CO2 in your lungs. If you were in a room with 100% N2 (which makes up 80% of air) you would never know it. The lack of O2 would make you slightly euphoric until you passed out, after which you would die from lack of O2. This has been the biggest danger to pilots and mountain climbers over the years.

If the CO2 became elevated in your fermentation room you would be panting and gasping for breath long before the level of CO2 would be dangerous.

*Edited by: PeterZ *


----------

