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Commercial Meadery in closed space, CO2 and tank heat questions

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GoldenTicket

NewBee
Registered Member
Dec 8, 2014
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Hello

Starting a new meadery, got licensed, now working on producing in 5 gal glass carboys. Looking to plan how to best scale up in 6 months or so.

At what point is the co2 off gassing from mead a health concern, requiring venting and more fresh air to the employees ? 100 gallons ? 250 gallons ?

What is the best vehicle for fermenting larger amounts of mead before worrying about glycol jackets and the like ?
Looking into brewery fermenters, and then get distracted by these giant open top wine fermenters ?
Just stick with a lot of hand batches (5-10 a day) in 5 gal glass carboys ? There has to be a better way !

I've done some searches and research, and these are concerns I can't seem to get a solid opinion/answer on.
Input appreciated, thanks
 
You probably needs to speak to some if the commercial folks, or a craft brewer near you for some good insight. Ventilation is important, and depends on the size of your space. A fermenting batch can easily produce 100x its volume in CO2. Your local inspectors may have some formal requirements or data to share.

Sent from my THINGAMAJIG with WHATCHAMACALLIT
 
They make special CO2 meters you would want to also install in your tank room to warm when the level gets high. Look for a post by Ken Schramm on his meadmaking commercial experience in this forum. WVMJ
 
We ferment in 300 gallons at a time. Ventilation is very important. I can't remember the exact numbers but the production of CO2 can be quite a lot. Get a good C02 measurement tool, they are a little spendy but worth the money for your health.
 
We use one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Extech-CO100-...6987213&sr=8-17&keywords=carbon+dioxide+meter

It seems reliable. CO2 is not to be messed with. One nice thing about the new facility is that the larger space and higher ceiling mean that concentrations do not rise nearly as quickly as they did when we were fermenting at the tasting room.

We know that we are going to need to tie a better CO2 monitor into an exhaust fan system when we expand the number of fermenters. Other options are a duct work system to vent from the fermentation locks to the outdoors, and what we would actually prefer, which is a reclamation system. We have been following this guy: http://pioneerenergy.com/products-s...ology-mast/co2-craft-brewery-recovery-system/
 
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