Most bizarre thing happened this weekend. I had a bucket of beer in my chest freezer. It was complete with fermentation. I was ready to keg and carbonate an older beer. THe keg was loaded and ready to go in the freezer. So I opened it up and carefully removed the bucket. Due to temperature cycling over time I noticed I had a buildup of water in the bottom of the freezer. So I got a wad of paper towels and leaned over into the freezer and began sopping up the water. Suddenly I felt myself on the way to losing consciousness. I realized what was happening and was able to get my head out and stand up. Had to hold on to the sink to stop from falling over. It would seem that the CO2 from fermentation had pooled in the freezer and as I was sopping up the water, that was all I was breathing in. I guess if I had passed out there my wife would have eventually come down to do the laundry and found me dead in the freezer.
I remember the first time I did this. I didn’t pass out just started coughing all over my beer.
I’ve had this happen too, man that stuff burns to breath in.
No burning in this case. I know what you are talking about. When fermentation is active it burns my nostrils and makes me cough. But in this case, active fermentation was long over and perhaps the concentration was lower or something. I don’t know why but there was no discomfort at all to let me know that something was wrong. I was sopping up the water and then suddenly I felt myself going limp and losing it.
Had my first time last week…not pleasant.
Yep it takes your breath away real quick. I now leave the drain plug out so CO2 can escape. Try putting a candle near the drain opening when it’s actively fermenting and it will instantly dowse the flame.
