Fermenting in a chest freezer?

[CJ01]

Because of lack of central air I am thinking of getting a chest freezer (with temp control) to ferment and age bottles.

I'm wondering about CO2 venting, we will be traveling off and on and can't just open the door a few times a day.

Will the gas build up be that bad?

My fermenters *should* be sealed so I assume that the fermenting doesn't use oxygen from the surrounding area.

[HogieWan]

even without a seal (or a lid for that matter) the co2 will blanket the beer from o2 during fermentation unless the blanket is disturbed (usually by wind). I used a carboy in a small dorm fridge for a long while and never had a problem with excess gases or pressure even when I left for a while.

[Carl Spakler]

Originally posted by CJ01
Because of lack of central air I am thinking of getting a chest freezer (with temp control) to ferment and age bottles.

I'm wondering about CO2 venting, we will be traveling off and on and can't just open the door a few times a day.

Will the gas build up be that bad?

My fermenters *should* be sealed so I assume that the fermenting doesn't use oxygen from the surrounding area.

Someone much smarter than me can chime in if I am off base here...

I would assume that all the oxygen used for the fermentation process is dissolved in the liquid, there might some minimal amount that comes in via the surface of the liquid, but not much. This is why an oxygenated wort ferments faster.

I have a theory on the pressure build up too, but I'm even less confident in that, so I'll leave it in my head. :)

[sittingcow]

It might not be a problem... but to ease your mind, stick an almost flattened toilet-paper roll in the door

[Chubber]

Why are you worried? Your beer ferments in a blanket of CO2 anyway. The last thing you want is oxygen on the surface of your beer after 24 hours of pitching yeast. Any O2 that the yeast need should be dissolved in the wort before pitching.

I get lots of little flies that get into mine and suffocate in the CO2 blanket that builds up when fermentation is happening and the top isn't open.