Beer Saves House From Fire

[bigfridge]

Heard a frightening tale from a local brewer last night.

Seems that he was sitting at home enjoying a beer with his family one evening a few weeks ago and the lights and power went off. 'Black out' he though so went out the front door to check for any neighbours lights and they were all still on.

Went into the garage to find it full of smoke and the clothes dryer on fire !

Ran back into the house to grab an extinguisher from the kitchen and in the short time that it took both cars and all the timber, tools etc were on fire. 'Grab the kids and I will call 000' he yelled as they ran out into the front yard with nothing.

When the fire brigade arrived a few minutes later they flung open the garage door to find that the fire was all but out !

Seems that the fire had consumed all the timber, tools, home brew gear, both fridges before melting the gas line from the CO2 bottle to the serving fridge. The bottle was turned on as it was NOT an AFD and the rush of gas emptied the bottle into the closed garage and in the process extinguishing the fire.

Garage and contents are a charred mess but it could have been much worse.

Another good reason to keg !

BF

 

[Asher]

Another good reason to be carefull with CO2 in confined spaces...

 

[Doc]

A very lucky escape.
Is the brewer an AHB member ?

Doc

 

[bigfridge]

A very lucky escape.
Is the brewer an AHB member ?

Doc

Yes ......

 

[PartyPooper]

Damn, a AHB member.. condolences on your shed and brew gear mate. Hopefully, it won't take you long to be up and brewing again soon.

 

[pint of lager]

Nasty stuff. Thanks bigfridge, for sharing that with the brewing world.

Bet the brewer was glad that they had a balanced system.

Hopefully they will be back and brewing quickly.

From a fire safety point of view, if you ever find a fire in a room that you cannot deal with, shut the door. It may be enough to starve the fire of oxygen, or at least slow it down.

 

[craig maher]

Thanks for the kind thoughts guys :beerbang:

It has been an interesting experience to say the least!

2 cars written off, about $45k damage to the garage / house and the majority of the garage contents damage or destroyed.

But worst of all 95% of my brewing gear, supplies and bottled beer gone - even the barley wine from last year and the year before - not happy.

Oh well back to bottles and the 100 can cooler until NRMA replace the keg fridge and fermentation fridge :unsure:

Most importantly though everyone is OK - it is just very scary how fast it can all happen.

Cheers,

Craig

 

[pokolbinguy]

Geeze Craig that is some crazy stuff. Not often someones house and potentially their families lives are saved by a home brew setup.

Glad to hear everyone is fine.

Goodluck with getting everything back to normal. Fun times ahead.

Pok

 

[schooey]

... Mate!!! I hope they weren't your most favourite pair of trackies that went up in the dryer..

Seriously, glad to hear you all got out ok, and the damage was limited. If you need a new tun, I have a 45 L esky set up I can donate to the CraigM fire appeal mate, it's yours if you want it.

 

[Thunderlips]

I'm a little concerned now.
We also have a clothes dryer in the garage.
It might be worth keeping an eye on the thing when we're using it from now on.

 

[pokolbinguy]

I'm a little concerned now.
We also have a clothes dryer in the garage.
It might be worth keeping an eye on the thing when we're using it from now on.

Yep they are a major cause of house fires.

Make sure you keep in really clean with no lint etc in it and you won't have a problem.

We basically never use ours. The daytime temp drys all our stuff.

Pok

 

[goatherder]

**** Craig, close call, saved by the beer fridge!

Glad to hear everyone is OK mate, hope you get everything back together soon.

 

[bugwan]

Bloody hell Craig, good to hear everyone escaped unscathed. But condolences on the cars and brew gear. At least you can finally make all those insurance payments work for you. In your claim I'd be factoring in a stainless conical fermenter, full kegging outfit, a grain mill, two fridges and a year's supply of grain and hops. It's the least you're owed.

Good luck on the clean up mate...

 

[pokolbinguy]

Bloody hell Craig, good to hear everyone escaped unscathed. But condolences on the cars and brew gear. At least you can finally make all those insurance payments work for you. In your claim I'd be factoring in a stainless conical fermenter, full kegging outfit, a grain mill, two fridges and a year's supply of grain and hops. It's the least you're owed.

Good luck on the clean up mate...

Don't for get the Mash Paddle

 

[craig maher]

Bloody hell Craig, good to hear everyone escaped unscathed. But condolences on the cars and brew gear. At least you can finally make all those insurance payments work for you. In your claim I'd be factoring in a stainless conical fermenter, full kegging outfit, a grain mill, two fridges and a year's supply of grain and hops. It's the least you're owed.

Good luck on the clean up mate...

Thanks guys - I actually can't complain about NRMA they have been pretty good.
They have agreed to replace all the brew gear without question - I wasn't sure they would.
And look at the bright side I get to go shopping for shiny new gear :icon_chickcheers:

Cheers,

Craig

 

[pokolbinguy]

And look at the bright side I get to go shopping for shiny new gear :icon_chickcheers:

Are you sure you didn't have two brand new AG setups there Craig ?? With two march pumps etc??

Pok

 

[Lukes]

I'm a little concerned now.
We also have a clothes dryer in the garage.
It might be worth keeping an eye on the thing when we're using it from now on.

Same here as SWMBO loves too use it this time of year.......