How do you heat your distilling space?

[Opdog]

I ferment and distill in my unheated and mostly uninsulated garage. I’m looking into safe ways to heat it so that it’s more comfortable for me and my yeast this winter.

For context my garage is 3 stalls plus a workshop space so whatever solution I come up with needs to be big enough to heat the whole place. It doesn’t have to be T-shirt warm but in the 55-65 degree range when it is 20 degrees outside.

I think the most cost effective solution would be to install a natural gas heater but I’m concerned about the open flame.
My still is pretty solid and I run it responsibly but I live in fear that I will spring a leak somewhere. It have the same concerns about propane or kerosene.

The 10,000w electric heaters I have looked at seem have cheap wiring that doesn’t last. So I’m at a loss as to what to do and am wondering how others have dealt with this.

[shadylane]

During cold weather I used an aircooled condenser to make use of the warm air for heating the shed.

[Bradster68]

2 wood stoves

[Salt Must Flow]

I use a gas furnace. I hung it, wired it, plumbed the vent, called the gas company to come and run a gas line & regulator to it and change the orifices that came with it to work with propane. I wired a thermostat to it too. It's really simple to install. The hardest part was physically raising it up so I could mount it with screws.

I got a good deal on it because I knew a guy who used to buy and install furnaces professionally. He's retired, but still gets his wholesale discount. I think it was worth the effort because it is relatively high efficiency and only requires a PVC pipe for a vent. I can set the temp to whatever I want, but I just keep it at 65F because I'm in the garage all the time.

[Saltbush Bill]

No need here, mine is currently sitting at about 36C with no artificial help.

[Bradster68]

No need here, mine is currently sitting at about 36C with no artificial help.

Ha ha. Rub it in bill. In 5 months it'll be here again.

[shadylane]

No need here, mine is currently sitting at about 36C with no artificial help.

In my neck of the woods, it's currently -7c.
If you will pay shipping, I'll send as much cold as you want or can afford.

[Bushman]

I have an unheated outbuilding with two bays. I use a shop heater in the winter but nothing the ret of the year.

[Saltbush Bill]

Ha ha. Rub it in bill. In 5 months it'll be here again.

In my neck of the woods, it's currently -7c.
If you will pay shipping, I'll send as much cold as you want or can afford.

Thanks for your generous offer Shady.
Distilling in a 36c shed can be a bit hot n sweaty, but I think I'd rather that than -7.
You can keep your cold.

[NormandieStill]

As a builder and hardened ecologist I would say first and foremost... insulate it. Up to a point any investment in insulation is going to be a saving in both heating devices and their running costs. As an example, my house needs a peak heating capacity of around 6kW. Insulate to the norm used in most local housing stock that would be 4-5 times higher.

Passive house levels of insulation in your garage would probably be ridiculous but if you can get your heat requirements down then your heater can be smaller.

Can you partition off a part of the space to make a dedicated space? Even heavy fabric would help keep the heat contained a little.

[subbrew]

Look at energy rates where you live. If NG is cheapest go for it. I would not really worry about the flame. In a three stall garage you would need to leak a lot of ethanol vapor to cause a problem, enough you would know it. There are a lot of people on here the run their stills on propane or natural gas, as well as may commercial distillers.

[Salt Must Flow]

For gas heat to cause a catastrophe, you would have to turn the water to your condenser/condensers off, but NOT the heat and walk away. The still would fill the room with volatile vapors. When the gas heater kicked back on, it can ignite the vapor and cause an explosion.

This almost happened to me once. Will never happen again. Something like that puts the fear into you.

[NZChris]

I have a 12V temperature controller connected to a screamer and flashing light that I can use anywhere as an alarm.

For distilling, the probe gets clamped onto the spout. Any mistake or failure that lets the output temperature go over what I'm comfortable with sets off the alarm.

[Dr Griz]

For me, the big question is what else you do in that workshop space?

Dust from things like woodworking and fumes from finishing have kept me from installing a gas heater or wood burner in my workshop -- I use an oil-filled electric radiator for that space.

[Deplorable]

My space is in my 2 car garage. The walls are insulated but I never got around to insulating and sheet-rocking the ceiling so the insulation in the walls isn't very effective. I use a radiant electric space heater to take the chill off and sit next to the boiler. I can be out there in jeans and a sweatshirt for the length of the run.

[Salt Must Flow]

My space is in my 2 car garage. The walls are insulated but I never got around to insulating and sheet-rocking the ceiling so the insulation in the walls isn't very effective. I use a radiant electric space heater to take the chill off and sit next to the boiler. I can be out there in jeans and a sweatshirt for the length of the run.

You can have someone spray foam insulation to the underside of the roof. That's what I did. I didn't really want to finish the ceiling anyway. That also gave me MUCH more height to work with. I'm not height limited to a finished ceiling.

[Coyote]

My 8 x 4 x 8 tall ferment room is heated year round with a oil filled room heater.
The main room is heated with a 125K BTU propane Mr Heater Big Maxx. Self installed

[moorem]

The cheapest and safest space heater I've found are those diesel or kerosene heaters originally used for trucks and camper vans.

Loads of them on Ebay and really cheap too.

The heater sits outside your wall with just the hot air feed to your space.

You can recirculate your air through it as well.

Look them up on YouTube... loads of really good advice.

[Chur]

I use a Chinese Diesel/Kerosene heater, exhausted to outside through the wall. Check out Joshua De lisle You Tube for lots of great tips for heating a small space.