4 ms·

Couldn't an open flame in the warehouse be enough to burn the ethanol evaporating and handle the problem ?

• danw1979 6y ago
  I’m pretty sure that would solve the problem for good.
• wodenokoto 6y ago
  No. Such warehouses are shabby and drafty, in order for the barrels to expand and contract with the temperature changes in the weather. There is no chimney and nowhere with a thick concentration of vapours.
  • watt 6y ago
    Same as adding systems to capture sulfur in chimneys (which previously was causing acid rain), this seems like externalized cost that needs to be clamped down. The warehouses will need to eat the cost to capture the ethanol vapours.
  • CydeWeys 6y ago
    It's a solvable problem. The article mentions distilleries in California that have done so (likely because they're required to by the government there). It's not that hard to make the warehouses relatively airtight and add a ventilation system that sends all the exhaust through a scrubber to remove the ethanol before exhausting to atmosphere. It's just that the local government there isn't requiring it and is instead allowing these negative externalities to be born by the residents, because the whiskey companies have more political power than these relatively poor residents.
    • LorenPechtel 6y ago
      A clear example of red state politics vs blue state politics.
    • ballenf 6y ago
      Maybe it was myth, but during a tour of one aging warehouse, they talked about the weather's impact on the aging process -- temperature and airflow were factors. These warehouses were basically large wooden barns with upgraded structural components. I think it would basically require a completely new structure to get any level of airtightness for many of these. And then some degree of study regarding the impact of these changed conditions on the aging process. Still doable of course, but I don't think it's accurate to call it not "not that hard".