Gas died again, and I have a new dilemma

[FedoraDave]

My CO2 tanks have not been lasting long enough. I suspect the regulator, and I'm going to take it down to my LHBS next Saturday. That's where I bought it, and I'm sure they can trouble-shoot it for me, as well (or at least sell me a new one if I need it). But I'm hoping it's a quick fix, and I can continue to use this one with good results.

In the meantime, however, I have a new dilemma. I discovered on Friday that my gas was kaput. I was going to keg a batch of Rye-Guy Rye IPA on Saturday or Sunday so it can charge and chill, and be ready to draw when one of the other two kegs kicks it. Well, I won't be able to get a new CO2 tank until Monday morning, and I won't be able to hook it up, should I want to, until that evening. That still won't solve my dilemma with the leak. But I'm anxious to get the batch out of the carboy, since I dry hopped it last Monday, and I don't want grassy or vegetable aspects to permeate the beer.

I have a couple options, as I see it, and wondered what the Borg's thoughts would be.

1) Leave it and chance getting negative aspects from the extended dry hop.

2) Rack to a secondary and wait till next weekend to keg.

3) Put it in the keg, seal it, and let it just sit on the basement floor until I can hook it up.

[John Sand]

#3 seems simplest to me.

[Beer-lord]

Keg and seal and it'll be fine just sitting there.

[BigPapaG]

Yup, #3 is what I would do too.

@ Hat

Dave, check the seal where the regulator attaches to the tank...
My LHBS offers a plastic (delrin?) disk with a hole in the center that searves as a replacement washer for that connection if needed..., yours probably does too.

Also, check the valve on the tank... Maybe your LHBS or tank fill place can verify its integrity, r lack thereof.

[FedoraDave]

PapaG, as far as the connection to the tank, I've replaced the black rubber gasket with a nylon one just recently. I'm hoping it's the right size, and if not, then I need to get the right size.

With the tank valve, I've got my doubts. It may be as simple as unscrewing everything, wrapping the snot out of it with Teflon tape, and screwing it all back in securely. It may be something more serious. The second gauge (the one that measures the level of the CO2 tank), has always stayed in the red, meaning it's low. And yet, I've had tanks that lasted two or three months. It's only recently that I've had them die in three weeks or so.

Something has changed, and something is wrong. I need to find out what.

In the meantime, I'll rack to a keg tomorrow, seal it, set it, and forget it until I get this worked out. No beer on tap for me for at least a week, but I've got bottles, so I'm set. And I have a keglet filled, charged, and sealed from a couple weeks ago, so I won't run out of draft beer for a while once this is settled.

[bpgreen]

PapaG, as far as the connection to the tank, I've replaced the black rubber gasket with a nylon one just recently. I'm hoping it's the right size, and if not, then I need to get the right size.

With the tank valve, I've got my doubts. It may be as simple as unscrewing everything, wrapping the snot out of it with Teflon tape, and screwing it all back in securely. It may be something more serious. The second gauge (the one that measures the level of the CO2 tank), has always stayed in the red, meaning it's low. And yet, I've had tanks that lasted two or three months. It's only recently that I've had them die in three weeks or so.

Something has changed, and something is wrong. I need to find out what.

In the meantime, I'll rack to a keg tomorrow, seal it, set it, and forget it until I get this worked out. No beer on tap for me for at least a week, but I've got bottles, so I'm set. And I have a keglet filled, charged, and sealed from a couple weeks ago, so I won't run out of draft beer for a while once this is settled.

The one that measures what's in the tank is pretty useless. It doesn't really tell you much of anything.

[FedoraDave]

PapaG, as far as the connection to the tank, I've replaced the black rubber gasket with a nylon one just recently. I'm hoping it's the right size, and if not, then I need to get the right size.

With the tank valve, I've got my doubts. It may be as simple as unscrewing everything, wrapping the snot out of it with Teflon tape, and screwing it all back in securely. It may be something more serious. The second gauge (the one that measures the level of the CO2 tank), has always stayed in the red, meaning it's low. And yet, I've had tanks that lasted two or three months. It's only recently that I've had them die in three weeks or so.

Something has changed, and something is wrong. I need to find out what.

In the meantime, I'll rack to a keg tomorrow, seal it, set it, and forget it until I get this worked out. No beer on tap for me for at least a week, but I've got bottles, so I'm set. And I have a keglet filled, charged, and sealed from a couple weeks ago, so I won't run out of draft beer for a while once this is settled.

The one that measures what's in the tank is pretty useless. It doesn't really tell you much of anything.

I noticed that right from the start, and chose to ignore it rather than mess with it. Since my tank was lasting two or three months, it wasn't an issue. But now I have my doubts, and I feel the need to check every connection and test the integrity of them.

[ScrewyBrewer]

I gave up on getting any warnings from my Co2 tank gauge long ago. Instead, after talking to the guys at the local welding shop where I swap my Co2 tanks, they explained the markings to look for. Now I weigh the tank on a bathroom scale to find out when it will need replacing.

Co2 Tank Weight-sml.jpg (44.79 KiB) Viewed 6608 times

The marking on my tank, starting with 5#, is the weight of the Co2 gas it can hold and the marking starting with TWxxx LBS. is the tare weight of tank. My aluminum tank weighs 7.5 pounds and it holds 5 pounds of Co2, the tank when full weighs 12.5 pounds and empty it's 7.5 pounds.

Dave, Add a drop of dish soap to an ounce of water then stir it up and use a small brush to coat the Co2 connections, that will allow you to test your system for leaks in house. It can be a tedious chore to do but once it's done, unless you make more changes to your Co2 setup, you won't ever worry about leaking Co2 again.

[brewnewb]

I feel your pain. I purchased a new regulator (which I found to be defective) and wasted a 5# bottle of CO2 this weekend. Some times I just want to scream !!

I just ordered a replacement from Amazon. The one nice thing about Amazon, it is super easy to return a defective product.

[BlackDuck]

I agree with bpgreen that the gauge showing what's in the tank is darn near useless....especially if you keep the tank in the fridge. The cold temps will cause it to show a much lower level than is actually in it.

I know that I'm getting low, so I weighed it, like Screwey did. I have about 1 lb of CO2 left, and the dial on the gauge hasn't moved a bit. So I'm waiting for it to just go empty and I'll swap it out with my second tank.

Dave, you mentioned adding Teflon tape. That might do the trick. I have Teflon on all of my connections except the regulator to tank connection. But I think there is a gasket in that one.

[RickBeer]

Dave, Add a drop of dish soap to an ounce of water then stir it up and use a small brush to coat the Co2 connections, that will allow you to test your system for leaks in house. It can be a tedious chore to do but once it's done, unless you make more changes to your Co2 setup, you won't ever worry about leaking Co2 again.

This ^^^^. And do a similar thing every time you connect a propane tank to something. I use a very soapy sponge.

[alb]

With the tank valve, I've got my doubts. It may be as simple as unscrewing everything, wrapping the snot out of it with Teflon tape, and screwing it all back in securely.

My gas supplier said I should never use Teflon tape on the gas side, only the liquid. He said it can actually introduce leaks, and the connections are made to be tight without it. I've followed his advice and have never had a leak at the regulator, only where the clamp cut into my line.

[Rebel_B]

With the tank valve, I've got my doubts. It may be as simple as unscrewing everything, wrapping the snot out of it with Teflon tape, and screwing it all back in securely.

My gas supplier said I should never use Teflon tape on the gas side, only the liquid. He said it can actually introduce leaks, and the connections are made to be tight without it. I've followed his advice and have never had a leak at the regulator, only where the clamp cut into my line.

My gas supplier told me the same thing & they gave me a about a dozen plastic washers to use instead. No need for Teflon tape on your tank connection.

[bpgreen]

With the tank valve, I've got my doubts. It may be as simple as unscrewing everything, wrapping the snot out of it with Teflon tape, and screwing it all back in securely.

My gas supplier said I should never use Teflon tape on the gas side, only the liquid. He said it can actually introduce leaks, and the connections are made to be tight without it. I've followed his advice and have never had a leak at the regulator, only where the clamp cut into my line.

My gas supplier told me the same thing & they gave me a about a dozen plastic washers to use instead. No need for Teflon tape on your tank connection.

I was told it can actually cause problems for the gas supplier and he asked me (nicely) not to do it again.

It's about an hour or more round trip to get my tanks refilled, which is one of the main reasons it's "tanks" and not "tank" for me. Also, because a 2.5 # tank came with the kegerator I bought originally, then found a full sized home made one for a good deal that had a 5 # tank. Then bought a 10 lb tank on sale. I basically rotate mine, using one in the kegerator, one outside carbing the kegs that are "on deck" and one for when the other two run out. When two are empty, I refill them. If I had two, I'd do things almost the same, but would refill as soon as one emptied.

I've also started turning the gas off at the tank when I'm going to be out of town, or sometimes even when I'm in town and just not drinking. If the keg is fully carbed, it'll dispense for quite a while before it starts to lose carbonation. Then I can open it up for a while when I pour a beer just to keep it carbed.

[Beer-lord]

After reading all of this I decided that when a tank died, I would weigh it. I have 2 5 lb tanks, 7.5 and 7.8 stamped on them. One was completely empty. I had it filled, came home and 1 weighed 9.5 and the other 10.5. I suck in math but I think I got ripped. I'm not going back until they are empty but next time I go, I'm going to tell them they owe me a free refill. I've never checked before so I have no idea if this is what I've gotten each time or not. I did get a green kid but he asked the boss for help and the boss helped him so I thought things would be ok.
So, have you weighed your tanks after refilling?