My stupidity amazes me sometimes

[FedoraDave]

I love kegging my beer. I love having homebrew on tap. My keezer is my pride and joy, and I'm working hard to keep both taps flowing, with a keg in reserve.

But I have difficulty with my CO2 bottles. They always seem to shuffle off this mortal coil at the most inopportune times. Take tonight, for instance. I just had the keglet of Hopsperiment/Golding kick the bucket. Which I don't mind, actually, because my batch of Sunbonnet Lemon Wheat will be done this weekend, and I can now put it in the keglet. But the gas is kaput.

I only have one place to get a new one. And it's only open 7-4 on weekdays. That's not as long as my workday. Usually, I can pick up a new one early in the morning, before I get started, and I just carry it with me until that evening. That won't work this time. But I should be able to make the exchange on my lunch hour tomorrow.

But the long and short of this is as follows: I know I can get another CO2 tank from my LHBS. I can get it exchanged for a full one at my leisure and keep it in reserve in the lager fridge, thus making the loss of a gas bottle less traumatic, and the replacement less of an imperative.

Why didn't I think of this sooner? I ar stoopit.

[John Sand]

My stupidity never amazes me, I've become used to it.
And I don't think we're stupid, really, we're thrifty. I know an extra tank won't really cost much in the long run, but I just can't pay retail. I bought spare propane and CO2 tanks on Craigslist. Hopefully they never go empty all at once.

[Gymrat]

Dave your tanks seem to empty really quickly. It takes me about a year and a half to go through one. How are you determining that they are empty? Are you determining that by the gauges on your regulator? Or are you actually not able to get enough pressure to serve a beer from one?

[FedoraDave]

Dave your tanks seem to empty really quickly. It takes me about a year and a half to go through one. How are you determining that they are empty? Are you determining that by the gauges on your regulator? Or are you actually not able to get enough pressure to serve a beer from one?

Both. My previous problems were because I had damaged one of the gauges on the regulator without realizing it. I've had that fixed at my LHBS, and also bought a frame which should keep the gauges safe.

Right now, I'm going off of the regulator gauge, which seems to be more reliable than the original one. It's been about six weeks, which I know is not a long time, but I've tapped a couple of kegs already from it. My activity may be more frequent than yours. Also, when I got the tank replaced, the guy told me that, during the warmer weather, he fills it to 4 pounds rather than 5, just to be safe.

The kegs are still fairly pressurized, and I'll check the remaining gas tomorrow before I leave for work, but I think I can trust my observations and my gauges.

[BigPapaG]

I'm with Roger on this Dave...

My last 5lb. Tank carbed and pushed about 22 5g cornys...

(Almost two years as I brew about once a month usually... And I do not use that tank to flush kegs... I have a portable cartridge thingy for that...)

I think there might be more gas in there than you think...

Have them weigh the tank before filling (or you should weigh it) and subtract the tank tare weight.

Might still be a pound or more in there...!

[FedoraDave]

They don't fill them at this place; they replace them. This is the first new bottle since I got the gauge fixed/replaced, and the new gauge seemed to be accurate in terms of its movement throughout this time period.

At any rate, I was worried that it would die over the weekend and I wouldn't be able to replace it until Monday at the earliest, so it's worth it to me to take a bit of a loss.

Still, I'm going to get a second one to hold in reserve next time I go to the LHBS.

[Gymrat]

I have had a second one for a long time. I use it when I'm kegging to purge my keg, to set the lid, and to fill and test for leaks. I also use it to bottle a sample. And I use it for my picnic rig.

[FedoraDave]

I would just keep it in reserve so I can have one handy when the one already in use goes toes up. Everyone's schedule and methods differ, so we do what works for us. I'll continue to use the working tank for cleaning, purging, and setting the lid when a keg goes empty (which, in addition to only having four pounds instead of five, may be the reason this current tank went sooner than expected). This way I'll know the new one is full and ready to go, no matter how long each tank lasts.

There was some gas still left in it. I vented it this morning, and it still had some life in it, but I don't know if it would have lasted the weekend, and I also knew I had time this morning to take care of it. I wouldn't be so sure about Monday.

[Beer-lord]

I usually have 3 kegs at one time and average about 15 kegs to a 5 lb'er.
I've started to chill my legs overnight which has given my last 2 much more life.

[John Sand]

I usually have 3 kegs at one time and average about 15 kegs to a 5 lb'er.
I've started to chill my legs overnight which has given my last 2 much more life.

Don't chill your legs BL, you'll get arthritic when you're older!
I think my primary tank is now twenty pounds, which should last years. The second tank can be a reserve, but right now I'm using it to warm carb my IPA. Then it will only need to chill and drink.

[bpgreen]

I think having multiple CO2 canisters is a must. I bought a pre-made kegerator and it had a 2.5 lb canister with it, but I found that to be too small, so I bought a 10 lb one. Then I bought a home made full sized fridge kegerator that came with a 5 lb canister. I later decided the full sized fridge (old) was using too much electricity for too little return, so I retired it. So I now have three CO2 canisters. When two are empty, I take them to be swapped.

[Beer-lord]

I usually have 3 kegs at one time and average about 15 kegs to a 5 lb'er.
I've started to chill my legs overnight which has given my last 2 much more life.

Don't chill your legs BL, you'll get arthritic when you're older!
I think my primary tank is now twenty pounds, which should last years. The second tank can be a reserve, but right now I'm using it to warm carb my IPA. Then it will only need to chill and drink.

Haha, and only 1 beer tonite.
Obviously I meant my CO2 tanks. But so far, no arthritis for me yet.

[teutonic terror]

Thanks for this thread Dave, it saved me some heartache this weekend.

I kegged a blonde Thursday that I brewed a bout two weeks ago.
Was gonna quick carb it so I wouldn't have to purchase beer this weekend.
Hook up the tank to purge it, hear it hiss, pull the connector off and barely a queef
when I bleed it. Hmmm....
Try it again, same thing, so I shut it down.
Next morning I pull the tank and for some reason I cracked the valve and it gushed O2.
so I weighed it, and it still had over 3 lbs in it.

Finally figured out some numbskull had turned the regulator the wrong way... and it was showing zero on the gauge.
All is well now.

I do plan on getting another tank for back up also, it's only logical!
Thanks for listening!

[FedoraDave]

I live to serve.

[Whamolagan]

I am with bp, I have 3 tanks also. I would check all of your fittings with a spray bottle of starsan, including the popets.