MizzouBrewer

Recipes 

I've been contemplating building my own kegerator out of a mini fridge and a door mounted faucet and shank (to hold one corny). Everything about the project is pretty cheap except for the CO2 tank. Anyone know where a poor college kid could find a cheap tank to get him through grad school?

Thanks!

RedRory

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I would keep my eye on Craigslist. I check it once a day, and type what you are looking for in the search option. I've picked up all six of mine on there.

diatonic

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I'd keep an eye on craigslist if you're looking for a good deal. You could call local gas suppliers... no idea about MO gas suppliers though.

__________________
.:diatonic:.

1° - Ed Wort's Apfelwien (2/28/2010) — Chico Pale Ale (7/15/2011) — Atomic IPA (7/27/2011)
2° - Nuthin
Aging in a wine barrel - En Perpetuum—Solera (1/23/2011) - Club Barleywine (4/23/2011)
Kegs - Dirty Hippie Hefe (5/7/2011) — Cream of Three Crops Cream Ale (7/12/2011)

My new rig is pretty much done :)
You should follow me on Twitter - My Brew Logs - My PM box is always full, email me instead at chris@webboise.com. 123 gallons in 2011

diatonic

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This might be a good deal for you... looks like co2 tank with regulator, taps, and 1/4bbl keg for $100.

http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/for/1681565505.html

__________________
.:diatonic:.

1° - Ed Wort's Apfelwien (2/28/2010) — Chico Pale Ale (7/15/2011) — Atomic IPA (7/27/2011)
2° - Nuthin
Aging in a wine barrel - En Perpetuum—Solera (1/23/2011) - Club Barleywine (4/23/2011)
Kegs - Dirty Hippie Hefe (5/7/2011) — Cream of Three Crops Cream Ale (7/12/2011)

My new rig is pretty much done :)
You should follow me on Twitter - My Brew Logs - My PM box is always full, email me instead at chris@webboise.com. 123 gallons in 2011

Catt22

Recipes 

Check with your local gas supplier. They will usually lease a tank to you for a reasonable charge. This will cost you less in the short run with the added benefit that you never have to pay for a hydro test. Craigslist can be a good source, but in my area much of the stuff listed is overpriced. You have to be patient and jump on an item right away when you do find a good deal.

SweetSounds

Recipes 

+1 on leasing.
I'm in southern IA, and we can lease a CO2 tank for less than $15 per year, plus refills from Air Gas.

I bought my first tank, for a great price. I think I paid around $50 for a new aluminum 5# tank. Which I promptly had to exchange for a crappy steel one because I can't get one filled here.

You'll be money ahead until year 5 by leasing a tank, at which point you'd have to have your tank hydro tested for $35, which would make break even around year 7 for buy V.S. lease

Another perk to leasing is that you can get a 20# tank later, if you want to.

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Put some duct tape over the gauge - Or better yet - Replace the high pressure gauge with a plug - High pressure gauges are useless!

slakwhere

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i got one off ebay a few weeks back. came with a new hydro test for about $60 bucks.

speshak

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I got a good deal on by talking to a fire extinguisher supply store. They had a pile of old 5# CO2 extinguishers that couldn't be re certified for fire use, but were fine otherwise. (The guy said something about the fire marshal not approving units made by companies no longer in business)

All I had to pay for was the new valve and a fill, ~$50 iirc.

lincoln

Recipes 

do you have a pic? i'm having trouble seeing how you could hook up a regulator to a fire extinguisher? maybe from a installed system?

i got my co tank by exchanging a mig welding tank. the mig tanks come up on cl more often then the co2 in my area.

speshak

Recipes 

They replaced the fire extinguisher head with a normal tank valve. That was the part I had to buy. CO2 extinguishers are really nothing more than a special valve on a normal tank. Replace with a standard tank valve and you'd never even know it had a previous life (other than being bright red).