Warm C02?

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fretman124

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I have seen most of the 5 lb C02 bottles people have are in thier kegerators. I am wanting to get a 20 lb bottle and want to mount it outside the fridge with a hose running into the fridge to the manifold.

My brew knowledgeable buddy says the C02 needs to be cold, but can't explain why.

What say the collective conciousness.......................
 
I have never kegged so you may not want to trust my answer. But I have heard of many people leaving the CO2 outside of the keggerator. I beleive the only difference between inside and out is that you get a more accurate reading of the remaining pressure when the cylindar is outside.
 
The CO2 does not need to be cold. Your beer will carbonate differently whether or not it is cold, but the gas itself can be in or out of the fridge with no effect either way.
 
yup. i have a 50# tank, and it definitely can't fit inside the kegerator. no problem at all.
 
I just got a 50# tank too, but I'm able to fit it into my temporary fridge along with one keg. The only difference is that the tank gauge reads 800 lbs at room tempertature and 500 lbs at fridge temperature. If you're not familiar with Charles' law you might tend to think the tank is running out. If you are familiar with it you'll know that the volume remains the same either way.
 
how huge is your fridge? my tank stands at least 5 ft tall, if i remember correctly. that's crazy. i'd like some pictures! haha.
 
Yup, it's a big one. It fit in, but not with the cap on. Of course that had to come off anyway. I took the door panel off and had to lean the tank backwards and bungee it in place to keep it there so I could fit a cornie in along with it. It's one of those fridges that have one side a freezer and the other side a fridge. I took all the shelves out. If I remember, I'll take a picture in the daytime for you.
 
ahhhhhhhh. k. i think i know what you are talking about. that is a lot of co2 for just one keg though. haha.

and i'm impressed with your back. my 50# co2 tank is steel, and when full weighs around 180 lbs. not something i want to be lifting. haha.
 
I leave my 20 pounder out of the fridge. And, as an FYI, I've gone through about a half-dozen kegs and hardly dented the amount of CO2 in it. a 50 pounder should last your children's children.
 
Cheesefood said:
I leave my 20 pounder out of the fridge. And, as an FYI, I've gone through about a half-dozen kegs and hardly dented the amount of CO2 in it. a 50 pounder should last your children's children.

It will appear to be full right until the very end, then it falls off quickly.

Fingers said:
Your beer will carbonate differently whether or not it is cold, but the gas itself can be in or out of the fridge with no effect either way.

It's makes no difference if the C02 is warm or cold. There is a difference if the BEER is warm or cold.
 
CO2 in a liquid/vapor state has a direct pressure/temperature relationship, as can be seen in the chart below. The pressure will stay the same, at a given temperature, until all the liquid has been vaporized. Once only vapor exists, the pressure in the tank will drop rapidly.

John

CO2_liquid_gas_chart.gif
 
rdwj said:
It will appear to be full right until the very end, then it falls off quickly.

My guess: He knew to measure how much CO2 was left by weighing it. Or picking it up.
 
Thanks gentlemen.....just the info we were both looking for.

Fingers....50lb tank and your running one keg at a time? I drink a keg about every two weeks. Thats tank would last me about ............ 30 years
 
Cheesefood said:
So, at ~20psi, how long should a 20 pound tank last?

you can't really characterize the capacity of the tank by the pressure. for example, you could keep an empty tank pressurized at 20 psi forever with a 2.5 lb tank, given no leaks.

you should characterize it more as volumes of co2 and pouring, given no leaks. i've heard a generalization that you can get 1-2 kegs per pound of co2. you can do the actual calculations based on volumes of co2 and temperature. temperature is important for the pouring aspect. at lower temperature, it will require more co2 to pour at a given flow rate. i hope that makes sense.
 
that would be 100 kegs of beer, which would be 500 gallons
 
gnef said:
ahhhhhhhh. k. i think i know what you are talking about. that is a lot of co2 for just one keg though. haha.

and i'm impressed with your back. my 50# co2 tank is steel, and when full weighs around 180 lbs. not something i want to be lifting. haha.


I have five kegs, but I need a temp controller for my freezer. As it is, I can only cool off one keg at a time in the temporary fridge until my full unit is running. I'm not in that much of a hurry because I'm still building the bar it will go in. I'm just sick of warm beer. You're right about the weight of that tank. I picked it up off the loading dock expecting around a hundred pounds and it damn near took me out. I had more respect unloading it.

rdwj said:
It's makes no difference if the C02 is warm or cold. There is a difference if the BEER is warm or cold.

Yeah, that's what I said, rdwj. Well, at least that's what I tried to say. How did it come across?
 
Here's the tank in the fridge:

7601-kegerator001.jpg


Here's one with a five pound tank on top for comparison:

7601-kegerator002.jpg


And this is the size of the freezer I'll be using:

7601-kegerator003.jpg
 

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