How many kegs should a 5lb tank of beergas mixture be able to serve?

I vaguely remember reading something about the nitro/co2 mixture being in gas state instead of liquid state so it doesn't hold as much, but I can't remember much past that.

We've served about 1/2 of a 5 gallon cornelius keg with this 5lb cylinder and it's already empty. Am I missing something? I suppose there could be a leak somewhere, I had the keg filled at a local brewery(used it a number of times before with no problems), and the tank's new, but the regulator assembly has been in use for well over a year (running CO2) with no leaking problems. I still have most of a cylinder of CO2 left that I could use to try to diagnose problems if you have any suggestions.

Definitely not normal. I got ten kegs easy out of five pounds. Have you tried a soap and water solution to see if you have a leak? I've found that my ball locks have often been the culprit of a leak.

absolute, definite leak.

In my experience, 9 times out of 10, the lid of the corny or one of the poppets just isn't setting exactly right. Do you use keg lube or anything like that?

I just checked the keg. The pressure relief valve is stuck shut. I assume it's leaking and beer got into it and made it sticky. I sprayed it with some starsan to help loosen it up and will get it loose then switch out the lid.

I use keg lube and the seals were changed out no more than 3 batches ago.

A little off topic, but when you serve with beer gas, you also have to carbonate with the beer gas correct?

thelorax121 said:

A little off topic, but when you serve with beer gas, you also have to carbonate with the beer gas correct?

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No, you can carbonate naturally if you choose and still serve with C02.

thelorax121 said:

A little off topic, but when you serve with beer gas, you also have to carbonate with the beer gas correct?

Click to expand...

GregT said:

No, you can carbonate naturally if you choose and still serve with C02.

Click to expand...

GregT is correct, but only out of context - that is, you can carbonate "naturally" (adding priming sugar) and use bottled CO2 to serve.

However, "Beer Gas" is a mixture of CO2 and Nitrogen. Since Nitrogen is not easily absorbed into beer, you can serve at higher pressures without the overcarbonation you would get with CO2 alone. This is typically done on Stouts where you might want that super-fine bubble effect you get by serving at high pressure.

I believe the answer is that you can carb with CO2 alone (either by adding CO2 a/k/a force carbing or by adding sugar of some sort after kegging), and then hook up the beer gas for dispensing only, but I stand ready to be corrected. I'm sure you could find the answer somewhere on here...