CO2 leak?

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MBasile

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My first kegged beer has been in the keg for 3 or 4 days now. I've been keeping an eye on the pressure in my 20# tank and over these few days it has dropped 2 BARs (~29 psi). Is this a normal amount for CO2 absorption or do I have a small leak? I know there isn't a leak on the bottom, because there isn't any beer on the ground. I sprayed starsan around the top, but didn't see any bubbles forming.

20# CO2 tank
keg pressure at 11 psi
keg temp at ~40
shooting for 2.4 volumes of CO2
 
So I poked at the relief valve, and any nudge made it hiss, so I'm guessing I was losing some pressure from there. I swapped it out with another lid for now, so we'll see how that does.
 
Did you put your tank in the fridge/freezer? As the tank cools, tank pressure (high pressure) will drop substantially. Even in normal outdoor temp swings, (20-30 degrees), it will swing around. Don't worry about it. That high pressure gauge is useless.

Further explanation, (copypasta from a previous post of mine:)
CO2 in a tank is mostly liquid, with a bit of vapor on top. The gauge is reading the vapor pressure, which you can think of like the pressure that the liquid CO2 is making while trying to boil. As you pull CO2 out of the tank (dispensing beer), more liquid CO2 boils into vapor to replace what you take.

The vapor pressure of the CO2 depends on temperature. So, at 70F, it will read like ~850 PSI, (going from memory here, but you could look these up). At 38F, it will read 500 PSI. It will CONTINUE to read that pressure until the tank is almost empty, at which point all of the CO2 liquid will have boiled, and the vapor pressure will start to drop as you use the last bit of vapor.

What this means is, your tank will stay at 500-600 PSI the entire time it's in the fridge, until JUST before it runs out, (before you use up all your CO2), at which point it will drop very quickly to 0 PSI.

The gauge is not like the gas gauge in your car. It basically only tells you if you have CO2 or not, not how much you have left.

If you don't use your CO2 for 20 years, (don't pull any pints), and don't have any leaks, it will stay at 500-600 PSI that entire time, (if in the fridge), and at any time if you remove it from the fridge it will jump back up to 850 PSI. As you use it, and keep pulling pints, and keep pulling CO2, it will stay at 500-600 PSI until it suddenly drops to 0, at which point you need a refill.
 
Did you put your tank in the fridge/freezer? As the tank cools, tank pressure (high pressure) will drop substantially. Even in normal outdoor temp swings, (20-30 degrees), it will swing around. Don't worry about it. That high pressure gauge is useless.

Further explanation, (copypasta from a previous post of mine:)
CO2 in a tank is mostly liquid, with a bit of vapor on top. The gauge is reading the vapor pressure, which you can think of like the pressure that the liquid CO2 is making while trying to boil. As you pull CO2 out of the tank (dispensing beer), more liquid CO2 boils into vapor to replace what you take.

The vapor pressure of the CO2 depends on temperature. So, at 70F, it will read like ~850 PSI, (going from memory here, but you could look these up). At 38F, it will read 500 PSI. It will CONTINUE to read that pressure until the tank is almost empty, at which point all of the CO2 liquid will have boiled, and the vapor pressure will start to drop as you use the last bit of vapor.

What this means is, your tank will stay at 500-600 PSI the entire time it's in the fridge, until JUST before it runs out, (before you use up all your CO2), at which point it will drop very quickly to 0 PSI.

The gauge is not like the gas gauge in your car. It basically only tells you if you have CO2 or not, not how much you have left.

If you don't use your CO2 for 20 years, (don't pull any pints), and don't have any leaks, it will stay at 500-600 PSI that entire time, (if in the fridge), and at any time if you remove it from the fridge it will jump back up to 850 PSI. As you use it, and keep pulling pints, and keep pulling CO2, it will stay at 500-600 PSI until it suddenly drops to 0, at which point you need a refill.

Cool, thanks for that info!
 
Did you put your tank in the fridge/freezer? As the tank cools, tank pressure (high pressure) will drop substantially. Even in normal outdoor temp swings, (20-30 degrees), it will swing around. Don't worry about it. That high pressure gauge is useless.

Further explanation, (copypasta from a previous post of mine:)
CO2 in a tank is mostly liquid, with a bit of vapor on top. The gauge is reading the vapor pressure, which you can think of like the pressure that the liquid CO2 is making while trying to boil. As you pull CO2 out of the tank (dispensing beer), more liquid CO2 boils into vapor to replace what you take.

The vapor pressure of the CO2 depends on temperature. So, at 70F, it will read like ~850 PSI, (going from memory here, but you could look these up). At 38F, it will read 500 PSI. It will CONTINUE to read that pressure until the tank is almost empty, at which point all of the CO2 liquid will have boiled, and the vapor pressure will start to drop as you use the last bit of vapor.

What this means is, your tank will stay at 500-600 PSI the entire time it's in the fridge, until JUST before it runs out, (before you use up all your CO2), at which point it will drop very quickly to 0 PSI.

The gauge is not like the gas gauge in your car. It basically only tells you if you have CO2 or not, not how much you have left.

If you don't use your CO2 for 20 years, (don't pull any pints), and don't have any leaks, it will stay at 500-600 PSI that entire time, (if in the fridge), and at any time if you remove it from the fridge it will jump back up to 850 PSI. As you use it, and keep pulling pints, and keep pulling CO2, it will stay at 500-600 PSI until it suddenly drops to 0, at which point you need a refill.

I'm reviving an old thread here to ask a simple question: is there a way to know how much CO2 is left in the tank at any given time?
 
I'm reviving an old thread here to ask a simple question: is there a way to know how much CO2 is left in the tank at any given time?

You have to weigh it.

There should be a tare weight stamped on the cylinder to let you know how much the tank weighs when empty. Subtract that tare weight from the current measured weight of the tank and you'll know how many pounds of CO2 are left.
 
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