CO2 refill time?

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Yunus

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I have a 20# tank that currently has about 500 psi on it and I have 2 batches that will be ready to keg in the next 2 weeks. I usually force carbonate my brew. Will this be enough or should I refill now? When you do all usually fill, I feel like I'm wasting money if I fill early but don't want to run out either.
 
What Temp is your tank?
Pressure gage is NOT an indication of how much is left in it.

If it's COLD, 500 is only a little low, but if it's out side of your cooler....you need gas PRONTO!
 
If you can, weigh the tank. There should be a tare weight stamped on it telling you the weight of the empty tank. Take that away and you've got the amount of gas left...
 
A #20 tank at 500 psi, in a fridge, still has enough gas to carbonate a couple cornies. Once it gets below 300 psi, you've on vapors.
 
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. As the others have stated, the only way to know for sure how much liquid CO2 is left in the tank is to weigh the tank, and subtract the tare weight that's stamped on the side of the tank.

CO2_liquid_gas_chart.gif
 
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