Kegging Question

Hi all. My CO2 ran out while still connected to the keg. Obviously getting it re-filled but my question is once I do get it re-filled will I have to start the carb process over again?

Depends. Is the keg still pressurized? If not and it's sealed then the environment will reach some kind of equilibrium, but maybe not maintain the same carbonation. If unpressurized, then it will continue to off-gas CO2 until you hook it back up again. The colder it is, the more gas will stay in solution if pressure is low.

If you took the keg off the gas before you removed the cylinder from the line (and provided the seals are sound) the beer should be carbed very close to where it was when you found your gas was dead. If this is the case, you probably won't recognize any significant difference in carb when you charge it up again. However, if you took the cylinder off of your system to refill, but left the line attached to the keg, it will slowly lose co2 to the atmosphere as there is no longer the same headspace pressure in the keg.

I had a partial keg of brown ale disconnected from CO2 and stored in the fridge for several months without a noticeable loss in carbonation level. If you keep pouring pints out of it, then it will lose carbonation faster.

Iceman6409 said:

Hi all. My CO2 ran out while still connected to the keg. Obviously getting it re-filled but my question is once I do get it re-filled will I have to start the carb process over again?

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Consider that commercial kegs are shipped carbonated but do not have a constant gas supply attached when you buy them . Kegs will retain most of the dissolved CO2 provided that they don't have a gas leak around a post, seal or sanke connector.

If you ran out of gas because you have some sort of leak, you may very well have lost carbonation and need to sort of start back over. But, for the sake of argument you simply ran out of CO2, you should be fine once you refill and reattach. CO2 tanks are pretty widely available on Craigslist, and you may want a spare in cases like this.

BeardedBrews said:

I had a partial keg of brown ale disconnected from CO2 and stored in the fridge for several months without a noticeable loss in carbonation level. If you keep pouring pints out of it, then it will lose carbonation faster.

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I carb kegs, disconnect from CO2 and keep them for months (cold lagering), and the loss of carbonation is not noticeable.

You should maintain pressure in the keg provided you have back check valves installed on your regulator. If not when you disconnect the co2 tank your keg will depressurize. Once the headspace in the keg loses its pressure co2 will start escaping from the beer until equilibrium with the atmosphere is reached. If you have disconnected the co2 disconnect before you ran out of co2 or you have back check valve in your regulator (provided your keg has no leaks) you should be fine.

The way I found out was I pulled the tap handle to pour a glass and got absolutely nothing

Even if your co2 bottle ran empty the residual co2 in the beer should have been enough pressure to push beer out the tap when the handle was pulled. From your statement is have to assume your keg is most likely not carbed and will need to recarb when you get your tank refilled. I'm assuming we're talking corny kegs here. Not sure if a sankey keg would push beer without gas applied.

Thank you everyone. Your information is very much appreciated

If you have the money, a spare CO2 tank is a wonderful thing to have, and saves you the anxiety for when you have a leak like this, or just plain use up the CO2 in the main tank.

I personally have two 50# tanks and five 20# tanks, and this lets me essentially never worry about running out of CO2 at home.

Ironically, ^he^ also shuts off his extensive gas systems each day rather than fix all the leaks...

Cheers! (No, it's not a secret )

day_trippr said:

Ironically, ^he^ also shuts off his extensive gas systems each day rather than fix all the leaks...

Cheers! (No, it's not a secret )

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Haha. Yup! I am not ashamed of that. My gas system has so many pieces that I know I've got small leaks all over. I used to get anal about fixing every last leak, but I realized that it wasn't worth it for me (I have at least 6 primary regulators, two manifolds, and a few sets of seconday regulators, plus splitters, rtc.). For those with simpler setups, eliminating leaks could definitely be worth it. Be careful though that leaks can crop up over time too, and the only way to know is with a prematurely empty tank.

Since I use 50# tanks, not only does it become expensive to refill due to a leak, but it is physically a pain, those things are heavy!