Carbing Keg Questions - Naturally vs Force with a 20oz Tank.

Okay, here is my dilemma:

If you have been reading my previous post You will know that I bought a 5# CO2 tank and can not get it filled where I live. I have come up with a solution but I need to get this working by Halloween.

I bought a 20oz Paintball Tank and I am ordering one of these to hook it up to my current regulator.

Now my questions:

1) Would a 20oz tank be able to force carb 2 kegs and dispense both?

2) If I naturally carbed the kegs, would they be carbonated in 2 weeks?

3) Would it be advisable to start naturally carbing the kegs without a way to purge out the O2 in the head space? One keg will only have 4 gallons in it, one will have pretty close to 5, so will oxygen in the head space be an issue?


I think that is it for now, I need to get this figured out...otherwise I have to cancel my plans to have beer on tap and that is gonna suck!

It's tough to say. I'd just naturally carbonate the keg and if it isn't ready by halloween make your friends drink their own damn beer. Since you have CO2 issues maybe only use the 20oz paintball tank for dispensing.

Yeah, that is the plan, I was impatient waiting for a response, and I kegged the beer, I had a little bit of co2 in my 5# tank from the attempts at filling it, so I purged the head space of the kegs with CO2, they are not under pressure now, but hopefully I got all the oxygen out before I sealed the kegs.

I am hoping this is gonna work out...maybe in 17 days there will be enough carbonation to at least say I have beer on tap.

Try it. If there is not enough CO2, get the paintball bottle refilled.

Yeah, I am offering free beer to anyone who brings a partially filled paintball tank to the Halloween party.

One thing you need to know when using paintball tanks: Get some extra o-rings for the tank. When you take the adapter off a tank with gas in it, the blast that comes out when you unscrew it tends to shred the o-ring. I think I paid $4 for a box of the o-rings, and that was at a paintball store. Probably cheaper online.

cool, thanks for the advice.

a full 20oz tank should be able to get you 2.5vol of CO2, as well as dispense, but it will be pretty close, and you need to make sure you are not leaking any.

If you were near me, I would bring a 20oz tank happily to try the beer. I have a 5# tank, and keep the 20oz tank as a backup to use while getting my 5# refilled.

Anywhere that can fill a 20oz tank should be able to fill a 5# also. I have had both tanks filled at a beer retailer as well as a paintball field.

would a 20ox tank do 2 kegs at 2.5vol? I started natural carbonation two nights ago, but it would be good info for future reference.