Cartridge charger or CO2 tank?

Well, I brought up homebrewing with a co-worker who brews and long story short hes hooking me up with a keg.

So here I am, excited to be getting a keg shortly but lost in the world of kegs. Im debating getting one of these: http://www.homebrewers.com/product/4990/C02_Cornelius_Keg_Charger.html But Im wondering how long the cartridge will last? Will one cartridge work for an entire 5gal?

Would I be better off just spending a LOT more money and getting a CO2 tank/regulator and all?

And incase you were wondering I was planning on just using a picnic tap untill I can work out anything larger (kegerator).

You'll only be able to dispense with one of those and I think it takes 3 - 5 cartridges per keg to dispense. So yeah, the price will start to add up. I've got a 10# tank that cost $15 to fill and it will last me for 4 months or so.

Where abouts (home depot? Lowes?) could I find a CO2 tank localy and what should I expect a 5# or 10# to run me?

The charger's absolutely not a substitute for a CO2 tank. It's worthless for force carbing; it'll give you pressure to dispense, but not to carbonate. Even if you prime the kegs (use sugar to carb), the cartridges aren't terribly cheap. Invest in a tank so you can get it filled/swapped fairly cheaply. Plus, the charger doesn't have a regulator, so you can't dial in the pressure all that accurately.

Chargers are great for bringing a keg to a party without lugging along a tank and reg (that's what I use mine for).

NoNothing said:

Where abouts (home depot? Lowes?) could I find a CO2 tank localy and what should I expect a 5# or 10# to run me?

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You can get a tank locally at a LHBS, or at a gas place. Do you have an Airgas near you? Are you in Houghton now, or Ann Arbor? You can fill them in Iron Mountain at City Sales, but I don't know about in Houghton.

I bought mine online at kegconnection.com and filled it locally. If you just get one from a gas place, you can just exchange them when its empty. That's pretty convenient but maybe a little more expensive.

No 1 cartridge wont supply a keg. If the keg was drained in one day it would take about 5 cartridges. since you now have a cornie, invest in a tank and regulator. It will save money, time and headaches in the long run. I'm not even sure how many cartridges would be needed to force carbonate a keg. those small chargers are for already carbed beer that you would take places that you didn't want to tote the tank and regulator to.

man you guys are fast.

+1
I got 6 kegs locally and I went out and bought a 10# CO2 tank. You can do all of this at a reasonable price, but as the quality goes up, so does the cost.
Here's a link to the auction I bought my CO2 tank in, they're located in Wisconsin and I'm very happy with the quality of the tank (it even has a nifty little handle on it!): http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380044006542

There are a couple other cylinder sellers on eBay and online with tanks for sale for similar prices.

Craigslist is also good for used tanks/regs but make sure to ask if they're in "hydro". If they don't know what you mean, ask about the date punched into the metal of the tank on the top. They need to be tested every 5 years and it will cost you about $15 to get it done.

an added benny to CL is they usually still have gas in them.

Holy crap you guys ARE fast!

@YooperBrew
Im still in Ann Arbor right now, 3 weeks till my journey north. So I can wait untill then to get a tank if I need, but Im going to look around here for now. And there is an Airgas near me, Ill stop there after work.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Im going to go searching for a tank and regulator today and see what I can come up with and what prices I am looking at.

Bobby_M said:

Craigslist is also good for used tanks/regs but make sure to ask if they're in "hydro". If they don't know what you mean, ask about the date punched into the metal of the tank on the top. They need to be tested every 5 years and it will cost you about $15 to get it done.

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Although if you end up swapping the tanks instead of getting them re-filled, it's usually a non-issue (I don't think my place even looks). But, if the tank's out of date, it's worth a discount.

It all comes down to your local gas suppliers and their policies. I like the fill while you wait deal because I like to pretty up my tanks and call them my own.

Bobby_M said:

It all comes down to your local gas suppliers and their policies. I like the fill while you wait deal because I like to pretty up my tanks and call them my own.

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The air place by my house will swap my aluminum tank for another aluminum tank, and they're usually much prettier than the steel ones.

And +1 on the craigslist finds. I have three co2 tanks. One came with my kegerator ($100 for the wholee setup), my 20# tank came with two cornies ($40 total), and my other 5# tank came with two kegs and another 20# tank that I sold to my friend for 20 bucks ($40 and the tank was full!)

There's a lot of deals out there. You just have to look.

Regarding party taps, most of them come with only 3-4 feet of hose. This isn't enough. Try to find one with 8' of 3/16" line or buy parts and make one.

a few questions before I drop 200+.

About how many 5gal kegs full can I get out of a 5# tank?

With kegging should I be force carbing or still sugaring my beer? If I'm still sugaring is the ammount of sugar that goes into the batch the same?

Force carb. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=73328&highlight=force+carbing How many kegs? I forgot to count last time. I think it was about 8.