My 20lb CO2 tank has expired... now what ?

I've got a 20 pound steel CO2 tank that has expired. How much should it cost to get it re certified ? How much should a 20 pound CO2 refill cost ?

When one considers the cost of re certifying, is it more or less expensive to use 20 pound tanks or 20 oz paintball tanks ? I'll be brewing 4 to 6 6gal batches per year. I'll be using the CO2 for racking and for carbonation.

Thanks.

Call a local welding shop for a price. I exchange my tanks, rather than refilling them, avoiding the problem completely.

what david said. Hydro fees are less than $50. I think it's around $30 here in San Francisco area. (fee applies if you have them fill yours or just swap it out)

Swap it out, better trade than tryin to re certify it .

How often do they have to be certified?

Sites like this one say that hydrostatic testing must be done every 5 years. Cost is $20. That doesn't sound excessive to me.

The welding shop I visited said the tank needed to be replaced, not hydro tested. Basically $100 for a new tank. Even suggested to leave my old one because it was worthless.

What are you guys paying for a 20 pound refill ?

brewman ! said:

The welding shop I visited said the tank needed to be replaced, not hydro tested. Basically $100 for a new tank. Even suggested to leave my old one because it was worthless.

What are you guys paying for a 20 pound refill ?

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He's ripping you off.

The guy at the welding shop is probably not qualified to decommission a tank (unless they actually hydro and recertify there). He just wanted to steal it from you. Was it corroded at all?

I believe its re-hydroed every 5 years and replace after 15

I just spent around $12 to get my tank refilled. The place near me could not exchange my 20 lb tank because they said it was an odd size. I think my LHBS only carries 10 lb tanks...

I think your getting ready to screw the pooch. Find another vendor.

I use a company called Praxair here in Seattle. I swap my 25.5 lb tank and it costs me $23.00

You guys were right. I can get my tank hydro tested for $15 + probably $4 for some parts it might need.

However, CO2 itself seems more expensive than what you guys are talking about. A 20lb refill is C$35-41 Praxair, the same company you guys are using wants C$35.

Dry Ice sells for $1.58 a pound here. I can get a 20oz CO2 tank filled for $3.

Make friends with a Pepsi guy and see what he can do for you!

I agree that a tanks swap place is a good bet. That way you don't have to worry about your tank expiring on you. Everytime year go in you get a certified tank.

Good ideas, guys. There is a bar just down the road from me. I'm going to visit them and find out where they get their CO2. Maybe I can send my tank along with their order and maybe they get a good price.

brewman ! said:

Good ideas, guys. There is a bar just down the road from me. I'm going to visit them and find out where they get their CO2. Maybe I can send my tank along with their order and maybe they get a good price.

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Over here bars don't pay for CO2 the Brewery give it them free. So the cellar man should swap the odd one for a few home brews.

The ruling on all steel tanks is as long as DOT (The Department of Transportation) has not pulled the exception on the bottle, they will last forever. Unless the do not pass a hydrostatic test that has to be done every 5 years on most steel tanks, 3 years on aluminum and composite, 12 years on storage tanks. Composite and hoop wrap bottles have a bottle life of 15 years. I do have the joy of maintaining all the air bottles on my Fire department and sending them out for Hydro testing. If you go to a scuba shop or just look in the yellow pages for a hydro testing facility the cost should range from about $10- $35 for hydro testing of your own bottles.

So a steel tank with a hydro test every five years sounds like the way to go if you don't want to do bottle exchanges. If you start with a new steel tank, it doesn't seem like you'd ever have to worry about it wearing out.

Great info, guys. I learn more here asking a few questions than I get from phoning around for an hour. Great tip on the bars not paying for their CO2. I never knew that. I need a fitting to hook one tank to another at high pressure ! NO HOSES ! Anyone have a wrecked regulator or know where I could get the fitting that goes into the valve ?

orfy said:

Over here bars don't pay for CO2 the Brewery give it them free. So the cellar man should swap the odd one for a few home brews.

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Damn Tied Houses.

Even the free houses take some of the big brewery stuff. No accounting for some peoples tastes.

My local has 6 hand pumps and the beer rotates every day so it draws a regular crowd who like "Real ale" but they still have 3 lager taps, 2 Bitter taps. For the people who prefer it.

orfy said:

Even the free houses take some of the big brewery stuff. No accounting for some peoples tastes.

My local has 6 hand pumps and the beer rotates every day so it draws a regular crowd who like "Real ale" but they still have 3 lager taps, 2 Bitter taps. For the people who prefer it.

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Can you explain what you mean by hand pumps, lager taps, and bitter taps and what distinguishes the beers dispensed from them? From the way you wrote it, I take it that "Real ale" is dispensed from hand pumps, and that the lagers and bitters are in a different category of brew?

I like Fuller's ESB and 1845. The 1845 says it is bottle-conditioned real ale on the label. Is it available kegged and served with a hand pump in England? How about the Fuller's ESB? The label doesn't mention bottle conditioning or real ale. Is that an example of what you'd find on the bitters tap at your local pub?

It's a bit controversial on here I think and Some people would call me a beer snob.
It's been mentioned in other threads but here's my thoughts.
A beer served from a hand pull has no C02 added either for carbonation or serving. It is naturally carbonated "real ale" It needs care to look after, has been brewed in traditional methods. Needs to be consumed in a short period of time.
This for me is real cask ale. A cask can be plastic, metal and very rarely wood.
Beer served from taps uses CO2 to force the beer through the tap, it is usually force CO2 carbonated. It can be anything. I guess there are good beers from these and I would drink them on recommendation.
I'm not saying all cask beer served from pumps is better than beer from taps but if the Pump is available then that's what I'll drink.......
You can get crap fillet steak and good burgers, but if you go for the fillet steak your more likely to no get crap.
I've never experienced a bar that serves 100's of styles of beer and they must be better than the ones that only offer a few but I would question whether they have the same quality has the place with 6 hand pumps where the cask has gone within a day or so so there is always fresh stuff on.

As for the Fullers then that would be seen as the Top end of bitters from a Pull. I loove the fullers range and drink it at the bar and from the bottle.
Bitters that you get on Tap would Be Like Tetley's, Boddingtons, all sorts.
They are like the Bud of the pilsner world.
Mass produced, thin pasteurised dead beer that Is then regassed at the place of dispensing. Lots of people like them and drink them. They are not bad just not the "real thing"

Thanks for the explanation, orfy. I certainly hope I get a chance to visit England one of these days to sample a portion of the range of good ales you have in your pubs over there.