Oxygen Tank Usage

I have been aerating with pure oxygen using the oxygenation wand from William's for the past four beer batches. In that time I have gone through two disposable O2 tanks. William's says one tank should last me 20-30 batches. What the hell am I doing wrong? I turn the valve until I start to hear the air flow, then I aerate for 60-90 seconds. I don't open the valve all the way, and I have never left the valve open. Am I just buying lousy tanks? I bought Worthington brand 1.4oz. cylinders from Home Depot.

You need to remove the regulator after each use. most of them touch the pin enough for a slow leak. I just had one drain on me.

different brands of O2 tank seem to matter.

I have this same problem. I seem to go through 1 tank for every 2 batches(5 gallons). I do not leave the regulator on the tank when I am finished using it.

jp1316 said:

I have this same problem. I seem to go through 1 tank for every 2 batches(5 gallons). I do not leave the regulator on the tank when I am finished using it.

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Misery loves company! What brand tanks do you use?

Huh! That sucks. I leave the regulator on and get at least 8-10 batches per tank. Same Worthington tanks from Home Depot.

I push the tip of the wand against the glass softly and watch it when turning it on to make sure it isn't just shooting out of the tip. There is a huge difference between it barely coming out, coming out a good amount, and it coming out a ton. I try to shoot for enough coming out that it is fizzing out of the tip and causing a foam at the top of the wort but not rolling the top of the wort like a boil would.

I also only go 60 seconds. My first tank didn't last 20-30 batches...probably only 6-10, but that's an improvement over 2, haha.

I get 3 out of mine .. But I do 10 gallon patches and I O2 them for about 2 minutes at full blast . Mine does nothing unless the valve is open all the way

I had this same issue. I'd get 2 batches out of a 1.4 Ounce tank even after "calibrating" (basically, I marked the knob and reg body) my regulator by guaging bubblage in a glass of clear water. Turns out, my reg creeped. I only learned of this after I bought a flowmeter.

Since thios discovery, I stored the reg away in a dusty box and replaced it with a dual stage welding reg (capable of holding a 1psi flow rate) for O2 and a RO tank. Pricey? Not after I sat down and figured out how much I was wasting through the previous method.

Do you have a link for the welding reg you got?

avaserfi said:

Do you have a link for the welding reg you got?

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I'll take a look at the reg when I get back home. I don;t actually know who makes it. Basically, I told the counter guy what I wanted and bought what he suggested. The regulator alone was around $80.

This one is similar in looks tho (not that, that matters) http://minority-one-inc.amazonwebst...froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=froogle

and here are some bidable offerings (not mine); http://shop.ebay.com/items/?_nkw=2+...&_odkw=dual+stage+oxygen+regulators&_osacat=0

I use this regulator and a tank like this

The regulator that comes with those homebrewing kits is not a regulator...it's a valve.

Would the regulator you use fit on the 1.4 ounce oxygen bottles from home depot/lowes as well?

Maybe not all O2 kits are made the same. I'm still on my first tank. My regulator does seem to be a basic regulator, and not a valve. As I start to turn the airflow just seems to be a constant rate (ie it doesn't get any fizzier the more I turn the knob on top). My kit also came with an inline filter and proper aeration stone. So it sounds like your system either has a leak somewhere or the regulator is letting way too much O2 out at a time. Maybe to test for leaks, you can try dabbing some soapy detergent water on all the fittings. Make sure there's no bubbling going on.

avaserfi said:

Would the regulator you use fit on the 1.4 ounce oxygen bottles from home depot/lowes as well?

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no, they are a different animal.

sorry for the late response - I also use the small home depot tank. I have a bunch of empty ones now, so can I return these to home depot or just throw them out?

dstar26t what is the pressure at the out side of the regulator?
To me it looks like the flow rate is only adjustable not the pressure, not a big deal for many applications.
My setup requires close to 20 PSI.
I like the the adjustable flow rate.
My flow meter


I use off the shelve O2 tank and pressure regulator.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

Claudius,
Here's my set-up. Had to add an inline pressure gauge since the regulator didn't have one.
Still getting my wort chilling time dialed in for summer temps. Started using a CFC last september so I never had water temp issues till recently (hose water temp). The pressure depends on the O2 flow rate used (of course) which depends on how long the chill is taking since it is an inline set-up like your's. If the wort pump is running full steam, it takes ~7 minutes to chill and I use .5 Lpm. I haven't noted what the pressure is at that flow rate. When I use .12 Lpm on a slower chill (20 minutes), the pressure is around 4-5 psi. I use different flow rates based on expected chilling time, OG and whether it's a lager vs. ale. I feel it's more important to adjust the flow rate compared to the pressure.

What flow rate do you use and how long do you inject for what size batch?