CO2 smell from new tank & regulator

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goodsuds

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Location
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I'm new to kegging so I don't have any previous experience with CO2. I'm not force carbing and don't have room for a 5lb tank so I bought a 20oz tank from the sporting goods store and had it filled. I didn't have a fitting on properly and some CO2 leaked and I could smell it. It had a smell like machine oil or something. I'm not sure if I'm smelling the tank, the CO2 or the regulator. I carefully sprayed some into the air (trying not to suffocate myself) and smelled it again to be sure, and that is what I'm smelling.

Has anyone else experienced this? Should I be worried my beer will end up tasting like this?

Thanks.
 
Hi

There is indeed such a thing as "food grade" CO2. Some gas comes from really strange places and indeed has weird stuff in it. I've used a lot of bulk CO2 over the years and it can be odd stuff.

Rumor has it that essentially 100% of the CO2 in the St Louis area comes from a certain large brewing establishment in the area. If that's were it comes from it should be food grade (and very beer compatible).

Bob
 
Or since the tank was new, there might have been some oil in it from the manufacturing process. I would try to stay away from the sporting goods store for co2. Go to a proper gas supplier. If you don't have room for a 5lb tank they do sell small 2.5lb tanks that a gas supplier can fill.
 
Thanks for the replies. I was told by the LHBS that to their knowledge all CO2 in STL came from the downtown brewery, whether it be welding suppliers like CeeKay or sporting goods stores. I'm kicking myself for not getting a full keg setup with a 5lb tank and going to the beverage supplier to get it filled. I hope I didn't taint the beer. I managed to get some in the keg before I realized it smelled...
 
Hi

Oil and beer - not a good combination taste wise. It's probably not going to kill you though. If you can't taste it in the beer, you should be fine.

Watch Craig's list for a while. You should be able to score a CO2 tank on the cheap.

Bob
 
I'm wondering if what I'm smelling isn't coming from my regulator. It's a cheap welding regulator from Harbor Freight. I debated pulling the CO2 tank off of the regulator to see if there is any smell from it without the regulator, but I'm not really sure I want to attempt to release CO2 from a little pin valve with 900+lbs of pressure behind it. :eek:
 
It's a cheap welding regulator from Harbor Freight.

You shouldn't be using a welding regulator for draft beer. Welding regulators are high flow, and generally dont regulate down to a low enought pressure for kegginge. Soda Regulators also generally do not work well as the pressures are much higher for soda than for beer.
 
You shouldn't be using a welding regulator for draft beer. Welding regulators are high flow, and generally dont regulate down to a low enought pressure for kegginge. Soda Regulators also generally do not work well as the pressures are much higher for soda than for beer.

Yeah, I realized it measure flow rate and not pressure, but I know others that used them successfully and it was cheap. But, alas, you get what you pay for.

BTW, I like your location description. That's great!
 
CO2 has no odor, one reason it can be a safety issue, so whatever you are smelling is some form of contamination.
 
I'm wondering if what I'm smelling isn't coming from my regulator. It's a cheap welding regulator from Harbor Freight. QUOTE]

Hi

Welding regulators may or may not be made from stuff you'd like to get in your beer. Oil may be the least of your problems...

Bob
 
Welding regulators may or may not be made from stuff you'd like to get in your beer. Oil may be the least of your problems...
Bob

Yeah, I ordered a Kegco regulator this morning from beveragefactory.com. It should be here Friday so we'll see what happens.
 
I believe the oil used in paintball guns is silicone based, so yeah it shouldn't kill you.

Note: I am not a doctor and only play one when SWMBO and I get really drunk...
 
I believe the oil used in paintball guns is silicone based, so yeah it shouldn't kill you.

From what I've been able to find, pellet/BB/PB gun manufacturers years ago required oil be added to 8 and 12 gram carts. Apparently some manufacturers still add oil to some of their carts specifically for older guns.

I called a handful of different gas suppliers in STL and talked to a couple PB shops and for the most part they all get their CO2 from the same places. CeeKay told me their industrial CO2 is the exact same CO2 they distribute for beverages, the only difference is that they draw a vacuum on the tank first when doing a beverage grade CO2 fill.

I'm sure its possible that others, and myself, have had their tanks contaminated during a refill because someone had oil on their tank fitting before yours was filled. I'm really hoping it is just this crap Harbor Freight regulator. I guess I'll find out once my new regulator arrives.
 
I took the tank off of the regulator and let some CO2 into a bottle using "The Adapter" and I noticed no smell. The regulator has a very strong "metal" smell, but PB tank adapter smelled the strongest of all for some reason. I rinsed the adapter in hot water and wiped it off and the smell is gone. I sent an email to the PB tank manufacturer to see if they have an MSDS sheet on it. There is a California cancer warning (Prop 65) on it, but I've noticed that even on "beverage" grade cylinders from Kegco and such. I suspect there is lead or something used in the assembly of those tanks, but short of sticking it in your mouth and sucking on it I don't know how you would be exposed to it.

I guess I'll wait to hear from them since for all I know there is benzine or something in these things. I find it hard to comprehend how any lubricant added to a compressed gas cylinder would be useful in any way since it would seem to me to be more of an explosion risk unless it were water based. But even then, how would the manufacturer even know how much lubricant to expect to be released. Weird how rumors are perpetuated... Still makes me wonder if there is some grain of truth to it though.
 
There are different grades of CO2 and you want to make sure you are getting beverage grade CO2. CO2 is considered an ingredient in carbonated beverages and these are controlled (EC E290 and International Society of Beverages Technologists, ISBT)

Beverage grade must be tested for impurities, the most important ones being sulphur, and petroleum compounds as some CO2 is recovered from refineries.

However MOST gas suppliers only stock beverage grade of CO2, and usually will fill any tank. Low-grade or non beverage grade CO2 can not be filled in a tank marked 'Beverage grade'.

Tanks for paintball bought at a Sporting Goods store can be new or old reconditioned tanks, that passed pressure test, then re-certified, and power coated. They my look new, but they are not, and who knows what is inside.

Open up the lid of your keg, shine some light inside. If you see a rainbow puddle on top of your beer, it's tainted.
 
Is this really worth it to try and save very few dollars? Why not just get a proper food grade regulator, hoses, and CO2 tank -- the lower end versions of these are not very expensive. ???
 
Is this really worth it to try and save very few dollars? Why not just get a proper food grade regulator, hoses, and CO2 tank -- the lower end versions of these are not very expensive. ???

I ordered a food grade regulator and it should be here tomorrow. I need the smaller tank since I just simply don't have room for a 5lb or even 2.5lb tank. Once I find a decent fridge on Craigslist I'll probably just drill a hole in the back and run a line out to a 5lb tank. Then I can put a manifold in the fridge and run more than one keg.

The manufacturer of the paintball tank got back to me and said that the California warning is due to them using lead in the manufacturing process when making the brass valve. As far as I can tell, even the "beverage grade" tanks have this warning since they too contain some lead.
 
Hi

Paintball gear and the fillers for it are targeted for non-food applications. They may be fine for food stuff, but there's no control over what gets done with / done to them. Somebody decides that oil in a tank / pump / regulator / valve is a good idea and in it goes.

There is a lot of voodoo going on in a typical paintball shop. I've never seen one shop do things quite the same way as another one. That's fine if the goal is to keep the paintball gear running, and they fix it if it breaks. That's not so fine if you are counting on it to be food compatible.

Of course you could always try setting them with beer run off of their CO2. I suspect that would focus attention a bit more on how clean the stuff is ...

Bob
 
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