15# tank ran empty, now what?

I went to check my brew last night and my CO2 tank was near 0 psi and so was the attached keg I was carbonating. This is a 15# tank and had been used to carb and dispense maybe 10 kegs before and do lots of purging and push sanitizer etc..etc..

I am wondering why my keg, which was carbing at 15 psi is now near zero. I understand there could be a leak, so I checked all the regulator fittings for tightness and such and I think we are OK, but when I get the tank filled today I will use dish soap and look for bubbles.


Do you think my beer is OK? It is really not under pressure, but I don't see how O2 could even have gotten in. This is my beverage for the super bowl!!

permo said:

I went to check my brew last night and my CO2 tank was near 0 psi and so was the attached keg I was carbonating. This is a 15# tank and had been used to carb and dispense maybe 10 kegs before and do lots of purging and push sanitizer etc..etc..

I am wondering why my keg, which was carbing at 15 psi is now near zero. I understand there could be a leak, so I checked all the regulator fittings for tightness and such and I think we are OK, but when I get the tank filled today I will use dish soap and look for bubbles.


Do you think my beer is OK? It is really not under pressure, but I don't see how O2 could even have gotten in. This is my beverage for the super bowl!!

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Get a bottling system (sorry, I'm just kidding of course, but that one is for every HBTer who has ever posted about a bottling problem, only to be told that they should just stop bottling and start kegging).

If you are getting what you feel is good efficiency out of your CO2 in general it is doubtful that you have a leak. Some of the gas regulators I've seen are two way, which means that once your tank empties out it will start allowing gas from a relatively high pressure vessel back into it. Do you have this tank hooked up to other kegs? If so, are they losing pressure too?

In any case, your beer should be fine. CO2 is nice and heavy, so you've got a blanket of non-oxygen sitting on top of your beer. You'll have to carb it back up again of course, but other than that no problems. I would do my best to not disturb the keg until I could get a new tank on the line.

Probably a leak....

Beer should be just fine. there will be CO2 layer on top, just fill it and go again. I just traded a tank today that would leak with extreme temperature shifts ( like most of the country is in now) so soap and water to figure it out.

Having a spare C02 tank will help for situations like this in the future.

Keep an eye on the 1st stage gauge. Mine do not seem to be linear. Mine tend to stay high like 600-800psi for most of the tank and then drop over the course of a couple kegs to zero. So, when you see it start to drop get ready for an empty tank.