Filling CO2 Tank?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

tklarose

Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
16
Reaction score
1
Location
STL
I kegged for the first time and forced carbonated the beer now my CO2 tank shows it is empty. Do I have to get the tank filled immediately are can I wait a bit before I fill it?
 
It doesn't have to be filled ASAP. Another thing is that CO2 guages measure pressure and don't actually give you a good representation of what's left in the tank, so you might have a bit of gas left anyway.
 
Here's a bit of a rundown on CO2 if you aren't all that familiar with it. CO2 comes in a liquid state. When you open up the valve the liquid vaporizes and comes out as a gas. The liquid constantly vaporizes unless its at it's happy/equilibrium pressure. That pressure ranges from 600-1200 PSI generally depending on the temperature of the tank.

You should be able to force carb more then one keg off of a full tank. Because of the way liquid CO2 is your guage won't start dropping until you are completely out of liquid CO2. Gas CO2 doesn't last very long at all. Once your tank starts dropping it will drop fast.

What size tank do you have and was it full before? Sounds like you might have a leak in your system.
 
It really does sound like you have a leak, and you want to find and fix that before you hook up another tank. Spray on soup water to all the connections, you should be able to spot a leak quickly. Also check the rubber seals in your connections, make sure you have them, and that they are not torn, or worn out.
Best of luck, CO2 can get expensive with a leak. I can go well over 10 kegs with one 5 lb tank, and I still have not had to swap out my 20lb tank in my keggerator yet.
 
Spray on soup water to all the connections, you should be able to spot a leak quickly.

Most people around here recommend soap, not soup. :drunk:

I'd bet on a leak as well. shut off the check valve on your reg, then soap all the connections between the tank and the reg. if you don't have a leak, open the check valve and check them all to the keg.

Then if you don't ahve a leak, check for keg leaks. slow leaks from the pressure relief valves wasted my 5#er.

B
 
I'm guessing either a leak or whoever filled the tank only gave you gas not liquid. I had a friend who got gas and it only gave him 2 kegs before empty. Weigh your empty tank before getting it filled and then weigh it when full. CO2 is sold by weight not volume.
 
Back
Top