20oz Paintball Co2 tank???

[wjjohnson]

Kegconnection has a 2 keg and 20oz Paintball co2 tank for sale, its like 180 bucks. I was thinking about getting this but what are the draw backs of such a smaller tank, compared to a 5lb tank. Will I just be refilling it more often. What if I carb with prining sugar in the corny will that help with the refills. Would I just be better off getting the 5lb tank? Thanks for all the help!

 

[KegconnectionLLC]

the smaller tanks allow a little bit more versatility and portability with your kits, and sometimes it is easier to find a place to fill the tanks at. on the other hand, it is a MUCH smaller capacity of CO2 and you'll find yourself filling it after about 4 corny kegs (5 gal.), and that is if you're only using it for dispensing! If you plan on force carbing or dispensing multiple kegs, it might be better to up your CO2 tank size.

 

[Arkador]

If you are gonna do a kegorator or Keezer get a 5, 10 or 20lb tank. You can pickup a 20oz tank at a paintball field with an on/off valve that will not require any adapter, if you want a small one to be more portable.

I play paintball, so I have the tank for that, and use it to maintain pressure when my kegging tank is empty, or when I am taking a keg to a picnic.

 

[wjjohnson]

Well thank you all for your info. I think I have made up my mind. I also think I might go with the 3 keg system! Thanks again!

 

[78kombi]

get a 20#'er you'll be glad you did, it should be outside the cooling apparatus anyhow, so the bigger the less you gotta (refill) exchange it

 

[Wingnutj]

I play paintball and brew beer but have never used the PB tank for this idea. I have a 20# tank and haven't refilled it in a while. Besides the refill price on the 20# tnk (I'm not sure the cost to refill) but the PB tanks are like only 5 bucks to refill at any store that sells PB stuff. Buy another tank and you have an extra. (they only cost $20+/-)
But it raised my eyebrows since I take my setup to deer camp. Easy for transport.

My 2 cents
BREW ON!

 

[Arkador]

If you want to use a paintball tank, you need an on/off valve or an adaptor.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

For portable use, I picked up a 24oz paintball tank from Wally World. I added a regulator adapter and a single gauge regulator. Works great.

I'm adding a T to the line for dual serving this weekend.

 

[ewbish]

Here's an adapter:

"The Adapter" CO2 regulator to Paintball tank Adapter


Most PB shops will sell an on/off adapter as well. You can also purchase a 20oz from the link above, or pick up a 24 oz at walmart for 28 bucks. Most places refill these for 5.00. I've also got a 9 oz for traveling, or as a back up if I forget to refill my 24oz tanks.

 

[BlackHillsBrewing]

Refill your 20oz from your big tanks too... here is the kit I'm working on...

Korny Keg - $7.00 This is the price I got mine at... I bought like 14 each. from Coca Cola
Barrel - $32.00
CO2 Fill Station - 38.00
20oz CO2 Bottle 15.00
CO2 Regulator 55.00
CO2 Adapter 15.00
Picnic Faucet 14.00
CO2 Scale - 10.00

$184.00 takes you portable + Ice and a Fishing pole.

 

[DrHops]

I use a 5 pound tank for the home kegerator and a 20 oz paintball tank for the rolling portable kegerator. The 20 oz tank has several advantages: 1. Where I live it's cheaper per oz to fill up a paintball tank than to fill up the 5 pound tank 2. The welding supply house is only open Mon thru Fri 9-5 to fill the 5 pound tank, Dick's Sporting goods is open 7 days a week until much later at night 3. Makes force carbing easier 4. in a pinch I can grab the paintball tank with regulator, a 5 gallon corny full of beer and a direct pour spout and I can bring some beer to a neighbor's house. All in all if I could only have one tank it would be a 20 oz paintball tank. I have 2 of these so as soon as one is empty, I can switch to the other one and get the empty one filled within a few days. When I only had a 5 pound tank I had to wait a few days to refill it when it blew.

 

[dotnetdotcom]

Is the CO2 you get for paintball a food-grade? Some gasses used for non-food industrial purposes can contain trace amounts of oil.

 

[DrHops]

The manager of the Dick's Sporting Goods and local welding supply house both have assured me that it's just straight co2, no oils at all.

 

[DeBrewer]

If you are gonna do a kegorator or Keezer get a 5, 10 or 20lb tank. You can pickup a 20oz tank at a paintball field with an on/off valve that will not require any adapter, if you want a small one to be more portable.

I play paintball, so I have the tank for that, and use it to maintain pressure when my kegging tank is empty, or when I am taking a keg to a picnic.

I know this quote was posted a while back but can someone explain the idea behind it more? Its premise is not having an on/off valve on the tank requires a reg but with an on/off doesn't. Is this based on the same idea as a hand pump to where when the keg runs low on pressure you pump it with some co2 to raise it again? Does anyone use this method successfully? I have all of the paintball crap so if this premise is true then I can work remotely without an adapter or gauge setup...

 

[bxrmendez]

Do you need a adapter to connect the paintball tank to your keg or just connect it ?

 

[akthor]

Can't use paint ball tank or get your co2 filled by paint ball co2 providers like wal mart. There is oil in paint ball tanks. Its not food safe.

 

[indolent]

Can't use paint ball tank or get your co2 filled by paint ball co2 providers like wal mart. There is oil in paint ball tanks. Its not food safe.

This gets said all the time, but no one ever provides proof. Even if there was oil in the liquified co2 (there's not) how would the gaseous co2 transfer that oil into the beer?

 

[akthor]

Well in over twenty years of brewing I've never seem a paintball tank used by anyone. Also none of the home brewing suppliers online or local sell paintball tanks. Proof enough for me.

BTW the little co2 cartridges that go in bb guns. There are the ones sold for bb guns and there are the ones sold as food grade.

 

[indolent]

Well in over twenty years of brewing I've never seem a paintball tank used by anyone. Also none of the home brewing suppliers online or local sell paintball tanks. Proof enough for me.

BTW the little co2 cartridges that go in bb guns. There are the ones sold for bb guns and there are the ones sold as food grade.

You stated there's oil in the co2 as fact just because you haven't seen the paintball tanks used before?

There are plenty of threads on this forum of people using them for portable dispensing setups.

This took a 5 second search:
http://www.homebrewing.org/20-oz-Paintball-CO2-tank-_p_1125.html

 

[akthor]

Dang your google fu is strong. I withdraw my comments.

 

[Johow]

I just bought a couple of carbonation caps for my 2.75 liter soda bottles. I upped my batch size with a 7 gallon fermonster so I should be able to fill a 5 gallon corny and have enough to fill one or two soda bottles to quick carb while the keg carbonates in the keggerator. Then I can get a quicker sample of the carbed beer as well as use them for beer takeout! I have the 20oz tank and a mini regulator from Williams Brewing. After you pour a beer, just put the cap back on and give it a 12 lb shot of gas and it'll be good till it's time to pour another, then repeat....