Hand co2 chargers

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yehaww

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I'm carbing my first keg. I've had enough of the bottle messes. I opted to get one of those small hand chargers and a picnic tap for the first few kegs before jumping up to a co2 tank. So I primed my batch and kegged it. I connected the gas quick connect and then attached the hand charger to that. I hit it with a blast and released pressure and repeated a few times to get the oxygen out. Then I hit it with another quick blast and let it set for 10 days. I guess my main worry is launching beer across the room when I attach or detach something. Right now the hand charger is still attached to keg 1. I'm getting ready to fill keg #2 with another batch. I read to NOT unscrew the gun from the quick release valve or beer will shoot out the valve. So I assume I should just detach the quick release from the keg, gun still attached? Then I can move it to keg #2 to do the same?

My next question is, when I go to sample keg #1, I should snap on the picnic tap and just pull the trigger and see what happens right? I have no way of knowing what sort of pressure is inside due to the natural carbonation and the blast of co2 I shot in there to top things off. Might it be smart to release all the pressure that's in there and THEN attach the picnic tap and THEN shoot a few blasts of co2 into it with the hand charger?
 
I haven't used my co2 gun in a long time, but I think the idea is to NOT have the disconnect and the gun connected at all when not actually attached to the keg. The pressure can be so great that it'll blast apart the plastic disconnect.

The directions to attach the gun are spelled out in the directions, and I remember that you should NOT disconnect it by taking off the disconnect to the keg. Instead, unscrew the gun and then remove the disconnect from the keg. Yes, the gas will leak out. But it saves the plastic disconnect from becoming a missile.
 
The directions to attach the gun are spelled out in the directions, and I remember that you should NOT disconnect it by taking off the disconnect to the keg. Instead, unscrew the gun and then remove the disconnect from the keg. Yes, the gas will leak out. But it saves the plastic disconnect from becoming a missile.


Not saying you are wrong, but I recently used my unit at a friends house and disconnected the QD on the charger regularly. But I did turn the handle so that the trigger couldn't be activated with the unit off the keg. I leave the unit hooked up to the QD until the cylinder is completely used up.

As far as I know, the danger is when the QD is on the unit and you activate the unit without it being installed on the keg to receive the pressure. The buildup of pressure then makes it dangerous.
 
Not saying you are wrong, but I recently used my unit at a friends house and disconnected the QD on the charger regularly. But I did turn the handle so that the trigger couldn't be activated with the unit off the keg. I leave the unit hooked up to the QD until the cylinder is completely used up.

As far as I know, the danger is when the QD is on the unit and you activate the unit without it being installed on the keg to receive the pressure. The buildup of pressure then makes it dangerous.

That's probably correct. I just remember all the warnings about connecting it, and then placing it on the keg. Once it's on the keg, you can change the co2 cartridges without removing it.
 
Once it's on the keg, you can change the co2 cartridges without removing it.

I would add to still be very careful. There is some residual pressure that the keg itself provides to an empty cartridge after you fully dispense it.
 
The only warning I remember on the charger was to not activate the charger while not connected to a keg. I wrote the charger company and asked them the same question. He said that I can unscrew the charger from the QD on the keg and that the pressure will not escape from the keg. I was of the impression that the gas QD, when attached to the keg, becomes an opening and the only thing keeping gas(or beer) from escaping is the fact that you must have something else attached to the QD. If you clipped a gas QD to a pressurized keg, doesn't the gas escape? I think the guy at the charger company is giving me wrong info.
 
The only warning I remember on the charger was to not activate the charger while not connected to a keg. I wrote the charger company and asked them the same question. He said that I can unscrew the charger from the QD on the keg and that the pressure will not escape from the keg. I was of the impression that the gas QD, when attached to the keg, becomes an opening and the only thing keeping gas(or beer) from escaping is the fact that you must have something else attached to the QD. If you clipped a gas QD to a pressurized keg, doesn't the gas escape? I think the guy at the charger company is giving me wrong info.

Yeah, he's wrong. The QD is "open" when it's on the keg and you take the charger off. All the gas escapes when putting it on or off.
 
Yeah, that's what I thought. He was very adamant that I should unscrew the gun from the QD and nothing would happen, like I didn't know what I was talking about.

So, in general, is it fairly easy to clip the QD on and off quick enough to not release too much gas or beer? For instance, I haven't attached my picnic tap yet, but will do that today to sample it. I have the tap, tube and QD all connected as a unit and will just be clamping it onto the keg. I'm just nervous about a squirt of beer when I do it.
 
Ok, updated to say that I just went ahead and did it. The charger/QD came off with no problem and the picnic tap went on without a hitch. My first pint poured perfectly carbonated and without any sludge. Into the fridge it goes! Thanks for everyone's advice.
 

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