Source of "free" CO2

[faithie999]

relative to many discussions here about having CO2 available for use when draining/siphoning a carboy:

it has been suggested to attach a mylar balloon to the vent hole in your fermenter and capture the CO2 in a mylar balloon for use later when draining or siphoning the fermenter into secondary or keg.

as I was getting ready to wash an empty keg, which is still pressurized, it occurred to me that I can fill a few balloons from the empty keg. I would use a spare gas ball lock fitting connected to a piece of gas hose, then connected to a cheap air regulator ($7 at harbor freight) so I could control the rate of filling of the balloon.

a couple of $1 mylar balloons from Dollar Tree and I'm ready to try it.

I know that the balloons have a check valve in the neck. I haven't decided whether to deal with that before filling or at time of use.

Ken

 

[rburrelli]

It’s called the Cold Crash Guardian from brewhardware.com. Check it out. It will collect the CO2 during fermentation. You may be able to adapt it to your needs.