co2 recovery??

I've got all this co2 being produced that I should be saving, so I can reuse it (for force carbonation, purging fermenters, whatever). I mean, it just keep coming! It's there, it's essentially free, and it's just going to waste. So, I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on making co2 recovery a viable option for homebrewers.

Thanks.

I could see using it to purge but thats about it.

i had the idea of using a cheap air compressor to store the co2 but it was a sort of passing idea, i figured that it probably cost more than just buying it,having said that it may be worth a bit more thought before the idea is written off

Not what I know, but from what I've heard, the investment on recapturing, compressing, and storing co2 is pretty high.

Something cool you could do for cheap is running a co2 line in to a greenhouse to improve your veggie production.

I was in the engineering department on a nuclear powered submarine. We used hydrogen for scavenging oxygen from the reactor coolant... and we had an oxygen generator for making oxygen for the people tank. The oxygen generator actually made oxygen and hydrogen... but the hydrogen would just get vented overboard... despite the fact that it was something we could use.

I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that for the amount of work and equipment you'd need to capture & compress that co2... it's not worth it.

Point beer does it. But as far as doing it on a home brewer lever, sounds too expensive to be worth it.

Sierra Nevada does it too... But they ferment *a lot*.

Ok, thanks people. I kinda figured as much myself--with the whole "costing way too much" thing--I was just hoping that someone had maybe divised an effecient way of doing it at home. Oh well. But, the "using it for your plants" idea is a good one. I guess I can still do that. I am going to keep looking into this idea on my own though, as I've had it in my head for a while. And, maybe in the mean time, someone will post a solution on here. Ok--thanks again.

Ike

Stumbled on this a few days ago:

http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/carbonation/PumpSystem.htm

Seems like the amount of money and work to do something like that wouldn't really be that much. However, I've smelled what comes out of my fermenter and I think I'd rather have it out of my drink than in. Especially apfelwein -- STANK!

I've thought of this too! Yup, nice environmentally friendly companies like Alaska Brewing and Sierra Nevada have figured out how to capture and store it and/or reuse, sell it, but the chief problem I see for a homebrewer is the cost to compress it.

So here is a thought. Attach a big balloon to the airlock. When it expands to a humongous size, attach the balloon to the input of an air compressor with a big tank. Suck the air into the compressor until it stops at 125 psi. Then use the tank to push the beer. Just dial the output to 12psi. Well, cheaper solution than buying something that compresses 5000 lbs.

Oh, right, I'm sure the wife would like to see that air compressor sitting in the family room next to the kegerator, for dispensing. Oh, and how much O2 would be mixed in with the CO2 in the compressor? And how clean is that compressor, anyway?

Well, you gotta dream, eh?

I'd love to be able to capture and use my 'waste' co2 but I think the likelyhood of 'DIY' captured co2 being contaminated with Oxygen & other stuff is high.

I dont' think it would be worth the investment to use the co2 for brewing perposes, but I've thought about using it for growing plants in an aquarium.

There was a huge thread about this over at the green board a couple years back. IIRC, the guy that wanted to make it work easily spent a few hundred to do it. Around here, $200 = 200lbs of co2. For me, that's more than a lifetime supply.

Bobby_M said:

There was a huge thread about this over at the green board a couple years back. IIRC, the guy that wanted to make it work easily spent a few hundred to do it. Around here, $200 = 200lbs of co2. For me, that's more than a lifetime supply.

Click to expand...

a friend of mine runs a local bar, and he asked me to brew some beer to have my homebrew on tap always on his bar. Since i'm going to make about 20 gallons a week, i thought that it would be nice to capture and filter some co2, and it would also save me some money. How did that guy do it?

garae10 said:

a friend of mine runs a local bar, and he asked me to brew some beer to have my homebrew on tap always on his bar. Since i'm going to make about 20 gallons a week, i thought that it would be nice to capture and filter some co2, and it would also save me some money. How did that guy do it?

Click to expand...

You do realize that it is HIGHLY illegal for both of you, don't you? He could potentially lose his liquor license because of it.

well, from that point of view, i'll let you know that i was not planning to do that, just dreamin'
LOL
maybe it's because i've already had three pints of my last batch
the famous orfys mild. Anyway, i found this out and this is how they do it
http://www.buse-gastek.com/fileadmin/user_upload/BUSE - Recovery Plants - ENG single.pdf

Here's another way to do it, cheaply. Although it's on Angelfire, so that's a detractor in my book.

http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/carbonation/

Here's something to think about

http://www.angelfire.com/cantina/carbonation/CapturingCo2.htm

We looked into it at Pyramid years ago but the cost was too high and CO2 purity was too low. Its a hundred thousand dollar investment for a moderate sized brewery..

One way of using the CO2 is to make a spunding vavle. That will carbonate the beer.

Here are a couple of threads that will give you a little info.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/spunding-valve-construction-corny-keg-245337/
Look at post #7 it shows one for a sankey keg.

Here is another one.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/my-first-spunding-valve-231048/

I just bought the parts for one and will be putting it together soon.

I only agree with half of what is being said about it being not worth while.
I agree that it is not worth it to go as far as compresing the CO2 to a liquid but going up to 30-60 psi sould be achievable reasonably easily.
I was thinking about this only a week ago.
If you connected up your fermenter(s), check valve on each supply line so new brews arn't hit with high pressure straight away, to a "tank" (corny or sanke keg),
then from that go through a filter then into a small cheap compressor (like those 12V tyre pumps),
from there into another "tank" sanke keg,
finally supply your (secondary/low pressure) regulator from here.
If you wanted to go all out you could automate the pump to run off a pressure sensor so the first tank stays around 10-15 psi (or whatever you want) or just keep an eye on it (put a PRV on it somewhere so you don't kill your yeast/self ).
a 15 gallon sanke should hold enough CO2 @ 60 psi to push at least 10x 5 gallon cornies (shouldn't need to carb them as that would be done during the fermentation stage).

Go 1000 posts!

yes, it can be (and has been)...it's not too expensive if you're handing and have access to to scrap material.

Oldfart did it a while back (along with many other experiments on homebrew myths, like the recondensed boil beer to check for DMS)

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=7848 is a long thread on his set up and findings.

short answer is, yeast seem to be able to easily put out 30 psi, and can get up to 48 psi though activity slows way down at that point. if you get a big enough container (he used an old 40 gallon water heater) you can store it and make use of it.