food grade co2

Some I'm new to kegging and home draft beer. I just got my set up and need to get my co2 filled. I saw something the other day about food grade co2. Never heard of this before so I'm wondering if its a real thing or if all co2 is the same.

 

Some places, like some paintball shops, are not licensed to fill tanks that will be used for food/drinks.

 

I practice a dont ask dont tell policy with my paintball tank fills.

 

I get my co2 at my local welding supply shop. The manager told me that all co2 is "food grade" and it really depends on how the tanks are maintained.

 

co2 is co2. it's been around for 4.5 billiion years, and stayed the same. the difference is the tanks. were the tanks used for argon, then oxygen, then co2, then argon ( or some other heavy gas ) , etc. a "food-grade" co2 tank has only ever been used for co2, and no heavy gas

 

I wonder if maybe some of those paintball shops add a little oil to keep the guns lubricated like the small BB gun cartridges do

 

No Hopper, they don't add any airtool oil to the tank, they usually do put a drop of a midweight machine oil on the valve aperture prior to filling to help ensure against any leaks though.

Best way to get around this is simply to tell 'em you use only food-grade silicone lube in your markers, and have a bottle of the same with you. Ask 'em to wipe down the inside of the fill head prior to filling to ensure against contamination. The sport is full of weird rumors on what lube to use and so forth, so it shouldn't be too odd a request.

As above though, almost all small-scale CO2 filling is done with 'food grade' CO2. It's just not economical to set up multiple CO2 stations for "Food Grade" or "Medical Grade" and then a separate station for "Recovered"

Most "Recovered" CO2 is put to other uses anyways.