Tippin44s
Member
How long or how many kegs will a 5# bottle last? How much do they cost to fill?
5 # c02 bottle
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mrduna01
Well-Known Member
I usually get 4 kegs or so out of a tank and it runs about 13 bucks a fill.
How long/how many kegs depends on how you use it - ie: if you're force carbonating verses just serving there'll be a pretty big difference.
fwiw, I force-carbed 5 kegs/25 gallons, all but one to ~2.5 volumes, the 5th to 3.5, and nearly emptied them all, with a single 5 pounder before needing to refill it. Otoh, if I hadn't force-carbed I reckon that tank would still be 3/4 full...
Cheers!
fwiw, I force-carbed 5 kegs/25 gallons, all but one to ~2.5 volumes, the 5th to 3.5, and nearly emptied them all, with a single 5 pounder before needing to refill it. Otoh, if I hadn't force-carbed I reckon that tank would still be 3/4 full...
Cheers!
IrishBrewer74
Well-Known Member
How much to get it filled really depends on where you take it. A lot of liquor stores will fill but I don't recommend it. All they do is connect it to a big tank and let the two equalize... There is no way to tell how much gas you are getting. I was excited to find a local place that filled for 5 bucks until it died after only dispensing two cornies. Now I take it to an actual gas place (look for welding supplies or places that specialize in gas). They fill it by weight so I am actually getting 5 pounds of gas in my 5 pound tank and they also only charge 5 bucks.
Properly filled mine lasted two 1/6 barrels, two 1/4 barrels, and force carb and served 4 cornies as well. This was with me wasting a lot of gas messing around trying to get my pressures set right.
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Properly filled mine lasted two 1/6 barrels, two 1/4 barrels, and force carb and served 4 cornies as well. This was with me wasting a lot of gas messing around trying to get my pressures set right.
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if it's filled correctly, you should get about 6 cornies from it
subliminalurge
Well-Known Member
Is that 6 dispensed, or 6 force carbed and dispensed?
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Gotta be the latter. I didn't include the CO2 I used for purging carboys for secondary and Corneys for kegging (would have been five or six of each) so that makes what I got from my most recent emptied tank pretty close to his estimate.
It takes remarkably little gas to dispense...
Cheers!
JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
One pound of CO2 is a little more than needed to carbonate and serve one 5 gal keg, so a 5# tank should carb and serve at least 5 kegs. I've never had an issue with proper fills at the welding shop, but a friend has gotten ~3# fills in his 5# tank from liquor stores. If you think you're getting shorted you can weigh the tank and subtract the tare weight to determine exactly how much they sold you.
Agentaaron
Well-Known Member
I must have a miracle #5 tank then...
I bought it new in February, since then, I have served approximately 8-9 cornys and force carbed 3 of them from it.
I was going to take it and have it topped off last Friday and never got around to it...we were having a party on Saturday and didn't want to run outta gas. Never did...still going strong.
I bought it new in February, since then, I have served approximately 8-9 cornys and force carbed 3 of them from it.
I was going to take it and have it topped off last Friday and never got around to it...we were having a party on Saturday and didn't want to run outta gas. Never did...still going strong.
The bigger the bottle, the less it cost to fill. For instance here a 5# tank costs $10, a 20# tank costs $12, and a 50# tank is only $20. Plus a 20# tank only costs about $15 more than a 5# tank so it doesn't make much financial sense to buy a small tank
JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
That sounds about right. It doesn't take much gas to serve.
Get a bigger tank. 5# costs $16 to fill in town, and a 20# tank costs $19. It will be quite easy to make up the difference in cost of the tank in refills (which you will also have to do much less frequently).
Agentaaron
Well-Known Member
day_trippr said:
That's what I'm guessing as well...but I hear other people saying that they only get 4-5 kegs from a fill. My only issue is that I don't have a backup or spare...so half empty feels like too empty to me.
I need to look into getting a spare 20oz paintball tank...just in case
robertvrabel
Well-Known Member
You must have some leakage. If I had to guess I get about 20 kegs for my 10# tank, force carbing and serving/bottling from it too.
Tippin44s
Member
Okay so im better off to spend the extra cash and get a 20 # tank?
should be close to the same, if forced correctly, since it's the same pressure. i paid $4.50 with my club discount for my last 10 lb co2 refill
mrduna01
Well-Known Member
robertvrabel said:
I've never tracked it... It may be five but I doubt I get six. That's with force carbing every keg and also using gas to run cleaner and sanatizer through lines in between kegs and what not. Maybe I got some leakage but I don't think I do.
Maybe the same pressure, but certainly not the same volume of gas.
Consider hooking a fresh tank up to six kegs of flat brew verses six kegs of naturally carbonated brew. The rest should be obvious...
Cheers!
subliminalurge
Well-Known Member
Also, look at the prices of the tanks. As an example, kegconnection has a new 5# tank for 59.95, and a 10# is 74.95. So you're already spending 60 and for 15 more you can double your capacity. The savings on refills will pay that back quickly. Hell, the savings on gas for trips to get it filled will pay it back if you live any kind of distance from your gas supplier....
And then there's the added convenience.
Really, the only reason I can see for going with the smaller tanks would be if you're under tight space constraints.
JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
Even using a lot of gas for purging and transfers you should get more out of a full 5# tank. Another equally likely possibility is that you aren't getting a full 5# when you get it filled. This is very common if you get it filled at a liquor store or LHBS rather than a gas or welding supply company.
