Any such thing as bad/contaminated CO2?

[brewit2it]

The reason I ask is it seems like the beers from this tank have more bite and I don't think I'm carbing them more.

I exchange my tank at my LHBS. Is it possible that there is air contaminating the gas or something? Or could the gas lines be contaminated from beer maybe. I have never cleaned my gas lines (which I don't think anyone does) but I did notice recently when I pulled the gas off the "in" side of the keg a little beer sprayed out. My most recent batch was one of the best IPAs I've made in awhile on the first day I drank it, but after a couple days when I tried it again it seemed to have lost some hop flavor and aroma and have a more oxidized and astringent taste. I know you lose aroma, especially with kegging but didn't expect it to happen that fast.

Any thoughts?

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

Actually several questions, answers in no particular order:

1) Yes gas lines can get contaminated and somewhere there are a race of people who clean them. If you suspect a problem, cleaning them can't hurt / might help.

2) CO2 comes from a *lot* of places. I've seen CO2 that leaves a white powder residue, I've seen some that smells a bit like paint. There is such a thing as "food safe" CO2. In this day and age, you gas outfit should be making sure that's what you get for a keg setup.

3) Air / oxygen in the CO2 - not really likely. The CO2 in the bottle is actually in liquid form. It would be tough to get enough O2 in there to make a difference. It also *should* ring alarm bells all over their CO2 line...

Bob

There are an ocean of other possibilities ...

Bob

 

[brewit2it]

Hi

Actually several questions, answers in no particular order:

1) Yes gas lines can get contaminated and somewhere there are a race of people who clean them. If you suspect a problem, cleaning them can't hurt / might help.

2) CO2 comes from a *lot* of places. I've seen CO2 that leaves a white powder residue, I've seen some that smells a bit like paint. There is such a thing as "food safe" CO2. In this day and age, you gas outfit should be making sure that's what you get for a keg setup.

3) Air / oxygen in the CO2 - not really likely. The CO2 in the bottle is actually in liquid form. It would be tough to get enough O2 in there to make a difference. It also *should* ring alarm bells all over their CO2 line...

Bob

There are an ocean of other possibilities ...

Bob

Thanks Bob for the reply. So it sounds like I maybe should try cleaning the CO2 lines as a starter. When I clean my beer lines and taps I usually just run a gallon of hot water through them then I run some cleaner then more water then starsan. How would I go about cleaning the gas lines?

I will have to ask my LHBS where they get their CO2. It's a reputable place but they take the tanks as exchange so if someone else turned one in that had say some residue or something from a welding shop refill for instance, I may have gotten some of that as well.

What are some of the other possibilities you might be thinking of (at least the ones on the top of the list). The other thing that got me thinking of this is I bottled one bomber from one of the batches because I couldn't fit it all in the corny keg and I felt the bottle was smoother, less bite but then again it bottle conditioned at room temp for like 4 weeks so I figured that was probably the reason, but now wondering if I got some funky gas this tank.

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

CO2 lines clean just like beer lines and just like keg couplers. Same stuff, same clean and rinse process.

Everybody swaps tanks. I assume that a food grade tank gets blown out before they fill it. I've never dug into the details though. The tanks I get now come with a "food grade" code on them. The AirGas guy is big on pointing it all out. It may just be a hangup with my local guy ...

Any time things go odd with beer in storage, there will be people hopping in mentioning infections. Unless you have a microbiology lab it's going to be tough to prove it's not an infection. Without a time machine, even if you *know* it is, it's tough to tell where it came from. I worry a lot about stuff coming in while I'm pitching yeast, but that's just me and my technique.

Bob

 

[brewit2it]

Hi

CO2 lines clean just like beer lines and just like keg couplers. Same stuff, same clean and rinse process.

Everybody swaps tanks. I assume that a food grade tank gets blown out before they fill it. I've never dug into the details though. The tanks I get now come with a "food grade" code on them. The AirGas guy is big on pointing it all out. It may just be a hangup with my local guy ...

Any time things go odd with beer in storage, there will be people hopping in mentioning infections. Unless you have a microbiology lab it's going to be tough to prove it's not an infection. Without a time machine, even if you *know* it is, it's tough to tell where it came from. I worry a lot about stuff coming in while I'm pitching yeast, but that's just me and my technique.

Bob

Yeah, I worry about it too. That's one reason I mostly do 2 week primary at cool temps then into the Keezer. I have never and am pretty sure I will never get the full blown mega pellicle type infection with my process but I figure pretty much every batch has some degree of contamination (to be technical, I don't think "infection" is the proper term for bacterial level in a food product) and it is possible it changes flavor to some extent.

 

[mdgagne]

What are your cleaning/sanitizing procedures when you keg? Do you purge your keg to remove air from the head space after a fresh fill? How long between pints do you go? I have noticed that the beer sitting the beer line can get little funky after a long sit... especially if i go a while without cleaning then .

 

[carlisle_bob]

What are your cleaning/sanitizing procedures when you keg? Do you purge your keg to remove air from the head space after a fresh fill? How long between pints do you go? I have noticed that the beer sitting the beer line can get little funky after a long sit... especially if i go a while without cleaning then .

Hi

For that matter, how long since you cleaned your beer lines and faucets? There's lots of places strange stuff can get in.

Bob

 

[WilliamstonBrew]

Everybody swaps tanks.

All generalizations are dangerous; even this one =)

I've never swapped a tank. I own two tanks, a factory-new 5# SS tank that came with my kegerator and an extra, refurbished 10# tank (manufactured in 1958, FWIW) for force carbing at room temp. I have them filled at a local fire systems company. They fill tanks for brewers all over the area. The beer I carb with their gas tastes great (or simply fine, depending on the batch