Cheap way to purge carboys?

[GhettoDickens]

Hey all,

I am brewing smaller batches, but don't really want to start buying smaller carboys/buckets because I still want the opportunity to brew 5 gal batches and I don't have space for any more vessels. Because I may be brewing, say, a 3 gal batch in a 5-6.5 fermenter, I feel like I should start worrying more about purging...

Most people say go out and by a tank of CO2, but that is pretty expensive. Someone mentioned about a handheld CO2 dispenser that is similar to a fire extinguisher, but I haven't had much luck tracking something like that down. Also, some of my phriends fro mentioned canister crackers that hippies use for whipits...but I don't know about that

So here is my plea for help: I need a cheap and easy way to purge my carboys. Cheaper the better, but in reality, if buying a tank of CO2 is most worth while...just say so.

Thanks and cheers!

edit: horrific spelling errors

 

[helibrewer]

If you don't rack then you really don't have much to worry about. In the primary, fermentation will fill that headspace with CO2, so as long as you are not in there disturbing the air after the krausen falls there is a ton of CO2 in there that isn't going anywhere.

 

[amandabab]

buying a small tank as a welding shop or a paintball shop, a cheap or used regulator and a hose is really the cheapest.

for this use the bottle will last a long time and swapping it will be cheaper than filling at a homebrew store.

All the other alternatives rely on small consumable cartridges and end up costing more.

 

[GhettoDickens]

I do rack to secondary for meads and sometimes for beers with dry-hop/fruit/etc or ones that had a lot of sediment and gunk in the primary.

So for most my beers, I wont worry about it, but it is still a concern for the special few beers and any meads I make.

Thanks for the advice though. It makes me a lot more comfortable to know that, and also makes me feel like I may need even less CO2 then I thought since I don't really need to purge primaries (because they purge themselves, right?). Then again, I could be wrong, since purging, for exmaple, 2 gallons of head space probably takes a lot of CO2 (I imagine?).

Thanks again, helibrewer!

 

[GhettoDickens]

Thanks for replying, Amandabab.

I kinda figured that was going to be answer. I am glad I asked!