CO2 injector

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

monkeyman1000

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Messages
380
Reaction score
66
I just purchased a 2.5 gallon ball lock keg with the small CO2 injector. I am new to kegging by the way. I put some unfermented beer with priming sugar in the keg last night. I put the ball lock fitting on the gas in side, then hooked up the CO2 injector and gave it a little squirt to seat the lid. I let it sit for a few minutes, released some pressure from the relief valve and repeated. The problem I had was when I unscrewed the CO2 injector, all the CO2 came rushing back out of the ball lock connection. If I removed it fast enough it still had some pressure left in the keg as evidenced by the pressure relief valve. Is that supposed to happen? I was under the impression that you could seat the lid and purge the O2 from the keg, remove the CO2 injector (without losing pressure) then remove the ball lock connection. Nothing else seems to be leaking (checked with foaming starsan). Any help is appreciated.
 
Remove the ball lock from the keg first - as long as the ball lock is on there, the valve on the post is open. Presumably if you remove the injector from the ball lock QD (not familiar with the injector so I am guessing) then there is no valve closed between the keg and the outside.

Remove the QD from the gas post and the valve will close, sealing in the gas.
 
Remove the ball lock from the keg first - as long as the ball lock is on there, the valve on the post is open. Presumably if you remove the injector from the ball lock QD (not familiar with the injector so I am guessing) then there is no valve closed between the keg and the outside.

Remove the QD from the gas post and the valve will close, sealing in the gas.

But with those injectors, if you remove the ball lock with the co2 cartridge on it, it may explode due to the pressure. There are all kinds of warnings on the packaging to NEVER do that.

The easy answer is to leave the c02 "gun" on the keg.

Yes, when you take out the c02 cartridge, most of the c02 leaks out rapidly. That's the way it's designed.
 
But with those injectors, if you remove the ball lock with the co2 cartridge on it, it may explode due to the pressure. There are all kinds of warnings on the packaging to NEVER do that.

The easy answer is to leave the c02 "gun" on the keg.

Yes, when you take out the c02 cartridge, most of the c02 leaks out rapidly. That's the way it's designed.

Hmmm, sounds like a great product....

Seriously though, thanks for the correction. Hopefully OP didn't blow himself up on my advice already.
 
Hmmm, sounds like a great product....

Seriously though, thanks for the correction. Hopefully OP didn't blow himself up on my advice already.

Haha- they actually are pretty cool products. There isn't a regulator, but it works great for dispensing carbed beer like at parties when you don't want to haul a regulator and tank. When the pour slows, give it a shot of c02 and it'll pour some more.

Long term, the beer would lose carb, or be overcarbed if the gun is used a lot, but for short term it's awesome. I have two of them, and one of the uses is if my 20# tank runs out of c02 on a weekend, I can still dispense my beer until I get the tank exchanged. They are very handy.
 
Might have screwed myself then. I don't have a lot of space (my wife and I move every 3-6 months for work and everything has to fit into the Hyundai Santa Fe) so I was hoping to get two of these little kegs with one CO2 injector. I brew every 3 weeks or so. I was going to rotate the kegs as follows: put flat beer in one with priming sugar, use the injector to seal and purge the keg then wait three weeks. At the end of 3 weeks cold crash it in the fridge and use the CO2 injector to dispense over the next 3 weeks while in the meantime, temporarily removing the CO2 injector to seal and purge the next batch in the other keg to carbonate with sugar, wait three weeks and repeat.
No worries, I read about the explosion thing on here and on the package. Thanks for the replies. Should I just get two injectors or would I be better off with the 20oz bottle with a regulator. Am I going to be losing CO2 over the 3 weeks it takes me to drink the keg with the CO2 injector? This is adding up fast, SWMBO isn't going to be thrilled with me. Told her this wouldn't take up much space in the fridge.
 
I think a real CO2 tank with a regulator is a very useful thing to have, and will serve you for a long time. Over the long term you'll also save on CO2 as the cartridges are very overpriced from what I hear. You don't necessarily have to keep the CO2 tank in the fridge for your purposes.

For now, I would get a CO2 tank and regulator and use that for your temporary connection needs (sealing and purging) and if you want to conserve fridge space you could stick with the injector for serving (but like Yooper said, you're going to get inconsistent carbonation with the injector over a long period of time).

Or pick up a mini fridge on Craigslist for the garage and don't worry about the fridge space :)
 
The minifridge wouldn't work for me right now. We literally pack everything we own into a Hyundai Santa Fe and move to a new town every 3-6 months. Space is at a premium. Whatever I get also has to share fridge space with our food too. The 2.5 gallon keg fits into the current standard fridge but the 5# CO2 tank with regulator would be too tall even for the last shelf. I am ok with nothing but beer in the fridge but my wife isn't. Did I mention she is Italian? Can the keg and CO2 tank be left out of the fridge and served into a cold glass? I only have maybe one pint a night. I could leave the kegs out of the fridge with the 5# CO2 tank and regulator in a cool space in the house. I understand the temp affects the CO2s ability to make it into solution but I think there is a chart for that. What do you think?
 
Here's my idea - put away the injector for now (keep it though, might be handy).

Get a 2.5lb CO2 tank and a regulator. Fill it up and keep it in the closet or wherever you have space for it (and where it will be safe from being knocked around).

When you want to seal a keg, or draw a pint, you can get out the CO2 tank and hook it up until you're done. Then put it away. The keg should keep carbonation as long as you always have the CO2 connected when you're pouring. This way you only need to keep the keg in the fridge.

You could also look at 5L mini-kegs instead. They make countertop dispenser fridges (thermoelectric) for those that don't take up much space. Frees up fridge space at the cost of a bit of counter space.

Or you could just bottle your homebrew :)
 
Appreciate the replies. I was bottling but for better or worse i caught the kegging bug. I found a post on here about the Adapter II Paintball gauge for 20 oz tanks and I think that may work for me. With the regulator on it is only about 14 inches tall and I could dispense about 3-4 kegs with it (according to the guy I am buying it from online). 3-4 2.5 gallon kegs will last me about 3 months which is doable. Thanks again for the help. Sooooo glad that this site exists. :mug:
 
Hahahaha:fro: I am a traveling Physical Therapist Assistant. Lots of medical folks do the traveling thing. More pay and less work politics. I have been doing the traveling thing for 6.5 years now, only brewing for 2 years. Most of the jobs start out as a 13 week assignment but I get extended sometimes to as long as a year.
 
Back
Top