CO2 Tank Pressure...

[scarpozzi]

My birthday's tomorrow....my lovely wife agreed to buy me a freezer to convert into a kegerator. I spent a few hours last night wiring up the JC 419a temp controller and moving some of my kegged beer into the freezer that's maintaining 38 degrees. I still have to build a collar for the thing for the taps, but am hosting a party tomorrow night and would like to force carb my first keg.

I put the keg and 10lb CO2 tank in the freezer last night. I noticed that my tank pressure dropped from about 1000 to 600-ish. Is that normal when the tank is cold, or have I sprung a leak?

 

[DustinHickey]

Could be a leak but probibly not. The volume of a gas will decrease as temperature drops. If you took it out of the freezer it would expand and I bet the pressure would go right back to where it was.

 

[Thirteen]

You can pretty much safely ignore the high pressure gauge (unless it went wildly high, no need to be reckless). It'll stay at the same pressure, temperature dependent, until the tank is empty and then drop like a rock.

 

[scarpozzi]

How long should the gas line be? (Max length)

Because the barbs coming off my on/off valves are 3/8", I had to make an adapter to change over to 1/4" for the corny keg disconnect. I think I have about 15 feet of gas line now between the keg and the tank...will that be a huge problem?

 

[DustinHickey]

Gas line length shouldnt be a problem un less it was crazy excessive. If it pours fine then dont worry about it. Beer line is a bit more finicky.

 

[AnOldUR]

. . .hosting a party tomorrow night and would like to force carb my first keg . . . I put the keg and 10lb CO2 tank in the freezer last night.

Good luck with that!

What's your plan, shake and bake?

 

[Thirteen]

Gas line length is of little concern. Your liquid lines, however, need to be sized to balance the system based on your preferred level of carbonation.

http://www.simgo.com/draft1.htm

 

[scarpozzi]

Good luck with that!

What's your plan, shake and bake?

I've had the CO2 on it since Tuesday @ 30 psi room temp....I cranked the pressure up to 20 psi after testing it a few hours ago...I plan on some gentle shaking after I get home from work @ 20 psi...then I'll crank it back down to 11 psi. I'll be serving out of a picnic tap @ 2-4psi....so whatever it absorbs tonight/tomorrow is going to be all it gets.

 

[AnOldUR]

I've had the CO2 on it since Tuesday @ 30 psi room temp....

Ahhhh. You're not the kegging noob that I had mistaken you for.

Funny coincidence, I also put gas to a beer on Tuesday and hope to serve it this weekend. Not a plan I like to go with, but it’s something special that I wanted to share with this group. I had the advantage of being able to put it right into the beer fridge under pressure. Plus it was kegged after 4 days of cold crashing, so was already chilled. Left it at 30psi for three days, vented and dropped to serving pressure. I’ll give it a test tonight.

Good luck with yours. Sounds like you’ll be fine.


Edit:
Success!
This is the third time I've had to rush beer forward and used 3 day at 30psi with temperature in the mid 30's.
Works great.

 

[scarpozzi]

As it turns out, the beer had some carbonation Friday...but only a few bubbles. I dropped the temp to 34 degrees (4 below serving temp) at 11psi and anytime I walked by the freezer, I took the keg out....shook it up, rolled it around, etc.... I think that's why my back was sore on Sunday!

Anyhow, by Saturday @ 6:30pm, I poured the first beer for the party. I'm pretty certain it was 2.5 volumes of CO2 as I wanted. The CO2 totally changed the flavor of the beer from Friday and made it much more palettable. I was using a picnic tap and dropped my pressure to 5psi for serving....that solved foaming issues, but there was still a slight head on the beer or much more when someone didn't open the valve all the way. I had only 20 or so people up and there were about 12 beer drinkers....I probably have 3-4 beers left in the keg based on the weight. I think it was a success. I get to start brewing again tomorrow for my Oktoberfest party. I'm going to start a basic light lager now that I have the freezer setup....and a wit to go with my Oktoberfest lager that's been going since March. (using california common strain of yeast) I can't wait to do a REAL Marzen next year and use an Oktoberfest strain. I'm excited about having real temp control!