How long should a 5 lb tank of CO2 last?

[jvincent825]

I've got a kegerator with 5 taps. For the longest time I've had only 2 to 3 cornies hooked up at a time and the CO2 has seemed to last for 4 months or so. Ive recently ramped up my brewing and for the first time have had all 5 taps occupied and rotating since December. My CO2 is only lasting about 6 weeks now. This seems to be a pretty quick turnaround. I keep it at 10psi and 40˚F, that the actual beer temp. Ive sprayed star san on all the connections to inspect for leaks and haven't found anything. CO2 also gets used to counter fill bottles. As a new beer is ready to go in I'll bottle the rest of the oldest keg. Is this a normal turn around time?

 

[wilserbrewer]

How many kegs or total gallons have you carbonated and served on 5 lbs of CO2?

 

[bob1852]

I'm able to purge, carb, and serve 7-10 kegs with my 5lb bottle. For awhile I did have a really slow leak and I was only getting 3-5.

If you're not getting 7+, keep looking for a leak. If you're sure your kegs are good disconnect them and crank your C02 to 35-40psi. If there's a leak, you should be able to hear it (or at least hear CO2 leaving the regulator, confirming there is a leak somewhere).

 

[jvincent825]

I annoyingly can't seem to track down the date of my last CO2 refill, so I'm not sure how many were carved/served. I'm guessing about 5.

I just refilled on 2/8/14. I'll keep track of it for now. So far one new keg hooked up, about half a keg bottled up, and 4 others that were already carbed hooked up and serving.

We'll see...


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[jvincent825]

Something I did find, I hooked up one of the gas lines to an empty keg. With the gas manifold to that line off I could still hear gas slowly getting into the keg. Once the keg was pressurized it couldn't be heard any more with that line on or off. I tried the unhooking the lines and cranking the regulator and couldn't find any leaks that way. All the kegs seemed to hold their pressure fine too, I sprayed the body connects and lids with star san and couldn't find any bubbling. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Keeping an eye on it for now...


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[wilserbrewer]

What I did was to whip some concentrated star San solution to a foamy mess, then place the foam on each and every connection at high pressure, if you ha e a leak it will be apparent.

 

[Curtis2010]

What I did was to whip some concentrated star San solution to a foamy mess, then place the foam on each and every connection at high pressure, if you ha e a leak it will be apparent.

Starsan in a spray bottle works well too or a damp soapy sponge you can squeeze foam from.

 

[jvincent825]

Yeah, I did star san in a spray bottle. Foams up nicely.


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[mrduna01]

I had an annoying leak for the longest time and no amount of star San foam or whatever could identify it. I was running a 5 lb to two kegs through a plastic tee. Eventually I replaced the gas line and just went to one keg and tossed the tee. All leaks are gone but I don't think it was the tee... rather a hairline crack discovered in one of the quick disconnect post. Either way I now have a couple less chances of a leak without the tee.

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