Kegging failures <- please advise

[kombat]

I really hate the fact that they took the edit button away.

They took the edit button away?

I just went back and checked a post I made 2 days ago, and I still have an "Edit" button on it. Maybe it's a setting with your user profile?

 

[augiedoggy]

They took the edit button away?

I just went back and checked a post I made 2 days ago, and I still have an "Edit" button on it. Maybe it's a setting with your user profile?

Well I guess its just me but I lost my edit button.... likely because the script/ad/spyware blocker I use is no longer allowing it to load for some reason... There are usually 10 to twenty different spy/adware scripts from this forum which are showing in the yellow "noscript" bar from this website at any given time.
***EDIT** lol no sooner did I type this and send it My "edit" option reappeared after being gone for two days... weird. all I did was go to my "account" setting and look for some option that related to the edit feature (didnt find anything). when I hit the back button it was back.

 

[day_trippr]

Management fat-fingered a setting last night that took the Edit button away for all non-paying participants. This error was rectified earlier today...

Cheers!

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Back to the original post. I don't know your local laws. You can contact the supplier and see what they have to say. If they don't like your questions and don't want to answer them go somewhere else. CO2 should theoretically last for a long time. I have a 20# tank that I use to carb 2-6 kegs at a time at room temp and then a 10# and a 5# for inside the kegerator. I just refilled my 10# for the first time this year after dealing with around 100-120 gallons of home brewed, force carbonated beer. So that isn't bad.

Back to the food grade thing: AirGas, the company I deal with, marks their co2 with food grade ratings when they need. Here is an example: http://airgas.com/product/Gases/Industrial-Application-Gases/Carbon-Dioxide---Industrial/p/CD FG50

If you don't want to worry as much about things and where you buy your gas buy one of these do-dads: http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/gas-equipment-pid-770SG-L1300.html. They are not cheap but can be helpful. If you decide you want that filter PM me. A good friend of mine is a Micromatic dealer and has some great prices on their products.

Kegging is a learning curve. That is how it seems to be for everyone. After you do it for a while you might look back at these questions that think they are elementary in nature. That is okay. We all have to start somewhere. Kegging has opened up a great new world for myself and that is something you will begin to realize as you move forward. I remember back to 2009 when I was trying to figure out what a volume was and how it referenced my beer. Now I don't even think about these things. I just "know" what I want and make it happen.

Like all things in this hobby: have fun, have a home brew, and go crazy with the obsession!!

 

[Tomwaters]

Scuba tanks are not filled with Oxygen. Compressed Air.
With Oxygen, there are 3 types (of the same gas) basically as stated, it's in the handling. (Not including LoX)
Oxygen for welding - nothing special to do
Medical Oxygen - The gas is dehumidified and therefore certified for medical use
Aviator's Oxygen - same as medical but the FAA, rather than the DEA are involved. More expensive for the same thing.
(Aviators oxygen is for the pilots o2 system. It is NOT what passengers get above their seats)
Also with AvOx, they get crazy if a tank runs completely empty because it will have to be re-hydro'd due to potential back flow of condensation.

Yes, I'm a flight attendant, and paramedic (and therefore a beer drinker)

Good for you, welcome to the club!



Hmm, so I guess not full keg then, eh?



I'm a little confused about this. Is the plan to store the kegs of beer at room temperature, and then on nights when you plan to drink some, you'll move them into some sort of cooler, dump in a bunch of ice, and try to chill the whole thing down? Then what, let it warm back up again the next day? Can you clarify this part of the plan?

Do you have a refrigerator in which you can keep the kegs cold, even if it's not outfitted with taps?



There's no benefit to carbing extra-slowly. Just set them to the proper pressure right off the bat, then wait a week or two and they'll be fully carbed. Note that the "proper pressure" depends heavily on the temperature of the beer. I keep my kegs in the fridge at around 34 F and just leave them on 12-15 psi of CO2 at all times.



That sucks, but if it makes you feel better, every kegger's been there. It's almost a rite of passage.



LOL, why, what are you worried about? CO2 isn't poisonous, you're exhaling it right now. You're dissolving it into your beer, but you're worried about inhaling it? Granted, if you inhale an atmosphere of nothing but CO2, you'll pass out, but at the rate of a slow, week and a half leak from a 5 lb tank, the amount would be totally negligible compared to the amount just floating around the atmosphere anyway.



As another poster noted, there should be some sort of nylon washer that sits at the connection between your tank and the regulator (unless your regulator has an integrated O-ring, as is the case with my Taprite regulators). After that, make sure all your hose/fitting connections are as tight as possible. Make sure the posts on your keg are snugged up nice and tight. Finally, make sure the pressure relief valve on your keg lid is screwed on tight.

After checking all of that, get yourself some keg lube, and use it on all rubber O-rings in your keg, especially the big one around the lid. That stuff is magic. Finally, once you've tighted every connection, snugged down every post, and lubed up all your O-rings, put the whole thing under pressure and get yourself a spray bottle full of Starsan and spray everywhere you could potentially have a leak. Look for bubbles. That's where your leak(s) is(are).



I'll defer to the expertise of others on this one, but count me as one who was unaware that there could be two grades of CO2. CO2 is just what it is - CO2. It's a gas, a molecule. You can't make different CO2 depending on the use any more than you can make different oxygen (one for welding, one for scuba diving). It is what it is. I get my tank refilled at a place in town that fills fire extinguishers, and they've never asked me whether I wanted "beverage grade or industrial grade." They just give me CO2.



It oxidizes the beer, giving it that "wet cardboard" taste. If your tank hit 0 while it was connected and open, then you have no pressure in your kegs. However, assuming you properly purged the kegs when you first hooked them up, then there should be very little oxygen in the kegs, and they would instead simply have CO2 in their headspace. No pressure, but still just CO2. If your leak was on the tank/regulator end of things (i.e., at the tank/regulator connection, or the hoses), then the kegs should be fine, and that CO2 will sit in there indefinitely. If, however, your leak was at the keg itself (i.e., post not tightened down, leak at the lid O-ring, etc.), then there will be a tiny amount of gas exchange occurring, slowly replacing that CO2 with regular air (i.e., oxygen). But the amount/rate will be so low as to be negligible. I wouldn't worry about it, just DON'T OPEN THE KEGS until you get that tank refilled and identify and fix the leak.