SONICYOUTH
Well-Known Member
After a week of having my keg at about 10 PSI in the fridge, is there a point when I should turn the CO2 off unless I'm serving? I feel like I go through half a tank of C02 despite everything being checked and proofed.
PSI for Keg
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If you are losing that much co2 there must be a leak. By setting co2 pressure and keg temp you are settling on an equilibrium after a week or two and the beer won't absorb more co2 unless you increase pressure or reduce temp. You will use some co2 to displace beer served, but a tank of co2 should last far more than 2 kegs. What size tank?
You can isolate the slow leak by pressuring the system and then shutting off the tank valve and then monitor your pressure gauges over a few days with and without the gas line connected to your keg.
Edited to add: what jay said too. For Tanks with liquid co2 in them the pressure gauge doesn't respond lineaely to what's left in the tank. When the gauge drops below the vapor pressure of co2 at your temperature (around 500psi for our application), you know there is no liquid co2 left and you are almost out.
You can isolate the slow leak by pressuring the system and then shutting off the tank valve and then monitor your pressure gauges over a few days with and without the gas line connected to your keg.
Edited to add: what jay said too. For Tanks with liquid co2 in them the pressure gauge doesn't respond lineaely to what's left in the tank. When the gauge drops below the vapor pressure of co2 at your temperature (around 500psi for our application), you know there is no liquid co2 left and you are almost out.
ValleyBrew
Well-Known Member
Are you judging a drop in pressure from a warm tank to a cold tank? You may see it over 700lbs prior to putting in your fridge/keezer and then once it cooled down it dropped to 500lbs. That is just a drop due to the change in temperature, not from use of CO2. I don't know of an accurate way to measure how much CO2 is left (other than weight...).
The high pressure gauge is nothing more than a fuel light in a vehicle... Once it comes on, (or starts to drop on the high pressure gauge...) then you need to plan a trip to the "gas station" because it will be empty real soon.
The high pressure gauge is nothing more than a fuel light in a vehicle... Once it comes on, (or starts to drop on the high pressure gauge...) then you need to plan a trip to the "gas station" because it will be empty real soon.
Once my force carbing is done, I do turn off my regulator to that keg until I serve. I only have a picnic faucet on mine for now, and even though I have hose clamps on every connection, the last thing I want is a hose that is under pressure bursting. The last thing I want to come home to is a serving line that burst and "dispensed" all my beer out into my fridge.
If the CO2 is on, then the serving lines are under constant pressure. Plastic can be brittle in cold temps. If you turn the CO2 off, and just leave the pressure in the keg your beer will stay carbonated, and if a hose does split, the worst amount of beer your out of is a glass or two as the keg depressurizes.
If the CO2 is on, then the serving lines are under constant pressure. Plastic can be brittle in cold temps. If you turn the CO2 off, and just leave the pressure in the keg your beer will stay carbonated, and if a hose does split, the worst amount of beer your out of is a glass or two as the keg depressurizes.
SONICYOUTH
Well-Known Member
I checked the tank for leaks and it checks out. I've had it going for around 5 days and according to the gauge it is about half out. I'm not positive on the side but it's "standard" from what I've seen others use for corny kegs. SO hypothetically, after about a week of being under pressure, I could shut off the C02 until I serve it? And when I do serve it, or after the week, should I keep it around 10-12 PSI or bring it down at all?
As others have mentioned already, IF you have the CO2 cylinder in the fridge then perhaps this is explanation:
I'm a noob as well but according to http://www.warpig.com/paintball/technical/gasses/co2dynamics.shtml#1a, "(when) the CO2 in the bottle exists as both a liquid and a gas. Any change in the amount of fill will NOT change the pressure.... That is because whenever you draw gas from the bottle, the liquid will quickly evaporate and restore the gas to its original pressure." According to their chart, the pressure is almost solely based on the temperature (until the tank is down to ~20%).
Initially I had the same concerns, at room temperature the gauge showed about 800 PSI. After the chilling the tank down to 5C / 41F, the gauge was at the 500 PSI red fill mark already -- but the PSI was correct according to the chart. I took the tank out and weighed it, it was about the same weight as before.
The approx weight of the tank is stamped near the neck as TW (Tare Weight). Subtract the tare weight from total weight to see how much CO2 you actually have remaining in the tank before rushing out for a refill.
TopherM
Well-Known Member
I leave mine hooked up and under pressure 24/7 as well, and each 5lb CO2 keg lasts me about 6-8 kegs, or about 3-4 months, so you definitely have something else going on.
I don't think turning it on or off will do anything to save Co2 (as long as you don't have a leak). Once the beer is carbed it won't take any more gas into solution as long as the temperature is constant, so you'll only use additional gas to serve the already carbed beer - same as if you left it on gas or turned it on and off each time you wanted to pour a pint.
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