CO2 cartridges for purging

[phbern]

Hi All,

I don't keg my beer due to not having the space for it. I would like, however, to use CO2 to purge a carboy to prep it for lagering. I would rather not buy a big CO2 cannister - again, due to space and cost, especially since I don't keg. My questions is: Can I use a CO2 cartridge and bike tire inflator like below, instead? I would be using a 5-gallon carboy and the item below can use up 25g cartridges. Any better ideas? Thanks!

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07RJ1F...colid=1VDVAWYC6SAQJ&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

 

[Jim R]

I don't think that will work. You need a higher CO2 volume. As an avid cyclist, those cartridges work well for a single use on a bike tire to achieve fairly high pressure in an emergency but only with the pretty small volume of a bike tire.

If I would purge a fermenter or keg, I would add CO2 and purge it several times. Each time will dilute the air (and oxygen) a little more to slowly achieve a higher concentration of CO2. As an example, the first time it might end up being 50% CO2, 50% air, the 4th time maybe 95% CO2, 5% air and so forth. I don't think you can achieve that without a bigger CO2 tank.

This sounds like a good excuse to start kegging (among the other 10 reasons).

 

[Jag75]

I'd just get a 5# co2 tank. They're not that big . You may be able to get a used one for cheap.

 

[hotbeer]

A typical 16 gram CO2 cartridge for a bike tire inflator has about 531 cubic inches of gas in it. One gallon is 231 cubic inches.