Use of co2 ?

[Acampane]

So i have been kegging using a 5 lb co2 tank. The first time was a mess but ended well. Now in have a system down or I thought. I put 5 gallons choc stout in a ball lock keg with a full co2 tank. Charged in with 30psi and rolled the tank around. First question do you guys keep under pressure or remove gas line while it sits? I ask because I feel when I check 24 hours later I used almost half the co2 tank, is that normal on a 5 lb tank? Thanks for the advice

 

[Curtis2010]

No, that's not normal. You almost certainly have a leak somewhere. A 5 Lb CO2 tank gets me thru most of my brewing season (3 - 6 months) including carbing keg, serving, and making carbonated water (several liters a week). I typically use about 1.5 5lb tanks for my season.

Note that 30 PSI will help speed up force carbing, but stylistically it is way high for any style of beer.

Exactly how many kegs you can carb and serve varies based upon carbonation levels, temps etc but most guesstimates I've seen of this come in around 10 kegs.

Below is a thread here on HBT on this subject.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/several-kegs-one-co2-tank-59941/

 

[Acampane]

Awesome thanks for reply. I'll have to check all the lines and connections again.

 

[Curtis2010]

Re removing the gas line. I remove mine, close valves in case of a leak, and then just top up once a day as it carbs, but I use the slow set it and forget it method.

Temp has a big effect on Co2 volume. What temp is the beer you are trying to carb?

 

[JuanMoore]

Did you weigh your CO2 tank to determine how much gas you used? If you're going by the high pressure gauge, it won't give you any idea of how much gas you have. It only tells you the vapor pressure of the liquid CO2 in the tank, which will be the same for any given temperature until just before the tank is empty and you're running on fumes. If you put the tank in your fridge or kegerator to drop the gas temperature, the high pressure gauge would drop significantly regardless of how much or little gas you have in the tank.

 

[Acampane]

I didn't weigh the tank lesson learned or take temp on fridge super newbie. The first keg I hit with 30 psi and kept the pressure on it after about 35 hours it was good. This time I did 30 psi took gas off because was concerned of leak. I just put pressure back on 30 and kept on needs more carbonation. I'm thinking about moving the co2 tank outside the fridge

 

[Curtis2010]

If the tank is chilled the HP gauge is not very useful. As suggested you might weigh it. Also set it out and let it warm up and the gauge pressure will rise. This could be an issue of just reading warm tank vs cold tank pressure (for psi to have any meaning it must be compared w tank at same temps). If you don't have a leak then you did not use 1/2 a tank to carb one keg.

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[zachattack]

If the tank is chilled the HP gauge is not very useful.

I see this statement a lot, and it's very misleading. Regardless of cylinder temperature, the high pressure gauge will not tell you how much CO2 is left until the cylinder is close to empty. OP, pulling the tank out of your fridge will not make the tank pressure gauge any more functional. If it dropped to somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 psi, that's normal at fridge temps. Like Juan said, the only way to know how much CO2 is in the tank is to weigh it.

You could have a slow leak and the pressure could remain there for hours, days, weeks before suddenly dropping down to zero. It's a good idea to check for leaks regularly, especially since this is a relatively new system.

You said this is your second keg but the CO2 tank is full; why did you have to refill it already? You should get 1-2 5 gallon kegs per pound of CO2. If you used all 5 lbs on one keg, you have a leak.