CO2 help

[BeerMe]

I've never used gas for carbonation before and all of the different types of bottles and cartridges has me confused.

First off, does any that I get have to have a certain kind of fitting? I've seen screwed and blank cartridges.

What is the minimum size I would need to force carbonate a 19l corny? I assume the small 16g, etc cartridges are useless? I know economically it is better to get a big tank as the refill costs scale better, but the initial outlay on them is more than I can afford right now. Some are looking for £80 deposit.

Finally, where is the best place to buy suitable cartridges or rent a larger bottle? Google doesn't show many options around Glasgow and Lanarkshire. Will industrial suppliers do single canisters to the public? There's a company near me called SIG - anyone heard of or used them for this?

Thanks for any help, my head is frazzled with it all.

 

[RichardM]

If you are kegging your beer in a corny then 16g cartridges are no good for you. They are for dispensing naturally carbonated beer from mini kegs.

 

[Consett26]

I guess your best bet is either a Hambleton Bard S30 or a soda stream but that's not the end of the matter. You'll need some sort of adapter to attach them to the gas inlet post and you should really have a regulator. That said, I never had a regulator when I used the S30 to pressurise my old king keg.

 

[obscure]

Technically of course you can use mini cartridges but to force carbonate a five litre mini keg I need a couple of them plus one to dispense so quadruple that for a 19L keg you are looking at maybe 12 cartridges so about £10 to dispense a keg (maybe a little less but still not cheap). Sodastream cylinders would work out a bit cheaper but you are still talking about 1/3 to 1/2 or more of a cylinder so maybe £4-£6 a keg.

It is not practical for me to have a full size cylinder which is why I use a mixture of soda stream cylinders for my Half corny kegs and cartridges for mini kegs (combined with often carbonating via priming rather than force carbing it’s not too bad cost wise) but if your only concern is cost the economics of a larger cylinder are pretty blatant even with the larger up front cost.

 

[Leon103]

Perhaps shop around for a better deal on a 6.5kg bottle. Other options are just so expensive in the long run. Speak to local pubs, they will point you in the right direction or let you have one at cost.

I pay £24 for a bottle, no deposit. I get this from the local coal man.

 

[Graz]

Personally I wouldn't force carbonate without a big (6kg) cylinder. It's just not a cost effective option with smaller cylinders where the gas price is significant.

If you don't want to go down that route you can still prime and secondary ferment in a Corny. You would only need the gas then for an initial purge and seal, and then a squirt from time to time as the pressure starts to drop when you're drinking the stuff.

The downside is that as beer is drawn from the bottom of the keg you might need to ditch the first pint or two due to sediment. But you could convert the keg to use a floating pickup, swap the beer out pipe for a gas in pipe and then attach one of these to it: 7.5US $ |FermZilla SS Ball Float & 80cm Silicone Dip Tube Suits Conical and All Rounder Models home brew|Beer Brewing| - AliExpress You'll only get the sediment when it hits the bottom then.

 

[obscure]

The downside is that as beer is drawn from the bottom of the keg you might need to ditch the first pint or two due to sediment. But you could convert the keg to use a floating pickup, swap the beer out pipe for a gas in pipe and then attach one of these to it: 7.5US $ |FermZilla SS Ball Float & 80cm Silicone Dip Tube Suits Conical and All Rounder Models home brew|Beer Brewing| - AliExpress You'll only get the sediment when it hits the bottom then.

I don’t find the levels of sediment are as bad as you might think, typically when I tap a new keg that has being carbonated with sugar I typically draw off about 100-150ml with a small amount of sediment and Chuck it the rest tends to be clear. Just make sure the keg is kept in a stable location and don’t move it round unless you give it time to settle again.

Of course what I consider acceptable may differ from yourself but it’s certainly workable.

 

[BeerMe]

Thanks for the replies folks. Looks like I'll just have to bite the bullet on it.

I'll try to source somewhere local this afternoon.

 

[BeerMe]

Just for info in case anyone else is looking for it.

You can set up an account with BOC gases, then pay £5 a month by direct debit to hire a 10l cylinder. Refills are £35. Seems pretty decent, although you do need to be able to take the cylinder to their depot for refills as they won't deliver to domestic customers.

Does anyone know if the 70/30 gas would be better to use? I'll be brewing mostly wheat beers.

 

[Graz]

Nah, stick to plain old CO2, the equipment to use it (i.e. regulators and so on) is much more readily available to home brewers and it's much more versatile.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

I bought a1.5kg bottle of C02 yesterday and it coast me under £40 including something like £25 deposit for the bottle, but no rental charges. Apparently, that's enough to carbonate around 280 pints.

The cylinder measures around 450mm x 120mm. It came from a local welding supply company I found through Adams Gas. A refill will cost around £15.

 

[chopps]

Just for info in case anyone else is looking for it.

You can set up an account with BOC gases, then pay £5 a month by direct debit to hire a 10l cylinder. Refills are £35. Seems pretty decent, although you do need to be able to take the cylinder to their depot for refills as they won't deliver to domestic customers.

Does anyone know if the 70/30 gas would be better to use? I'll be brewing mostly wheat beers.

Wow! I had no idea BOC was that pricey. £35 deposit on the bottle and £15 per fill from a local independent gas supplier round here. Domestic and trade.

 

[BeerMe]

Wow! I had no idea BOC was that pricey. £35 deposit on the bottle and £15 per fill from a local independent gas supplier round here. Domestic and trade.

It's the same price with Hobbyweld everywhere AFAIK, except they wanted £70 deposit.

Is yours for the 10l/6kg bottles?

 

[chopps]

yes, 6.35kg CO2 contents

 

[BeerMe]

yes, 6.35kg CO2 contents

Great price. I know a guy with a garage, I'll ask him how he gets his CO2 as I assume he uses it for welding.

 

[chopps]

There are some old threads on the forum and these guys are mentioned at £20 deposit and £15 fill. Old info mind you, but worth a try Beverage gases | Express Fuels (Scotland) Ltd

 

[BeerMe]

Wow! I had no idea BOC was that pricey. £35 deposit on the bottle and £15 per fill from a local independent gas supplier round here. Domestic and trade.

Just found a supplier not too far from me. Buy the bottle for £60 and then it's £6 for refills!

www.lothiansupplycompany.co.uk in Livingston, if anyone else is looking.

 

[David O]

Hi Beer me I am from Paisley about to buy a house and planning a home bar myself. I have no idea have to start up and this post has helped me with you being local and having same questions. Good info so thanks. In rented build summer house put gym in it now need to remove it when i buy house Madness The joys Really looking forward to the pub next me and the misses are gona get a 20 x 20 pub hopefully and get tore in.

 

[BeerMe]

Hi Beer me I am from Paisley about to buy a house and planning a home bar myself. I have no idea have to start up and this post has helped me with you being local and having same questions. Good info so thanks. In rented build summer house put gym in it now need to remove it when i buy house Madness The joys Really looking forward to the pub next me and the misses are gona get a 20 x 20 pub hopefully and get tore in.

Get yourself some basic kit - 2x fermenting vessels (1 with a tap), sanitiser, bottling aids, etc and find an extract kit that grabs your fancy, then just dive right into the easy side of brewing.

It's still a lot to get your head around but starting with extract kits will help to simplify things while you research.

It's a dangerous road though! I only put my first extract kit on 9 days ago and already I've spent another £250 on equipment and beer kits! Not that I had to mind, you can definitely get going with an initial outlay of less than £100 but I really like the idea of kegging my beer.

Good luck with it, there's plenty of people only too willing to help.

 

[David O]

Get yourself some basic kit - 2x fermenting vessels (1 with a tap), sanitiser, bottling aids, etc and find an extract kit that grabs your fancy, then just dive right into the easy side of brewing.

It's still a lot to get your head around but starting with extract kits will help to simplify things while you research.

It's a dangerous road though! I only put my first extract kit on 9 days ago and already I've spent another £250 on equipment and beer kits! Not that I had to mind, you can definitely get going with an initial outlay of less than £100 but I really like the idea of kegging my beer.

Good luck with it, there's plenty of people only too willing to help.

I am only looking to start out doing kegs of Moretti dark fruits and fosters for the friends Haha. Maybe in time to save £££ i will do the home stuff. I am sure me being at the start this is what most do or at least say then take the Jump.

Iv spent almost 300 quid on 2 beer fronts Good ones though fosters and the darkfruits ones, pint glasses and Sankey) Keg Coupler Supplied With Fittings Still got the C02 hence me reading this cooler and GAS REGULATOR. Oh and the KEG I am at the very very start here so doing head home work

Thanks for the advice