CO2 Regulators and Tanks

The next installment of our Kegging your Homebrew series is all about the heart of the system, the CO2 tank and regulator.  We covered Corny Kegs in our last post, in short that’s where the beer goes.  Next we need to have a way to put CO2 in the keg, get it to dissolve in the beer and use the pressure to dispense the beer (We won’t talk about carbonation levels and balancing the system here, as that will take a separate post, or more).

I took a picture of my CO2 tank and regulator as its hooked up to my kegerator right now.  You can see the gray/silver tank.  I use what’s called a 5-pound tank.  This is pretty standard.  The next size up is 20-pounders.  I have heard about 10-pound tanks, but those are an awkward size and my gas supplier doesn’t carry them.  The top of the tank itself has a valve on it which opens the tank and allows the gas to vent out to the air, if you don’t have a regulator on there.

(Opening the tank valve is not recommended without a regulator unless you are into loud hissing noises and are not prone to a little frost bite should you spray yourself or fingers with gas.)

In the picture, you can also clearly see my two dial regulator.  The regulator is used to regulate the amount of CO2 that comes out of the tank.  The gauge on the left lower side reads the total pounds of pressure left in the tank.   The gauge at the top of the regulator is the amount of pressure that is being applied through the red “exit” valve at the base of the regulator.  You can see in the center of the regulator a screw and nut assembly (sometimes this might be a small T handle or a wing nut, depends on the manufacturer of the regulator).  This nut is what you use to dial in the amount of CO2 you want to come out of the tank, read in PSI (pounds per square inch).  Lastly, all around the CO2 regulator you can see a triangular cage.  That is normally an additional purchase.  It is a protective thing that will protect the gauges from getting broken should the tank tip over.  I didn’t use one for years, then one day I knocked the tank over and busted the tank pressure gauge.  Not a big deal but eventually it got annoying to not know if I was getting close to empty.  So I bought one and you can see it installed there.   I highly recommend getting one.

A word on gas supply.  Many kegging starter kits come with CO2 tanks.  While the regulators are usually the bulk of the cost, the tank is usually a close second.  Before purchasing a kegging kit, I strongly recommend you research where you’ll be getting your CO2 from.  CO2 suppliers are often one of the following business types: gas supplier, welding supplier, fire safety/extinguisher, paintball hobby store.  Regardless of where the CO2 comes from its usually sold in two formats either via refill of your tank or by tank swap programs.  The reason this info is important is because if you buy a kegging kit that includes a tank and you can’t find anyone to fill it, you’ll have to kiss your nice shiny new tank goodbye to a swap program.  So if having a shiny new tank is important to you, be sure you have a local place that will fill tanks, not swap them.  This happened to me when I started.  There were no reasonably close filling stations near me, eventually I had to bone up and say good by to my tank.

Its not a big deal really in the end.  Eventually tanks wear out and the gas supplier is required by law to take it out of service.  If you own the tank for 10 years say, they take it and cut it open to be sure its out of service and throw it in a pile (you don’t even get to keep it for salvage metal prices).  Then your buying a new tank.  I personally like the swap program because that element of service date is on the supplier and the swap “lease” fee is cheaper than the new tank usually.  All I pay for when I go in after that one time fee for the tank is the fill up.  Which is usually $18.

One last issue on tanks.  It’s expensive to get started, but you may want to consider two tanks.  The reason being YOU WILL eventually run out of gas.  And YOU WILL run out when you have twenty thirsty friends coming over for a pig roast.  So if you have two tanks, you’ll never run out.  Keep in mind that when you first set up the system, you may have a small leak somewhere, and in your excitement to get carbonated, run your tank dry before you even get that first sip of beer.

That’s the long descriptor for tanks and regulator parts.  In future posts, we’ll go over how to use the tank and CO2 regulator to carbonate the beer.  But first we’ll need to discuss tubings and disconnects for putting the whole system together.

BREW ON!