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Author Topic: C02, Aluminum vs steel, inside vs outside  (Read 3400 times)

Offline micsager

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C02, Aluminum vs steel, inside vs outside
« on: April 26, 2012, 08:29:50 am »
IIRC JZ on a Brewstrong talked about this, and said it really doesn';t matter one way or the other.  I keep my Co2, inside the kegerator and depending on what the welding shop has, get either aluminum or a steel tank.  I've enver noticed any difference between the two. 

At our Club meeting last weekend, there was quite a debate about this subject.  I just kind of stayed out of it, as many had very strong opinions, and stated things like if it's in the fridge, you don't get all the C02 out of the tank and such.  Or that steel should be outside, and aluminim inside, etc, etc.

Anyone have any good strong advice, or evidence on this subject?

Offline a10t2

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Re: C02, Aluminum vs steel, inside vs outside
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2012, 08:45:00 am »
The temperature of the tank has NO effect on how much CO2 gets used.

I guess a case could be made for keeping a steel tank out of the kegerator because of rust concerns. I would argue that you should be trying to keep humidity down in the kegerator anyway.
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Offline Slowbrew

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Re: C02, Aluminum vs steel, inside vs outside
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2012, 08:52:06 am »
The temperature of the tank has NO effect on how much CO2 gets used.

I guess a case could be made for keeping a steel tank out of the kegerator because of rust concerns. I would argue that you should be trying to keep humidity down in the kegerator anyway.

+1

The only drawback on steel in the fridge that I could think of was rust.  A well maintained tank and humidity control should avoid that.  I don't believe it makes any difference.

The high pressure dial may show a lower tank pressure inside the fridge than it would outside but that doesn't change the low pressure side.  What difference does 700 lbs instead of 800 lbs really mean when you are serving at 12 lbs.  What is in the tank is liquid CO2 until you are basically out of gas anyway.

IMHO

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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: C02, Aluminum vs steel, inside vs outside
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2012, 01:14:08 am »
My secondary regulators don't respond to the cold well, so it makes sense for me to keep the tank outside the fridge.
Tom Schmidlin