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Author Topic: How Long does a 15lb CO2 tank last you?  (Read 11323 times)

Offline skyler

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How Long does a 15lb CO2 tank last you?
« on: November 20, 2009, 02:55:14 pm »
I was wondering how many 5-gal cornies get carbonated and served from a single 15lb tank on your systems?

I serve at 12 PSI, and I tried the "shake" method on two kegs (but switched to the "wait" method after that). I have gone through 2 force carbonated kegs and have another 2 (one of which was primed for 3 weeks with 1/3 cup cane sugar) are now half empty - should I expect to carbonate and serve any more kegs after these 2?

Offline blatz

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Re: How Long does a 15lb CO2 tank last you?
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2009, 03:01:25 pm »
you should be able to get 25-30 kegs carbed and served with that tank.
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Offline a10t2

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Re: How Long does a 15lb CO2 tank last you?
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2009, 03:23:14 pm »
With no losses, at 2.4 vol, it's almost exactly three kegs per pound of CO2. So a maximum of 45. Realistically, blatz's numbers are probably closer.
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Offline tubercle

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Re: How Long does a 15lb CO2 tank last you?
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2009, 03:36:55 pm »
3 times as much as my 5lb ::)
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Offline crabber

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Re: How Long does a 15lb CO2 tank last you?
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2009, 05:42:28 pm »
Haha, I just bought a 15 pound tank for my lagerator and was wondering the same thing.  Maybe I went a little nuts. ;D

Offline babalu87

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Re: How Long does a 15lb CO2 tank last you?
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2009, 06:06:53 pm »
I go through 3 20lb tanks a year but I do a lot of keg to keg transfers along with pushing Star-san from one keg to the next plus line cleaning.
$75.00 a year for CO2 isnt all that bad
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Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: How Long does a 15lb CO2 tank last you?
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2009, 06:26:31 pm »
According to Micro Matic it is 46-66 kegs. (this is dispensing only)
http://www.micromatic.com/beer-questions/how-many-beer-kegs-dispensed-out-co2-tank-aid-89.html
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Offline bluesman

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Re: How Long does a 15lb CO2 tank last you?
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2009, 10:01:18 pm »
I go through 3 20lb tanks a year but I do a lot of keg to keg transfers along with pushing Star-san from one keg to the next plus line cleaning.
$75.00 a year for CO2 isnt all that bad

That sounds about right for me. I refilled three times last year and went through about 18 kegs of beer. Including cleaning and purging. So about six kegs per cylinder total.
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Offline loopy

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Re: How Long does a 15lb CO2 tank last you?
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2009, 10:19:07 pm »
about a year and a half for a 20pound tank.  I also use it to do filtering with a can setup through 1 micron filters between cornys.  I'm probably only drinking/brewing 20 kegs per year or a little less so maybe a 15 pound tank dedicated should get somewhere between 25-30 in my opinion?