Beer tap CO2

[V10man]

I've been drooling over making a home beer tap using a CO2 tank. Can I also use the same tank & regulator for MIG welding? Not at the same time of course.

[Sberry]

When I was a youngster emptied many of kegs that way.

[Franz]

Beer tap regulators are very lo volume, so they will freeze up if you do much welding.
Use a welding regulator on the Co2 tank.
If you really want to do it right, T off the machine end of the welding regulator, and install a check valve going to the beer tap, after all, you wouldn't want your welder getting ****faced from a beer backup.

[Sberry]

I used a welding reg on mine right from the get go, the rate we used to drink it may have froze the other one.

[Roger]

To properly set up a beer tap takes a little more than CO2 regulator. Best check out homebrew web sites and news groups.

They use a long length of copper tube between the keg and the tap valve to slowly reduce pressure over the tube length as beer is dispensed so your not dispensing foam. This is called pressure balancing.
I remember about 20ft of 1/4" tube is typically used. This is common topic on homebrew newsgroups.

[Sberry]

At parties we used common air tank where the product was going to be used up right away. Not good fo several days though but worked good for the things we did. High school grad party, had 10 or 11 half barrels which might not sound like a lot but if you consider we needed 2 taps to keep up and there were maybe 40 or 50 there it was substansial.. ha,,, Now I have 4 tappers somewhere and dont use any of them. Waste of good hardware hey?

[Franz]

One more time for the kids;
Alcoholic beverages MUST be run thru block tin lines, NOT copper tubing.
Foaming carbonated beverage dispensation is controlled best by cooling the beverage immediately prior to the dispenser.
School's out.

[DrIQ]

You could use your welding grade CO2 for your tap but you would need to have a second pressure regulator. The regulator - flowmeters used for welding normally are set at 30 psi pressure and you set the flow rate (cfh), you only need a couple pounds of pressure on a tap.

I mentioned welding grade gas because if I remember correctly food grade CO2 may have a higher moisture content and would cause porosity problems welding.

How about someone from the WELDING gas supply business helping us out here on the moisture issue. Memory just isn't what it was a few years ago.

[Roger]

I hate to being corrected by the old Fartz but better than letting it stand wrong.
Would you believe I was thinking of wort cooler. Vinyl tube or food grade plastic tube is commonly used for beer lines. If beer line is exposed to light the vinyl tube beer line should be opaque preventing skunky beer.

CO2 pressure is adjusted to get desired carbonation at desired beer temprature .
The draft beer line and tap resistance to flow is adjusted or balanced aginst keg pressure to limit beer flow rate to about 1 gallon per minute or 10 seconds for 12 oz.
Each foot of lift is .5 psi restriction. Each foot of 3/16" hose is 3 psi restriction. Each foot of 3/8" hose is .07 psi restriction.

So if your keg pressure is 13 psi. 2 ft lift to tap is 1psi restriction and 4 ft of 3/16" tube is 12 psi restriction. Beer lines must be cooled/insulated or warming will cause gas breakout as bear flows though line resulting in pouring foam. Easy home solution is beer tap on refrigerator.

Using air to dispense beer is ok at parties but greatly limits storage life before it goes bad.

Here is link to brewing supplies.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/

Best brewing news group.
rec.crafts.brewing

[Franz]

Doctor, allow me to assure you that Co2 used in fire extinguishers, welding, and beverage dispensation is all the same, at least around here.
The only water containing Co2 I'm aware of is generated in the aging of beer and wine, and that gas is compressed, dehydrated, and then reintroduced into the product during bottling of the beverage.

S, did you ever try C25 on a beer system?

[Sberry]

Nope, never used C25. Would there be a chance of Argon somehow settling in lungs?

[V10man]

OK, so if I have a keg kit with regulator and welder with regulator, I can use the same tank for both the keg and welder? I was thinking of this kit: http://www.wholesaledraft.com/Mercha...gory_Code=1120

[Franz]

Originally posted by Sberry27
Nope, never used C25. Would there be a chance of Argon somehow settling in lungs?

Only possible way I can see that happening is if you belch and inhale at the same time.

[Franz]

V 10, that kit looks like an awful lot of money for hardware that could be better spent on beer, and I don't even drink beer.
A 5# Co2 cylinder will only run about 10# of 030 wire, and if you figure in gas use on the beer, you're probably going to loose half a pound of wire capacity.

[brianw]

argon

Originally posted by Sberry27
Nope, never used C25. Would there be a chance of Argon somehow settling in lungs?

incase you wanted to try, argon would be safe, actually it is used to push wine in bigger bars. I would think it would have similar characteristics (sp) to "guiness mix" which is nitrogen co2 blend, but I have never tried it myself. BW