Just for fun: DIY CO2 Refill?

[Marz]

For some reason, I decided to add another fun little project to my ongoing list of projects.

What if you could refill your CO2 tank at home... WITHOUT dry ice lol

I spent the last 6 hours researching it and many forums that are 10+years old and everyone "speculating" why it wouldn't work but no one actually saying they tried it and had a result other than a couple of people stating they use a water tank to do it but I don't know if that is practical.

You can buy a CO2 Generator kit from Amazon for $100 which basically is you just getting a secondary CO2 tank and then either using sugar & yeast OR baking soda & vinegar and throwing them into a CO2 thank and letting them generate the CO2 which would then compress.

Option 1 - Sugar & Yeast would die out once PSI gets to around 40ish or so, so not sure why this would be viable
Option 2 - Baking soda & Vinegar sounds like a possible method. You can throw both CO2 tanks into a freezer to allow the CO2 to compress better and under enough PSI, it can liquify at which even if you were able to get 150PSI from this while in the freezer, when you pull it out of the freezer, the gas will expend and you'd get your 700-900 PSI potentially.


Before I see someone comment this, I am going to say it now because everyone on the other forums always said it... I KNOW CO2 is cheap and I am not trying to save money, was just a thought that would allow one more brew process to be self efficient.

I don't have another CO2 tank so curious as to whether anyone has done this on BF or what your thoughts are

 

[Minbari]

From what I read. You have to refrigerate co2 to 0°F and you must maintain less than 21bar(304psi) of pressure . otherwise it will become gaseous and ramp up to 69bar(1000psi)

Just not sure I would mess with it

 

[Marz]

From what I read. You have to refrigerate co2 to 0°F and you must maintain less than 21bar(304psi) of pressure . otherwise it will become gaseous and ramp up to 69bar(1000psi)

Just not sure I would mess with it

Taking all the fun out of my hypothetical project haha

 

[Minbari]

Taking all the fun out of my hypothetical project haha

lol, sorry......I played paintball for like 15 years. co2 can be very dangerous if not handled correctly.

look at the vapor phase chart for it. at 118°F it is over 1500PSI

 

[Marz]

lol, sorry......I played paintball for like 15 years. co2 can be very dangerous if not handled correctly.

look at the vapor phase chart for it. at 118°F it is over 1500PSI

I played a lot of paintball too then life and responsibilities began and haven't gone since lol.

Well yeah, I wasn't going to have it CO2 inject into the tank while in the back seat of my car on a hot day lol. It also depends on the amount of CO2 that is produced. I also use to refill my SodaStream tanks with 1lb of dry ice and worked pretty well that way

 

[GFHomebrew]

Yup that's what I thought of straight up Dry Ice I've thought of having a crack at this but think the dry ice vs the refill well refill is just straight forward.
Bloody amazing how your mind works though I'd love to find out if you make this work!

 

[Minbari]

Yup that's what I thought of straight up Dry Ice I've thought of having a crack at this but think the dry ice vs the refill well refill is just straight forward.
Bloody amazing how your mind works though I'd love to find out if you make this work!

What is the cost of dry ice vs just a co2 refill? As I remember, co2 doesn't cost much. (Yes I know you said cost wasn't the issue)

 

[Marz]

What is the cost of dry ice vs just a co2 refill? As I remember, co2 doesn't cost much. (Yes I know you said cost wasn't the issue)

My local brew shop charges $9USD for 5lb tank refill and my local grocery charges $5USD for 5lb of dry ice. Small scale it wouldn't be a big deal but if someone had a 50lb tank, theoretically they could save 1/2 with dry ice which is weird because it takes 4lb of liquid CO2 to make 1lb of dry ice but when thawed back to liquid, it is a 1lb of liquid lol

 

[Marz]

Yup that's what I thought of straight up Dry Ice I've thought of having a crack at this but think the dry ice vs the refill well refill is just straight forward.
Bloody amazing how your mind works though I'd love to find out if you make this work!

Yeah it'll stick in the back of my head until I try it. Once I have a house with a detached shed I will try it so I can run! Hahah

 

[Craigerrr]

I think commercial brewers do capture their own Co2 for cost savings. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that someone mentioned Sierra Nevada does this. Whatever you do, just don't put your life in danger "for fun"

 

[Marz]

I think commercial brewers do capture their own Co2 for cost savings. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that someone mentioned Sierra Nevada does this. Whatever you do, just don't put your life in danger "for fun"

But then that would take all of the fun out of it haha

Nah, i'd ensure I did the math on it before I started throwing a bunch of chemicals into a tank. I might even buy one of them DIY setups from Amazon just to see how they work, plus, those tanks are rated for a PSI that can tolerate its intended purpose

 

[Minbari]

I think commercial brewers do capture their own Co2 for cost savings. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that someone mentioned Sierra Nevada does this. Whatever you do, just don't put your life in danger "for fun"

Ya, ethenol plants do it too. They are s big supplier of co2

 

[Marz]

Ya, ethenol plants do it too. They are s big supplier of co2

Ha, I just had a blond moment, I thought you meant botanical plants!

 

[GFHomebrew]

Ha, I just had a blond moment, I thought you meant botanical plants!

You know if your using co2 captured from a fermentation.
Buy a bubble fermentor
Buy some turbo yeast (distilling)
Buy some cheap sugar.
Ferment this but cap fermentation.
Use built up co2 to carbonate/push brew product.
Repeat
Probably alot of work but could work too.

 

[Marz]

You know if your using co2 captured from a fermentation.
Buy a bubble fermentor
Buy some turbo yeast (distilling)
Buy some cheap sugar.
Ferment this but cap fermentation.
Use built up co2 to carbonate/push brew product.
Repeat
Probably alot of work but could work too.

Well, I read that only using sugar will give off some not-so-good impurities because the yeast doesn't have all the nutrients it needs which is why I was hinting at the second option

 

[Donoroto]

Need C02? Exhale.

 

[Sunfire96]

Need C02? Exhale.

Surely a chemical wizard like you Don knows that we don't exhale pure CO2 far from it in fact

 

[Donoroto]

Just under 5% IIRC.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Surely a chemical wizard like you Don knows that we don't exhale pure CO2 far from it in fact

Depends on which end your expelling from!
Methane anyone ha ha

 

[Donoroto]

Ya know @Trialben the commercial method of generating CO2 (as opposed to capture & purify) is to combust methane with oxygen, leaving CO2 and water.