Metallic flavor from CO2?

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Just put a new 20# bottle on 2 weeks ago. Checked for leaks and all was good I thought. Have added 40gal of beer to keezer since then but noticed bottle was down quite a bit. Dam it! Sure enough there was a leak at gasket between tank and regulator so got that fixed. Then noticed a slight metallic taste in an Amber that had been on tap prior to bottle change out. Ok was wondering what happened there. Not undrinkable but bad aftertaste. Kegged a pale ale Friday and now it has same off flavor. The uncarbonated pale was smooth and very tasty prior to carbonating. The CO2 tank is low enough that i am going to exchange it today. Anyone else ever get a bad tank? There is no other explaination for it i can find. No excessive foam or any other indication of an infection. No choice but to exchange where i live unless I drive 100 miles.

Edit: aluminum tank not steel or stainless.
 
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I have a bad taste when I force carb with this last tank. once i bleed it down and lower the pressure its fine but not a good flavor at all
 
I have a bad taste when I force carb with this last tank. once i bleed it down and lower the pressure its fine but not a good flavor at all

I thought I remembered you saying something about it. I talked to my gas guy and he says they only stock "industrial grade" but can get "fountain or food grade" co2.:eek: Now he tells me. He has never been asked about it from any local home brewers and I know he services a few. I told him to check into ordering me some. It may be more spendy but it sucks to put that much time into making beer and end up in that .5% bracket with a bad taste in my beer.(They say industrial is 99.5% pure)
 
I get my CO2 from a fire protection company. I’ve never had a problem with it. Maybe they use food grade!
 
I get my CO2 from a fire protection company. I’ve never had a problem with it. Maybe they use food grade!

I read a bunch about it and some companies stick with just selling all food grade. They say it's easier to just handle 1 type of gas. The main providers spit out all the same stuff but then in how it's packaged it can change grade. I sure hope that tang in my beer leaves. :( I've got 8 kegs in the keezer right now.
 
I asked the company the first time I used them (which was also the first time I bought CO2 from anywhere). They said they have a few people with kegorators buy gas there.
 
Well after a couple of days on a new CO2 tank the bad taste has gone except for a very slight aftertaste. My brewing partner says she has to try and notice it. So the gas was definitely the cause. Will be using this new tank up then food grade only for me from now on.
 
I've been fortunate as I have 3 local beer distributors that do exchanges (~$18 US) per 5lb bottle. No matter which distributor I go to, they all have a "Beverage Grade" sticker on them.
 

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I've been fortunate as I have 3 local beer distributors that do exchanges (~$18 US) per 5lb bottle. No matter which distributor I go to, they all have a "Beverage Grade" sticker on them.
Our LHBS does CO2 fills. I don't see any stickers indicating food grade or beverage grade on the bottles but I don't keg so my beer is never in extended contact with the gas.
 
I'm glad to see this thread. I have recently decided that my gas or tank is behind my most recent woes. I have another 20#er and am going to use it and have tank 1 cleaned and re-certified and filled by the the supplier to restaurants in my area. Good luck with yours.
 
Tough to find much information online and even after a couple phone calls to gas suppliers that ended up in leaving voicemail messages, I still don't know much more. But from what I've read and folks on here have said, it's easier to operate/maintain one system than two and thus most go with FDA approved methods. I've read where some suppliers don't clean their bottles before refilling and some bottles may have beer that backflowed from a keg without a check valve and contact with the lining yields a metallic after taste and an obviously non pure tank of CO2. Not sure this explains the issue or not, but sounds plausible to me.
 
Tough to find much information online and even after a couple phone calls to gas suppliers that ended up in leaving voicemail messages, I still don't know much more. But from what I've read and folks on here have said, it's easier to operate/maintain one system than two and thus most go with FDA approved methods. I've read where some suppliers don't clean their bottles before refilling and some bottles may have beer that backflowed from a keg without a check valve and contact with the lining yields a metallic after taste and an obviously non pure tank of CO2. Not sure this explains the issue or not, but sounds plausible to me.
Thanks for looking, what I came up with is I fell into the .5% category with 1 tank. The new tank is much better but there is a slight aftertaste left over IMO. I guess I'm the lucky brewer. Can't find any other reason for the off taste. We will fix it and we will BREW ON! The next tank I buy will be properly distributed gas.
 
My LHBS didn't even know where I could fill a tank. So I go to the industrial shop on my way to the office. They're pretty cool so far.
 
Similar thing happened to my son. I visited him last week and he said that he had a bottled filled for his sodastream and could not drink it, He said it had the taste of bitters or acetone. He had to ditch it.
 

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