Pv=nRT

Today I went through what remains of my beer gas equipment from the Coral Gables days. It’s not all that pretty.

When I quit brewing, I kept the expensive stuff. I held onto it until I left the area. When I moved, I had to throw a lot of things out. I kept my gas tanks and regulators. Things like that can be useful even for people who don’t brew.

When I started rooting through this stuff, I didn’t remember exactly what I had done in Miami. I knew I had had a 4-keg keezer with 4 taps on lid-mounted towers. I knew I had a CO2 tank with a regulator and fittings for 4 kegs. I also knew I had a beer gas tank with a regulator, set up for one keg. I didn’t remember anything beyond that.

Beer gas is a combination of nitrogen and CO2. It’s commonly used to dispense stout. If you’ve ever seen a nice stout with pretty bubbles moving up the inside of the glass, you’ve had nitrogen beer.

Today, I found I had 4 tanks and three regulators. It appears I bought two CO2 tanks and two beer gas tanks. One regulator was for beer gas only and had a single out line attached. Both of the others had manifolds and multiple lines.

I guess I must have put kegs in my garage freezer at some point, because there is no other reason to have a second CO2 regulator and manifold.

When I got tired of brewing back in Coral Gables, I neglected my keezer, and one day it stopped working. It had always been quiet, so I had no reason to think anything was wrong. Eventually, I opened it and found a sea of stale beer inside. It had died on me, and the heat had caused pressure to develop and blow beer out of one or more kegs. One of my regulators was soaked.

I went over the regulators today. The one that was soaked seems to be functional except that at least one gauge may not be working. That can be replaced. I have to test it to be sure what’s going on. Another one had two bad gauges, so I yanked them off and ordered new ones.

As things stand now, I can definitely run 4 CO2 kegs, and I will be able to run an additional stout keg when my gauges arrive.

The great thing I’ve discovered is that I’ll be able to put 4 tall kegs and one short one in the keezer, so I’m getting a 5th faucet. When I thought I would only have 4 kegs, I ordered 3 very nice beer faucets plus a stout faucet, and today, one of the beer faucets arrived with a broken part. I told the seller, and he’s sending another one. Thing is, I can probably replace the part. So he’ll get paid by the Postal Service, as he should, and I ought to be able to put a $90 faucet together for the price of one part.

It’s too bad I threw out my old faucets. They were really good. The company that made them has apparently been sued to death, so they aren’t available now.

I can’t get small beer gas tanks filled or swapped here. I can get CO2, but if I want beer gas, I have to buy a big tank or drive to Orlando to fill my little ones. If I get a big tank, I can either put it in the keezer and forget the small ones, or I can use it to fill the small ones. I’m thinking of putting it in the keezer and keeping a small one as a spare in case I get a leak or something. At all depends on whether the big one will fit in there with kegs. If it will, it would be stupid to drive to Orlando over and over.

To sum up, things have worked out well. I have all the CO2 storage I need. If I have to invest in regulators, I will only have to buy one. I can get beer gas locally. I’ll be able to have 5 kegs instead of 4.

I have to go buy wood for the keezer. Then I’ll slap it together, and a week from today, I should have a truly exceptional beer center. By then, I should have gas and one keg installed, and the temperature control should have arrived. I may even weld up a mobile base for the keezer so I can move it and clean under it. Lifting it on casters will also give it more air, so I should be able to put it closer to the wall.

I’ll be brewing again by the weekend, so wheat beer should be in my glass in less than 10 days.

I’ll post a photo when that happens.