This probably sounds weird, but..., ... Do any of you make your own CO2? Options

[Oldfart]

Is the next level of homebrewing to make and compress your own CO2? Do any of you do this? How? Or have you considered this and decided not to do it for practical reasons? And the reasons are...? :eh?:

[Guest_BryanH_*]

Hmmmmm...........I think I'll just stick to belching for the time being. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/hehe.gif) I suppose it could be done but collection, filtering and compression could require more time and equipment than is practical.

[RedGlove]

I doubt it would be practical and cost efficient for a homebrewer to do. However, I do know that New Belgium captures the CO2 they create and reuse it. I'm not sure what all they use it for but they dicuss it on their website.

[mikebrad]

number 1 reason: cost

[80Schilling]

Do any of you do this? How?

Only when I eat too much (without beans) (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif) No, seriously, I have wondered about this too. It does seem crazy that all brewers produce mass quantities of CO2 that we let escape, then those who keg go out and buy CO2. I think that I have also heard (maybe in a post here, maybe from CJ), that some German breweries capture CO2 then reuse it for force carbonation. This lets them claim to be obeying the purity law, I think I heard.

[Oldfart]

Well, they laughed at the Wright brothers, too...

Anyway, as I see it at least a decent quanity of CO2 can be gathered by tying a deflated plastic trashbag around your airlock stem a little after the fermentation has gotten underway and the O2 is purged. I haven't tried this myself, but I will in about two weeks. And the pressures needed for kegging are within the easy range of a bicycle tire pump. Maybe put the tire pump in the bag first, pump it out that way, I dunno, that's why I'm asking you! C'mon, use your imagination about this! (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/mad.gif)

[Walt]

Ahh just a thought here.. but why would you risk your beer by trying to capture and reinject possibly bad things into your beer, when filling a tank only cost 8 bucks and lasts almost a year?

even IM not that cheap.. LOL

Walt

[bigslowrock]

first off, you need a bag thats impermeable by O2.

2nd off, you need to filter that CO2. You don't want everything in that blowoff. There are some bad compounds in there.

3rd. it's going to have to be a big big bag.

You will not save money doing this

[Oldfart]

Ahh just a thought here.. but why would you risk your beer by trying to capture and reinject possibly bad things into your beer, when filling a tank only cost 8 bucks and lasts almost a year?

even IM not that cheap.. LOL

Walt

Ahh just a thought here.. but why would you risk your beer by trying to make it yourself when you can get it on sale at Safeway for $12.95 a case?



Man, you asked for that one, Walt... (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/hehe.gif)

[Oldfart]

first off, you need a bag thats impermeable by O2. 

2nd off, you need to filter that CO2.  You don't want everything in that blowoff.  There are some bad compounds in there.

3rd.  it's going to have to be a big big bag.

You will not save money doing this

Agggghh!! (Or however you spell it when Lucy picks up the football!)

If we can land men on the moon and bring them safely home, I think it is not beyond reach for homebrewers to solve some incidental problems about filters and bags! Don't just sit there and whine, I have come to you seeking answers, not reasons why not to do something!

And all of the sudden, everyone is talking about saving money!! Haven't you all realized by now that this obsession is not about saving it, but rather spending it? Of course you have, you just need to to tell SWMBO that "Oh, honey, it's really cheaper to make it yourself." (Ha!)

C'mon, people, shape up and lets get on with assisting an old fart who is just trying to make a little homemade CO2... (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif)

[tenordan]

Forgetting about filtration for a minute, i think the main problem would be finding a suitable, er, device to capture the c02 with. It would have to be pretty big - a typical fermentation will generate many volumes of C02 (like, guessing here, um, 20 volumes (that is to say, 20 times the volume of your primary).

So I guess a giant plastic bag could work - but would the c02 pick up plastic odors? Hmm - some kind of burlap bag?

Not coming up with much of use heh... Good luck with this one

- tenordan

[Walt]

"but why would you risk your beer by trying to make it yourself when you can get it on sale at Safeway for $12.95 a case?"

Haha!

Ahh possibly cause i can make better beer then Safeways 12.95 a case stuff, but i cant make better CO2?

(IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif)
Walt

[Trub Lou]

Only when I eat too much (without beans)

CO2 is the formula for carbon dioxide, Dale, not methane. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif)

also:

Or have you considered this and decided not to do it for practical reasons? And the reasons are...?

I have come to you seeking answers, not reasons why not to do something!

:eh?:

This post has been edited by Trub Lou: Nov 13 2003, 08:10 AM

[cmbrougham]

I'm not an atomic physicist by any means, but think about it this way: when you get a CO2 tank filled, you're dealing with pounds of CO2--liquid or otherwise. I can't imagine that you're producing more than a few grams, and maybe not even that much, during fermentation. That seems like hardly enough pressure to do anything with. Maybe if everybody on the board brewed up some Walt-sized batches, and we pooled our resources, maybe we'd be on to something (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/smile.gif)

Heh... the next time I go to my LHBS, I'm going to ask that they Walt-Size my order (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/biggrin.gif)

[Oldfart]

Or have you considered this and decided not to do it for practical reasons? And the reasons are...?

I have come to you seeking answers, not reasons why not to do something!

:eh?:

Man, few things are worse than being insulted by one's own words...

OK, I'm humiliated. Now lets get on with this with a positive attitude.

Suppose that insead of an airlock, we substitute a SS airstone that bubbles the CO2 from fermentation up through water, then pass the CO2 through a bed of calcium chloride pellets to remove the water vapor on its way to a bag. The bag is vented at the top, as in a one-way flapper valve, CO2 will tend to hang out at the bottom of the bag, lighter gasses will tend to be vented out.

Never mind for now how the CO2 is to be pumped or compressed, what are your beneficial suggestions concerning the crude CO2 scrubbing procedure outlined above? I'm an engineer, not a chemical guy, and need help with this end of the process.