CO2 Supply for single head bottler

[velez03]

Those of you out there running a single head bottler; what type/size CO2 tank are you using to run it? We are running a 550lb liquid CO2 tank, pulling a constant 30psi too feed the bottler (single head, prepurge, counter pressure fill) and can only get about 3-4 hours of use before the tank ices up and we are in danger of freezing the tank to dry ice according to what our supplier told us. I have used heated tanks in the past but have been told they are increasingly hard to come by, and may be very expensive if one can even be found. I have heard of breweries using multiple tanks in series, but I just don't think we are using that much CO2 to necessitate that.
Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers!
Pete
New Jersey Beer Company

[liammckenna]

Single head filler icing up on CO2 tank. Wow. You must be running at some rate. Or you have a leak somewhere perhaps. Check your pressure gauges as well.

You will need heaters for your liquid CO2 gas before regulators if you don't have them already. This may help.

See this

There are many other examples and configurations.

Good luck.

Liam

[gabewilson50]

I only had a problem with freezing CO2 when I was running a single 25kg tank and splitting it for tank pressure and pre-purge duty (plus I was bottling in my cold room, so we were already starting at 3C). I'd check for a leak somewhere, it doesn't seem like you should be freezing such a large tank with a single head filler.

[liammckenna]

Your supplier should be fielding these questions for you. Not something you want to screw around with. Potentially dangerous and expensive.

Honestly.

Good luck.

Liam

[Beer_Nut]

we usually use a heater that goes inline, in between the tank and our manifold that sends the CO2 through the brewery. They work fairly well, but will still freeze if you really crank out the CO2. I can't find one online, but this is the same concept, only on a small tank, but ours is for a bulk tank. They just plug into a standard outlet and do make a difference. Although ours did stop working a bit ago and we have just been dealing with it. But I'm sure once the weather gets cold again we will probably get another one.