Co2 Regulator

[Mike Lachelt]

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can recommend a good Co2 regulator. The one I've been using only registers at 5 psi increments. I cant figure out my whetting pressure, because the regulator reads 0 even when the carb stone is producing a cloud of Co2. I need something more precise, in order to find my whetting pressure and to set my pressure more exactly. What regs do the pro's use, and where do they buy them?

Thanks!

Mike
Salt Spring Wild Cider

[TGTimm]

Are you running off 50 lb cans, or bulk? The two have vastly different pressures--800-1200 psi for 50 lbs, usually 250-300 psi for bulk. The tanks pressure will determine the primary regulator you use.

I wrote "primary" because, ideally, you should have two regulators: primary, to reduce tank pressure to ~ 100-125 psi, and a secondary to reduce the pressure to your working pressure--usually no more than 30 psi, and more often 15 psi or less.

Regulators work best within a narrow range of pressures, especially the output pressure. A primary reg. might have a range of 100-500 psi output, while a secondary would be more like 5-50 psi.

Rego Cryogenic makes excellent high-flow primary regulators, and there are many secondary regulators that will do the job.

The best sources for your regs are your gas supplier or a brewery/restaurant supply company.

[Mike Lachelt]

Hey Timm,

Thanks, that's really informative!! I use what I'm guessing are 50lb cans - they stand about 4 feet high and look like missles. My current reg has two dials, one that reads the tank pressure, and one that reads the pressure as adjusted by the regulator. Full tanks read about 500psi, if I recall correctly. So I guess what you are saying is that I need to daisy- chain two regs together. The first to bring the tank pressure down to 100-125psi, and the second to take it down further to 12psi, or to whatever pressure I want in my bright tank. Do the two regulators get connected by an ntp nipple? Also, should the primary reg also have two dials, one for the initial tank pressure, and one for the adjusted pressure? So 4 dials in total then?

Thanks again,
Mike

Are you running off 50 lb cans, or bulk? The two have vastly different pressures--800-1200 psi for 50 lbs, usually 250-300 psi for bulk. The tanks pressure will determine the primary regulator you use.

I wrote "primary" because, ideally, you should have two regulators: primary, to reduce tank pressure to ~ 100-125 psi, and a secondary to reduce the pressure to your working pressure--usually no more than 30 psi, and more often 15 psi or less.

Regulators work best within a narrow range of pressures, especially the output pressure. A primary reg. might have a range of 100-500 psi output, while a secondary would be more like 5-50 psi.

Rego Cryogenic makes excellent high-flow primary regulators, and there are many secondary regulators that will do the job.

The best sources for your regs are your gas supplier or a brewery/restaurant supply company.

[TGTimm]

Your "missiles" are 50 lb CO2 tanks. These keep the CO2 in a liquid (actually, superfliud, but, hey, just between us--it don't much matter (unless you're re-filling CO2 cans, in which case it really, really matters)) phase with pressure, whereas bulk tanks--Dewar flasks--use self-refrigeration to do so at a much lower (300 psi or less) pressure.

A full pressurized CO2 can should have between 800 and 1,200 psi. 500 psi is empty. The higher pressures are due to the presence of liquid CO2, and when the pressure goes much below 800 psi, the liquid is gone and a cuft or so of gas is all that is left.

The primary regulator connects to the tank, and reduces the 800-1,200 psi to somewhere around 100 psi. The secondary reg connects to the primary, and further reduces the pressure to your working pressure. This allows much better control at the lower pressures.

The secondary reg will only need one gauge at the output, which ideally will be a 0-30 psi gauge. Don't trust an untested gauge--they need calibration--search the forums here.

If you are not using the pressure gauge to get your carbonation correct, a gauge that's slightly off (2 or 3 psi) won't matter much, but if you set your head pressure and carbonate properly (search, again), the gauge must be dead-on.