Brite Tank carb stone shut off...

[SB Brewer]

I have a brite tank. I want to serve off of it.

Seems like I have to hook CO2 up to the carbonation stone to carbonate first. Then later push CO2 on top of the lid to push beer to the tap handle to serve.

My guess is, you use a little 1/4 inch ball valve on the carb stone fitting so that you may remove the co2 tank from the stone and then hook it up to the top of the tank? This requires a 1/4 inch NPT ball valve on the top of the tank and one also on the carbonation stone.

Am I guessing this wrong?

Thank you,
Pete

[gitchegumee]

Right.

You are correct. Every penetration to the tank must have a valve on it. Otherwise you leak beer! On small systems this is typically 1/4NPT. In addition to the typical ball valve shutoff on the carbonation stone, you should also have a check valve to prevent beer backing up inside your hose in the (likely) event your tank runs out of CO2, or your regulator breaks, or...... There are a few good threads on carbonation technique that you may want to read as well. Good luck!

[MadHatter]

Our carb stone has a check valve built in, so we haven't included a shut-off on that inlet. Is that poor practice?

[gitchegumee]

Belt and suspenders....

I wouldn't say POOR practice, but it is not ideal. All mechanical things will fail. When your check valve fails, you may have a mess to clean up. I'd have a separate shut off valve and I would use it consistently. You might skate by with less, but I like bullet-proof solutions. Best of luck!

[MadHatter]

I wouldn't say POOR practice, but it is not ideal. All mechanical things will fail. When your check valve fails, you may have a mess to clean up. I'd have a separate shut off valve and I would use it consistently. You might skate by with less, but I like bullet-proof solutions. Best of luck!

Thanks for the input Philip, shut-offs are inexpensive insurance, I'll make sure we get one on there.

[Alphaacid]

My carb stone has a check valve, but even when left open no beer comes through it.

[TGTimm]

My carb stone has a check valve, but even when left open no beer comes through it.

Yet.

All check valves will eventually fail. A ball valve is cheap insurance, but, if installed on the stone fitting, is another thing to clean and a potential source of contamination. Ball valves, especially those with threaded fittings, are difficult or impossible to clean and sanitize completely. If you're going to use a valve here, a sanitary TC-TC butterfly valve would be a much better choice.

We use self-closing female quick-disconnects (these: http://emurdock.com/3003ssfosterquic...ectsocket.aspx (note that while the bodies on these are SS, the locking balls are not and will need to be replaced--I use 5/32" (I think) 440C balls from Mcmaster-Carr)) on our CO2 drops. We keep one or two with plugs installed handy for when a check-valve fails. This is a simple and effective way of dealing with a failed check valve until it can be replaced.

The self- closing QDs insure that no air and contaminants enter the CO2 line when it's disconnected.