What size co2 tank for Meheen M4?

[Snisup]

I'm currently setting up an older Meheen M4 and I'd like to know what most people use for co2 tanks. We only do cask conditioned ales and currently don't use any co2. We have a 5BBL brite that we'll be bottling from. Most, if not all, beers will be bottled conditioned.

Thanks,

George
Seneca Lake Brewing Company

[Richard Pivo]

The volume of co2 that you will need depends on the size of your system, how often you plan on packaging and the amount of bottles you are filling. But if you are bottle conditioning, what do you need co2 for?

[Snisup]

The volume of co2 that you will need depends on the size of your system, how often you plan on packaging and the amount of bottles you are filling. But if you are bottle conditioning, what do you need co2 for?

Richard,

The Meheen M4 is an automatic bottling machine that requires co2 to operate. The beer must be pressurized and fed into the machine using co2. I haven't been able to find any information on how much co2 this machine typically uses per run and I'm worried about tanks freezing up during a filling run.

Cheers,

George

[BrewinLou]

From my experience, I would not even try to use a portable CO2 tank with a Meheen, maybe with a high flow heated regulator. Good points have already been made, how many bottle are you planning per run, how big is your bbt. Without more info my best suggestion is to talk to your local bulk supplier and see what they offer in small bulk tanks. Like the ones you see outside restaurants. A 300 lbs dewar would be a good starting point, but dewars rely on use. They bleed CO2 over time to reach equalization pressure inside. Not a problem in the winter, but int he summer you would not want it to sit for a month unused. Cheers.

[feinbera]

As a fellow cask ale brewer, I can tell you, you'll find plenty of things to do with CO2 between bottling runs, if this is a concern. Those firkins fill a lot faster with a gentle nudge of a couple PSI into the headspace of the tank, your hop-forward beers will thank you for flushing conditioning tanks before you transfer, you can flush the headspace on partial fills, it's good for rousing yeast when you're working with a recalcitrant beer or yeast strain, or force-carbing the occasional keg for outside sales (not a lot of bars have beer engines, though they don't know what they're missing!)... the list goes on.