I am trying to figure out how I could keep CO2 topped up in my fermenter when crash chilling.
I was wondering about getting a cask breather and hooking it up to a small CO2 cylinder. Has anyone done this?
The only cask breathers I've seen for sale online have been expensive - around the £100 mark. I have seen that some people just use a propane regulator as a cask breather instead - at 37mbar they will keep everything under a pressure of about 0.5 PSI, which I think a fermenter that seals properly should be able to take without a problem.
Cask breather/regulator?
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Jocky
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Cask breather/regulator?
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.
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Jocky
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Re: Cask breather/regulator?
Well this was an unusual rabbit hole to fall down.
While I found a real cask breather for £50 at barley bottom, the only advantage to it is that it will release pressure that builds up in the fermenter.
I think instead this low pressure regulator with a 1/4" female BSP inlet and 3/8" female bsp outlet should do what I want for just over £10 delivered: https://www.bes.co.uk/products/060.asp#8802
For the gas, as I don't keg (not enough space) I'm trying to keep this compact, so I'm going to use a disposable CO2 cylinder (which should last a long time). A mini regulator has a 1/8" BSP thread, and there are plenty of adapters out there for £2-3 that are 1/8" BSP M to 1/4" BSP F (mainly used in airbrushing!).
On the other side I just need a hosetail to screw into the regulator, gas line, another hosetail at the fermenter end, possibly going into some form of quick disconnect to make connecting to the fermenter easy.
While I found a real cask breather for £50 at barley bottom, the only advantage to it is that it will release pressure that builds up in the fermenter.
I think instead this low pressure regulator with a 1/4" female BSP inlet and 3/8" female bsp outlet should do what I want for just over £10 delivered: https://www.bes.co.uk/products/060.asp#8802
For the gas, as I don't keg (not enough space) I'm trying to keep this compact, so I'm going to use a disposable CO2 cylinder (which should last a long time). A mini regulator has a 1/8" BSP thread, and there are plenty of adapters out there for £2-3 that are 1/8" BSP M to 1/4" BSP F (mainly used in airbrushing!).
On the other side I just need a hosetail to screw into the regulator, gas line, another hosetail at the fermenter end, possibly going into some form of quick disconnect to make connecting to the fermenter easy.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.
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jaroporter
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Re: Cask breather/regulator?
yeah that's the one i use, with some JG 3/8" beerline adaptors screwed in each end. didn't really think the vent would be £40s worth of useful to be honest. probably less so for you if you're only using it for crashcooling. sounds interesting
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Jocky
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Re: Cask breather/regulator?
The only other thing I can think is that the breather is basically a 0 PSI regulator, so it only provides gas when there's a vacuum in the fermenter. If the fermenter doesn't seal 100% then it's a problem either way, but the cheaper 0.5 PSI regulator would gradually empty the CO2 cylinder, whereas the proper breather wouldn't.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.