I was just reading an article on kegging from Zymurgy… The article states, “When you are done serving you can turn
off the CO2 tank and remove the gas quick disconnect and beer line. Now store your beer in a cool location until next time.”
I leave the CO2 on mine turned on to about 11 psi all the time…so…my question is…Does it make sense to turn the CO2 off between “sessions”? Will it save CO2? Will the CO2 last longer?
Thanks and Cheers!
:cheers:
If there are any leaks it will most certainly save CO2. You could just turn off from the source if you want but unhooking all the disconnects seems like a lot of work to me. Just my opinion and I don’t turn it off at all.
If you have no leaks, leave them connected. If you have leaks, find the source and fix it. I don’t mess with mine until they blow. :cheers:
I always leave mine connected. When I want a beer I don’t want extra steps. I just want to pour it and enjoy.
I have had a 20lb tank of C02 connected to my 4 keg kegerator for about 18 months continuously with the exception of packing it up to move it in March.
I am guessing it will run out sometime in the next few months, but clearly it does not have a leak.
Looks like most people say no to turning of the gas. My tank stays on to all my kegs until they blow.
I guess if you had short serving lines (I did when I started) then you could carbonate at one pressure and serve at another, it would make sense to turn off the gas to maintain the higher pressure in the keg.
What they are trying to say is that if your beer is fully carbonated you can take your beer “offline” so to speak. If you have no leaks and your beer is carbed you can disconnect it and it will,( and it should ) have no loss off pressure. If you leave it connected you will not waste any c02 at all. Once you have the proper pressure, and no leaks, your good to go.
Thanks to all for your input…it’s settled…I’ll leave my CO2 on…and my beer ready to tap!
Cheers! :cheers:
Towards the end of a keg I turn it off usually just to save a bit of CO2 and use head pressure to push out the last few pints.
[quote=“560sdl”]I have had a 20lb tank of C02 connected to my 4 keg kegerator for about 18 months continuously with the exception of packing it up to move it in March.
I am guessing it will run out sometime in the next few months, but clearly it does not have a leak.[/quote]Same here. My 20# 'er lasts up to 24 months for a five tapper. I never shut mine off except when a keg is close to empty, I shut off that keg at the manifold.
Never a reason to shut the tank off. Seems like another thing that hobbyists have invented to occupy too much spare time 
Like others, my 20lb tanks last a long time serving 4 taps and countless kegs. I think this last one is over a year since the last exchange. I use more during racking than serving.
