Tubing extension for CO2 charger?

Hi All,
If possible I would like to be able to charge my 5 gallon soda keg from outside my home-made kegerator, which is a small fridge (that is not super accessible) in my small bar. Following force carbonation with a regular tank setup, I have been recently switching to the CO2 charger for dispensing. It would be nice to be able to give the a couple of CO2 injections as the keg gets low to keep the flow going nicely out of the tap on the top of the bar, without having to actually dig into the fridge in the bowels of the bar to get at the charger. Would it be reasonable to use hose clamps and put reinforced tubing in between the CO2 charger and keg, so I can have the charger sitting out in an accessible place (versus in the fridge hooked directly to the keg)? If so, any suggestions on how to rig this safely?

Many thanks!!
Mark

That would be fine, I have my co2 tank and regulator outside the fridge, connected to a 4-way distributor, 2 of those are run through the wall of the fridge to the kegs.

I’m confused, why are you switching to a CO2 charger after carbing with a regular tank? Is the tank not near the kegerator? I assume by CO2 charger you mean those little portable things with no regulator that use the small CO2 cartridges.

Thanks for the responses! Just to clarify, my bar is backed up against a wall in our rather small abode, so getting into the fridge, which holds the keg and either the CO2 tank (or little portable CO2 charger), is a bit of a pain if I want to add a little CO2. The regular CO2 tank barely fits in the fridge with the keg, so to increase pressure I have to drag out the bar, get in the fridge, wrestle with the tank behind the keg, adjust pressure, etc. I was hoping to go to the little portable chargers exclusively for both force carbing and dispensing, but I found it is pretty inefficient to force carb with these. So I force carb with the tank, and then switch to the portable as a potentially easy way to add a little CO2 without having to get into the fridge (pending figuring out how to connect a gas line so as to have the charger outside the fridge.) This morning after I posted to the forum I found a 1/4" MFL to 1/4" MFL connector (http://www.midwestsupplies.com/1-4-mfl-to-1-4-mfl.html) that will allow me to connect the threaded portable charger to Northern Brewer gas line (Gas Connector kit KX03). I also ordered a re-seal kit for my keg, which is long overdue, as I don’t remember in the past having to up the CO2 to keep the draft system going robustly now, so I am wondering if I have a leak in the seal(s) on my keg? Anyway, hopefully one or both of these things will do the trick for smooth, carbonated dispensing in my system. Thanks again, and great to be a part of the forum now!

The long term cost of your proposal would steer me away from it. That and the risk of over carbonation a beer.

I would look into running a long line from the CO2 tank into the fridge. There must be someplace in the general area that you can store a tank and run anywhere from 5-20 (or more) feet of line?

+1. No need to reinvent the wheel, on top of which those little CO2 cartridges cost a fortune.

+1. No need to reinvent the wheel, on top of which those little CO2 cartridges cost a fortune.[/quote]

What they said

Thanks so much for the advice! Happy brewing…