Hey, I’m new here but I started brewing last winter. I’m just about to keg for the first time in the next few days and I have an empty 5lb CO2 tank but I’m not sure where to get it filled.
Is it important that the CO2 be food grade? At mout international they told me that they recommend Guard X that’s near them, but I read somewhere else that it’s not necessarily food grade. And I saw that Choppe à Barrock only does exchanges for 5lb tanks.
What would be the best place to get my tank filled rather than exchanged? I live in Villeray if that helps.
@promaz Welcome to the club. The majority of our members fill up their tanks at one of the places listed on our resources page.
As for your worries about the CO2 being food grade, just remember that the source of the CO2 is all the same. Grading is determined by the way it is handled and stored. Places like Guard X or Globe may have a primary business of fire extinguishers, but it is the same truck that delivers bulk CO2 to them or a microbrewery. They even use the same type of storage vessels. Personally I’m not too worried that it is not labeled “food grade”.
Great, thanks for the info!
My biggest concern was the “food grade” question because I had read on a few reddit threads that it was something to worry about, but I guess I’ll go to Guard X if it’s not a big deal.
I’ve heard the same for medical and food grade oxygen. Apprently it’s the same product than industrial grade.
Medical grade tank has only been into hospital, same for food grade and so on.
Yup, Globe was my “go to” the whole time I was living in Dorval. Definitely the cheapest of all places in town and they usually do it while you wait. They also sold a bunch of second-hand tanks at one point for really good prices and several MontreAlers picked some up. The ONLY drawback: they’re not open on Saturdays.
Now that I live closer to Cornwall than Montreal, it’s costing $20 (tax in) to refill a 5 lb tank but $65+ for a 20 lb trade-in.
At least this way I don’t have to recertify my tank every 5 years or so.
Wow good to know! I ended up going to Guard X just now, but I might have tried Globe if I’d seen these messages before, even though it’s a bit farther.
I’ll keep that in mind for next time!
Somewhat related question, I also have a mini-keg that I plan on bringing to parks that uses those little CO2 cartridges similar to the ones for air guns. Do you guys think it would be safe to use those air gun cartridges with the mini-keg instead of buying the cartridges from a brewing supply store?
Plus sérieusement, lorsque j’ai besoin de transporter des quantités relativement grosses je prends simplement mon keg de 3 gallons et ma bonbonne 5lb (ou encore mieux une 2.5lb pour ceux qui en ont).
Sinon pour les petites quantités, bouteilles/growlers marchent très bien comme tu dis.
I bought my son-in-law a 64 Oz ukeg for xmas. Works great. They come visit more often so he can fill it and it helps empty my kegs so I can brew more often. Win, win. I have one too and I’ve had beer in it for a couple weeks and it was still good.
