Beer Forum

I just put an American Wheat into my keg and I was purging the head space with my small cartridge co2 system (I know, I know but it is what I have) and when I went to take the cartridge off the handle, I smelled an odor reminiscent of diesel exhaust. These are not the ones from the home brew store but ones I picked up from the sporting goods store in my town. I have never had this issue before with these but what I want to know is will that odor get into the beer. I have bled most of the pressure form the keg and I am going to pick up some regular cartridges from the home brew store today if I can get over there. I will taste test in a few days to see what happens but any advice will be appreciated.

I use those things too when my main tank is empty or I have an emergency...I think you're okay as I have used the bb gun ones and HBS ones and I don't notice a difference...in fact the ones my HBS carries seem to be the bb gun type ones...I just used a couple to keg my bohemian pils and it tastes fine so far...I'm going to look into this further and will repost if I find anything weird.

update...I smell the diesel smell you describe in one type (Crossman) and not in the other so maybe you don't want to use them...I used one on my pils and I don't notice a difference or off flavor but now I am a little spooked too...I guess you could get some other ones and purge out the nasty one and replace with a non smelly one?...I guess it depends on the beer its in too...anyone else out there have some input?

If you purge and refill I doubt you will have problem. Did you let it sit a long time? If not, your probably not going to get any odor extraction.

I am pretty sure that some of the cartridges that are sold for bicycle tire inflation are filled with propane rather than CO2. But I thought it was only the Big Air cartridges. Maybe not?

I sent Crosman an email when this thread first started hoping for a little insight. All I have to report is that apparently they don't care too much about homebrewers. Not even the cookie-cutter, Thanks for your message. I'm still a little curious, perhaps they'll get back to me someday, but I kinda doubt it.

I saw an old post on the Northern Brewer forum on this topic. Apparently one of the folks there contacted Daisy. The response from the Daisy folks was that all the cartridges they carry do contain oil to ensure that the interior parts of air rifles get lubricated. The post was a couple years old, but I would suspect that at least some of the cartridges still being produced continue to contain oil.

Wayne

Bugeater wrote:I saw an old post on the Northern Brewer forum on this topic. Apparently one of the folks there contacted Daisy. The response from the Daisy folks was that all the cartridges they carry do contain oil to ensure that the interior parts of air rifles get lubricated. The post was a couple years old, but I would suspect that at least some of the cartridges still being produced continue to contain oil.

Wayne

I suspected as much & even asked about it in the email I sent them. Good to know. Thanks Boog