I Know Its Nothing New But..

[DanRayner]

yeah the red pressure dial....it is really hard turn.
the design is not great ...( it does work well though ...just hard to turn ) .

The more pressure the harder it is to turn.......doubt I could do it without a shifter...a big one..
Ok for dispensing pressure but for gassing a keg near impossible by bare hand.

but for $36 ....great for a party

So if I bought it only for the soda stream bottles then it wouldn't be a problem and well worth the $36, right?

 

[MarkBastard]

So if I bought it only for the soda stream bottles then it wouldn't be a problem and well worth the $36, right?

Correct. For soda stream use you'd probably be able to just set and forget it.

 

[Phoney]

Excuse my n00bness, but I finally got around to hooking up my sodastream bottle & micromatic regulator today.... and ive had a failboat.

When I screw the soda bottle onto the regulator am I supposed to have the shut off valve (I think that's what it's called - the big knob in the middle) screwed all the way down (closed) or all the way up (open)?

Ive tried either way and as soon as I screw the sodastream bottle in past a certain way gas wooshes out of the red relief valve. What am I doing wrong?

 

[dkaos]

Excuse my n00bness, but I finally got around to hooking up my sodastream bottle & micromatic regulator today.... and ive had a failboat.

When I screw the soda bottle onto the regulator am I supposed to have the shut off valve (I think that's what it's called - the big knob in the middle) screwed all the way down (closed) or all the way up (open)?

Ive tried either way and as soon as I screw the sodastream bottle in past a certain way gas wooshes out of the red relief valve. What am I doing wrong?

Hey phoneyhuh,

This happened to me when I first got my C02 bottle. Ensure that you've tightened the nut on the reg to the cylinder and have the "shut off valve" screwed all the way out. You'll feel it become slightly tight when you are screwing it out. When this happens, the gas will shut off.

As you're using a sodastream bottle and you don't have a valve to adjust, this will be your only way of turning it off. So once it's out, slowly start to open the valve and you should hear the gas fill the keg. If you've got any other kind of manifold make sure it's open and can allow the gas to get to the keg. Otherwise, post a pic of what you've got and someone will surely attend to it.

Cheers

Clint

 

[WildaYeast]

Back to using my soda stream bottle right now, as I had a valve problem on my large CO2 cylinder. Really enjoying the back up now.

Re connections, agree with Clint. For mine --

1. Attach adapter to regulator. Tighten this with a wrench.
2. Make sure the pressure adjusting know on reg is turned all the way out (leftsy loosy or counter-clockwise -- it'll go slack)
3. Screw the soda stream tank into the regulator.

If you screw on the adapter first, it'll just leak -- there's no valve.

If you don't have the adapter and regulator connected tight enough, you'll get a leak there (happened to me just recently, as I didn't use the wrench first).

Having the pressure knob in or out shouldn't actually matter if you've got a CO2 quick disconnect attached, but it's good practice anyhow to have reg backed off and will let you check for leaks before you engage more of the system.

 

[WildaYeast]

Re the note on the soda stream bottle about 40l of soda, someone told me that soda was much more carbonated than beer -- about double. I reckon that's the difference in the posts above, more volumes of CO2.

Anyone have any idea on what sort of pressure's required to make a keg of soda water? Have been meaning to do this for my kid for a while. Don't have a dual reg, but figured I could carb it up over a week or so and then just top up periodically. Anyone done this?

 

[milob40]

you'll need a big shifter with that one.

I have one ....it works ...but you can't turn up the pressure without using a shifter.

mine bleeds unwanted pressure into the line even when turned to 0
need a 24" shifter for these bastards,
danger wil robinson danger, mine didn't even last a day, returning it for a tesuco :icon_cheers:

 

[Phoney]

Thanks for your help guys!

Ive had a bit more success this time round, im still getting a very slow leak between the regulator and the sodastream adapter. Ive tightened it as much as I could but I think im going to need to get a second wrench so that I can do them up even tighter.

Anyone have any idea on what sort of pressure's required to make a keg of soda water? Have been meaning to do this for my kid for a while. Don't have a dual reg, but figured I could carb it up over a week or so and then just top up periodically. Anyone done this?

Im testing it out with water and it just isnt carbonating! Tried leaving the gas on @ 300kPa for several mins, rolling back & forth, rocking back & forth etc, still goes back to 0 and produces a very flat soda water. :huh:

Any ideas?

 

[WildaYeast]

Im testing it out with water and it just isnt carbonating! Tried leaving the gas on @ 300kPa for several mins, rolling back & forth, rocking back & forth etc, still goes back to 0 and produces a very flat soda water. :huh:

Any ideas?

You can carbonate two ways, or actually three (at least).

One is to simply prime your keg, as you would for bottling and give it a week or so at ~18-22 degrees. Leaves a bit of sediment behind, but doesn't use CO2 (you can also rack early, but takes a bit of judgement).

With CO2, you can just dial it up a bit higher than you want, say 140, leave it for a day or two and then wind it back and leave it for a week or so. All of this cold.

If you are impatient, you can do what you are trying to do -- force carbonate. There would be a few posts on this here if you search. Basically, about 300 kpa for about 5-6 minutes, with the keg on its side and gas in at the bottom, and rocking sufficient to keep the stream of gas bubbling in (you can hear it). If the beer (or water) isn't cold, this ain't going to work.

Even if you do force carbonate, it really takes a week for the beer to settle in in terms of everything blending. If you taste it each day, it will change.

There's lots of info on here and lots of good books. Read a bit more and then experiment. Enjoy the journey.

 

[Thunderlips]

Happiness is a portable CO2 regulator

That aint portable...

This is portable...

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=1090

Your post just reminded me that mine has been at a mates for about a year now.
Time to go and get it!

 

[felten]

That aint portable...

This is portable...

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=1090

That is awesome , the price isn't though.

 

[Peteoz77]

I have one of these, and I love it.

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=979

Especially after you find a CHEAP source of bulbs. They cost me about $1.50 each, and it takes 3 to empty a keg.