Larger CO2 Cylinders: To Rent or Not

[robdebagel]

I own a couple of 2.6kg cylinders I use at home for dispensing, but I also camp with a medium size crew at a few festivals per year and we've been chewing through *ahem* a lot of beer and gas. Hence, I'm pricing up larger capacity options.

The price of a rented 6/10kg cylinder from BOC looks attractive compared to homebrew shop fills, and rental could be sensible as it's only needed for a few days at at time, a few times a year.

Anyone done something similar? Did it work out to be a 'good option' in terms of price/overall experience vs. purchasing a larger cylinder outright?

 

[homebrewnewb]

have a look at the 9L on ebay from RC or something from 200$ owned outright.
been going well for me.

 

[Bribie G]

I've been living in regional areas but always with a BOC depot locally so have rented 10k VT sized cylinders for my entire brewing career.
Costs me the equivalent of a schooner at the pub weekly. No biggie.

If I'd purchased initially I would have had to hunt around for refills due to LHBS closing or going out of gas and at one stage would have faced a half day round trip.

Also if you move house removalists wont touch gas. With BOC you hand cylinder in at Hobart and pick up new one at Perth as an example.

Depending on your area some depots will deliver when they do their gas run to farms or workshops.

Edit. The whole system is really bulletproof, once you set up your account they know what individual bottle you hold and when you drop it back they gun the bar code on the bottle. All your details come up so you tap your card, they gun the barcode on the fresh bottle, put it in your car and you piss off.
10 mins.

 

[RobW]

I rented an "F" size cylinder for many years.
Cost from Air Liquide was about $70 pa (maybe a bit more?) for rental and about the same for a fill every 3 years or so.
Upsides - cheap (although costs started moving up recently) and one fill lasts a long time.
Downsides = Heavy and hard to get into the car for swapover. Safety issues with that volume of CO2.
I ended up buying a "D" outright and I think it will be cheaper over the long term.
And easier to move.

 

[manticle]

I've been living in regional areas but always with a BOC depot locally so have rented 10k VT sized cylinders for my entire brewing career.
Costs me the equivalent of a schooner at the pub weekly. No biggie.

If I'd purchased initially I would have had to hunt around for refills due to LHBS closing or going out of gas and at one stage would have faced a half day round trip.

Also if you move house removalists wont touch gas. With BOC you hand cylinder in at Hobart and pick up new one at Perth as an example.

Depending on your area some depots will deliver when they do their gas run to farms or workshops.

Edit. The whole system is really bulletproof, once you set up your account they know what individual bottle you hold and when you drop it back they gun the bar code on the bottle. All your details come up so you tap your card, they gun the barcode on the fresh bottle, put it in your car and you piss off.
10 mins.

Have you ever met anyone at BOC Hobart?

**** me dead.

Actually the swap/go guy is the only one with any brains so you might be ok.

 

[pcmfisher]

You can rent by the month if you are only using it a few times a year, but you would probably find one months rent plus a refill (I reckon they will charge you for a full refill) would probably equal half a year's rent anyway.

Renting is extortion. Buy a kk bottle and you will be ahead after a year or two depending how much gas you use and you will still have a salable item if you want to get rid of it.

 

[pcmfisher]

Have you ever met anyone at BOC Hobart?

**** me dead.

Actually the swap/go guy is the only one with any brains so you might be ok.

It aint only Hobart. I don't think they are allowed to employ bright sparks in case of explosions.

 

[Lionman]

I paid $180 for a new KK 6KG and it costs $50 to exchange it at the HBS.

Might b able to save a few bucks if I got it refilled somewhere but can't be bothered. It's easy at the HBS and I can get other supplies while I'm there.

 

[Brewnicorn]

I called up a BOC branch in Melbourne and they were offering a D size Co2 bottle for rent $70 a year with a free refill. I have no idea if that's good value but probably timely for me to ask, is it?

When I was searching gumtree recently this little ad popped up for disposable Co2 cylinders.

Thoughts at all? Seems ok with the regulator included perhaps environmental concerns with the packaging and waste.
http://www.hampdon.com.au/disposable-gas-bottle-pure-co2-2.2-litre-combo-kit

 

[Lionman]

I called up a BOC branch in Melbourne and they were offering a D size Co2 bottle for rent $70 a year with a free refill. I have no idea if that's good value but probably timely for me to ask, is it?

When I was searching gumtree recently this little ad popped up for disposable Co2 cylinders.

Thoughts at all? Seems ok with the regulator included perhaps environmental concerns with the packaging and waste.
http://www.hampdon.com.au/disposable-gas-bottle-pure-co2-2.2-litre-combo-kit

What does a refill/exchange cost at BOC for the D size (6kg)?

A mate bought one of the Hampton O2 kits for wort oxygenation. Seems like a wasteful way to source CO2 though.

 

[Andy_27]

I called up a BOC branch in Melbourne and they were offering a D size Co2 bottle for rent $70 a year with a free refill. I have no idea if that's good value but probably timely for me to ask, is it?

When I was searching gumtree recently this little ad popped up for disposable Co2 cylinders.

Thoughts at all? Seems ok with the regulator included perhaps environmental concerns with the packaging and waste.
http://www.hampdon.com.au/disposable-gas-bottle-pure-co2-2.2-litre-combo-kit

It's 2.2 LITRES... the bottle I have is 2.6Kg. I think theres a big difference in the amount of gas you actually get.

 

[Brewnicorn]

What does a refill/exchange cost at BOC for the D size (6kg)?

A mate bought one of the Hampton O2 kits for wort oxygenation. Seems like a wasteful way to source CO2 though.

Refills from memory were up at the $70 mark too. Don't quote me.

 

[Bribie G]

What does a refill/exchange cost at BOC for the D size (6kg)?

A mate bought one of the Hampton O2 kits for wort oxygenation. Seems like a wasteful way to source CO2 though.

When I arrived in Kyogle the local depot only had D size which is 6 kilos as opposed to the VT which is 10. They could have got in a VT but I thought WTF just take the thing.

IIRC the refill was about $48 which was a rort as the VT is around $58.

I'd guess that's why they are offering a special on renting the D size as it's probably not getting many takers. If you can get it for a cheap rental with a free refill, then go for it.
The D size actually lasted me for about 18 months then I went VT at my recent rental.

 

[Bonenose]

Just got a 6kg bottle off BOC in Darwin $79 per year with free refill every year.

 

[pcmfisher]

$70 odd for a years rental. Things must be going tough for them. It's usually closer to $200