Dry Ice

so i'm sittinghere thinking tonight about beer(what else could i be thinking about right?). has any one ever used dry ice to carbonate before?? i mean it shouldwork, dry ice is just the solid form of co2 and as it melts and changes to its gaseous form in a sealed environment(like a keg) it should build up the pressure in the keg enough to carbonate the beer. :rockin:

or am i totally off my rocker here??

justbrewit said:

so i'm sittinghere thinking tonight about beer(what else could i be thinking about right?). has any one ever used dry ice to carbonate before?? i mean it shouldwork, dry ice is just the solid form of co2 and as it melts and changes to its gaseous form in a sealed environment(like a keg) it should build up the pressure in the keg enough to carbonate the beer. :rockin:

or am i totally off my rocker here??

Click to expand...

This has been discussed before (the search feature here is your friend). The bottom line though, was this: how do you measure how much to dump in there? And, once you've done it, how do you force your beer out of the keg? The problems discussed were numerous.

thats a hell of an idea.
maybe you could experiment on water. If you do it let us know how it work out for you.

might work in bottles

^^ you don't think something that could handle the pressure better like a corney would be the best option? I mean I don't think even if the experiment failed it wouldn't ruin the beer.

The search feature doesn't work for words three letters or less, so 'dry ice' won't bring anything up. I remember the long discussion about it. Basically the consensus came down to don't even try it with bottles, they'll either explode or not get carbed enough, and in theory it could work with kegs *IF* the relief valve is working properly.

I dont think its a good idea. When was the last time you put dry ice in water? The reaction is pretty violent. I suppose it could work in a keg, but theres no way in hell you are gonna get that to work for bottles. Sounds like a mess if you ask me

This sounds like a bad idea. As a kid, I made dry ice bombs out of plastic soda bottles (150+ psi burst point) with only a few small chunks of the stuff and some water.

From a scientific standpoint, the dry ice will sublimate very quickly, making large bubbles that quickly rise rather than go into solution (even in a sealed/closed environment). I suppose if you got the correct amount of dry ice into your keg/bottle and successfully avoided the bursting problem, you could force carbonate with agitation after building pressure - just like with a CO2 bottle.

The problem, then, is how much to use? Some math involving dry ice density and dissolved CO2 volume would help, but I don't have the resources or time to devote to that at the moment...sorry.

Had a brainstorm...dry ice could still have quite an interesting use in brewing as a wort chiller. Most microbes like oxygen, so if you overload the environment with CO2, you're not going to have much of a problem with contamination as you cool the wort. A nice large chunk of the stuff might do the trick. Of course, it might make a big, bubbly, sticky mess sort of like a brew pot boil over. You would also have to be sure to aerate well afterward. Anyone wanna try it?

eviltwinofjoni said:

The search feature doesn't work for words three letters or less, so 'dry ice' won't bring anything up.

Click to expand...

I've had good luck using Google to find discussions on here that the built-in search won't find.

Using your dry ice example, just go to Google and search for...

[ame="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22dry+ice%22+site%3Ahomebrewtalk.com"]"dry ice" site:homebrewtalk.com [/ame]

You can use the "site:" tag to search most websites.

Okay I'll step up to the plate. I'll be doing an extract for this cause I'm not putting in all the work of AG for this to fail.
some one post me up an extract 5g. Style is up to the poster (please something that will get out of my carboy quickly)
I will chill wort with DryIce and Keg with it also.
Let's do it!

Okay heres what I got so far commpresed co2 expands to 3000 times it's original size so how much do I need for a full corney keg. And I won't be chilling the wort with Co2 because the PH is 6.5.

Ok, so I got bored at work and did a little research. Turns out that "volumes of CO2" is a pretty nebulous measure and is only valid at 32 degrees F. According to this website, a "volume of CO2" can be approximated by 2 grams of CO2 per liter of water.

Some quick conversion says 5 gals is 18.9 liters, so you'd need 94.5 grams (3.33 oz) of CO2 to carbonate a standard homebrew batch of beer at 2.5 volumes.

Now, if you just measure 3.33 oz of dry ice into your keg and seal it, you technically have all of the CO2 you need, but you will probably not successfully dissolve 100% of the CO2 into your beer. Therefore you'd need an additional amount to create the pressure required in the "headspace," and I'm not quite sure how much extra you'd need.

If I were G. Cretin, I might start with 5 gallons of COLD water in a Corny keg, attach a pressure gauge to the gas ball lock, add 1 oz of dry ice, seal it, and monitor the results. If the pressure gets much above 30 psi, use the relief valve to avert disaster. Otherwise, when the pressure stops rising, shake the keg A LOT, and watch the pressure drop as CO2 goes into solution. When the pressure stops dropping, pour yourself a glass and taste the result. Repeat with increasing 1 oz increments of dry ice until you are either satisfied that this works, or decide to abandon it because shaking 5 gallons of water is a lot of work.

You could also scale the experiment down to a 1 or 2 liter plastic bottle...just be careful!

If I decide to give this a shot, I'll certainly post the results! If you try this, please use caution, but definitely share your results.

On a different note, the website above is an excellent resource, and I carbonate homemade soda quite often with a similar system to the one shown there.

Thanx for the research. I was going to have to call a friend that would know these things. I am going to need a pressure gage. anyone know where to find the right one for this application?

Suggest scavenging one from the low pressure side of a CO2 regulator - I have several, one reads 0-60 psi, another 0-120 psi.

I'll have to get some pressure rated line too.

Hazards:

[ame]http://youtube.com/watch?v=cTP4yp8y_NA&mode=related&search=[/ame]