Beverage Air BM23 with a 10lb tank inside?

[Caniac Nation]

Just got my BM23 and I'm getting my new 10lb CO2 tank filled. Will a 10lb tank fit inside along with a 1/2 keg? Looks tight The 10lb tank won't fit on the ledge, under the fan overhang, but I wondered if there is enough room on the floor or with the tank tilted diagonally. Thanks!

[THE ICEMAN]

A 10 pounder is roughly 7" in dia. and a standard half barrel is a little over 16" You would need to get out the old tape measure & take some measurements. And be careful tilting the tank. What you do not want to do is tilt the tank to the point where liquid co2 is injected into your regulator/keg.


THE ICEMAN

[Abraxas]

I'd love to know how this works as I'm still shopping for tanks waiting on my BM23 to arrive. I talked to a Bev Air tech about drilling through the cabinet and he said it would void the NSF or something or other ratings. Warned to stay away from the coils of course. It seems to me that having the tank and gauges outside would be alot easier to deal with regarding pressure adjustments.

[Acmemfg]

Can be done without drilling the box (although the aestetics may not be to your liking).
Remove the tower-lie it horizontal on a stable, covered surface.
CAREFULLY mark rear center with a pin punch and drill a small hole-like 1/16' or less.
Now drill a larger hole...maybe 1/8", next 3/16"

Next crack out the hole saw; drill just enough to let the CO2 line pass through. Run it into the box to your coupler or air distributor. Seal up any gaps in the hole...there you have it. I would suggest you drill in the rear of the tower so it doesn't look too goofy.

[Abraxas]

Got my BM23 in yesterday, will be getting a 10 lb. tank tomorrow from Ebay, BUT, after running a tape I'm pretty sure I'll be leaving the tank outside. A BM tech said I could drill in the back of the cabinet above the compressor area but need to stay within 3" of the outside coils so I don't hit a refrigerant line. Anyone have any experience with this? What kind of drill bit? Regular metal?

Can't believe they don't do this at the ******* and plug it with a rubber plug like True does.

As an aside, what a beautiful piece of equipment this box is....can't wait to fire it up. I got it shipped for less than $1,100. PM me if interested.

Mark

[Acmemfg]

You may want to consider thinking keg size. I seldom run a 1/2 bbl keg; usually a couple slim pny kegs and or 3 1/6 bbl kegs. Ample room for a 5 lb CO2 tank inside with all that. But if drill you must-

Be really careful and pay attention to where you are going. Study the box from both inside and out. Nice thing about the aformentioned drill through the tower idea...even if you mess it up badly, a tower is tons cheaper to replace or fix than a refrigeration unit. Good luck

PS why a 10 lb tank? I get almost a year from the 5 lb version.

[Abraxas]

I chose a 10 lb. because a refurbished, hydro tested alum. tank was only $69 shipped (half the price of a new 5 lb.) and I don't feel like giving someone a brand new alum. tank as an exchange and getting a filled rust bucket back, which is my only option where I live unless I want to drive 65 miles. Also, a 10 lb. is more convenient and only about a buck more "to fill" than a 5 lb., $14.50, $1.45/lb. I must drink alot more beer than you do as I don't see even a 10 pounder lasting me more than a year. In addition, I want to monitor my gauges outside of the box - they're easier to read in better light conditions.

I don't want to see a line running across a classy S/S top as opposed to being hidden coming out of the back unless I'm missing something regarding your suggestion.

Thanks

[cubby_swans]

10lbs of co2 is going to last you through about 16 1/2 barrels, unless you have a co2 leak.

That's 248 gallons of beer
1984 Pints
31744 ounces of beer.

That's about 5 1/2 pints or 7 1/4 standard 12oz bottles of beer every day.
If this is your consumption rate....

[Acmemfg]

No issues with me....the joy of owning a kegerator is the ability to do with it whatever you like. Like Cubby advises, 10 lbs of CO2 will last you a long time unless you really like drinking beer. As far as the swap out, nice thing about many CO2 suppliers is if you just exchange tanks (not unlike Blue Rhino propane) you always have a properly hydrostated tank and don't have to worry about getting it retested ever. Truth be told, if your rig is set up correctly, you should have to look at your gauges about twice a year...if you're bored. Mess with a balanced system and you are asking for trouble (I may post something about this later on....). CO2 should be for the most part a set it and forget it situation.

Can't dispute aestetics; I have a BM23 and indeed it is a nice looking piece of equipment. As I keep glassware stored on top sitting on clean bar towels, should I have chosen to run a CO2 line out the tower, the visual impact would have been minimal if at best.

[Abraxas]

10lbs of co2 is going to last you through about 16 1/2 barrels, unless you have a co2 leak.

That's 248 gallons of beer
1984 Pints
31744 ounces of beer.

That'll work for me!

No issues with me....the joy of owning a kegerator is the ability to do with it whatever you like. Like Cubby advises, 10 lbs of CO2 will last you a long time unless you really like drinking beer. As far as the swap out, nice thing about many CO2 suppliers is if you just exchange tanks (not unlike Blue Rhino propane) you always have a properly hydrostated tank and don't have to worry about getting it retested ever. Truth be told, if your rig is set up correctly, you should have to look at your gauges about twice a year...if you're bored. Mess with a balanced system and you are asking for trouble (I may post something about this later on....). CO2 should be for the most part a set it and forget it situation.

Can't dispute aestetics; I have a BM23 and indeed it is a nice looking piece of equipment. As I keep glassware stored on top sitting on clean bar towels, should I have chosen to run a CO2 line out the tower, the visual impact would have been minimal if at best.

Nice setup! This aint St Louis where I live, I'm in the boonies and being in a rural area, I'm pretty much stuck with the typical Bud, Miller, Coors stuff. <sigh>

I'm "gauging" what my cousin does with his rig. It seems he's always jacking around with his pressure. Of course it's an old box that I recommended dumping a long time ago. I would assume that 10 lbs. would be sufficient for 16.5 barrels but at a pretty low pressure.

[cubby_swans]

I would assume that 10 lbs. would be sufficient for 16.5 barrels but at a pretty low pressure.

16 1/2 barrels with 10lbs of co2 using the generally used 12psi.

The only reason you should ever change your pressure is to balance your keg depending on the volumes of co2 the beer is kegged at and the temperature of the beer.

[Caniac Nation]

Question: what does your capacity show for your 10 tanks? Seems like when I set up the new system about a week ago the intial pressure was like 800 lbs. Since then it's stabilized at 500 lbs. Do I have a leak?

[cubby_swans]

Question: what does your capacity show for your 10 tanks? Seems like when I set up the new system about a week ago the intial pressure was like 800 lbs. Since then it's stabilized at 500 lbs. Do I have a leak?

The guage your're reading is not a volume guage. That reading is dependent on the ambient temperature (room temp). The higher the room temperature, the higher the pressure guage reads.

Your co2 tank has liquid co2 in it, and gas co2 occupies the headspace. The guage measures the pressure of the co2 gas in the headspace. When you draw a beer, some of that gas co2 enters the keg to displace the liquid you just poured out, and then a bit of the liquid co2 in the co2 tank evaporates to replace that co2. The process repeats until you are out of liquid co2. Only then will your tank guage start to drop, and that means you are almost out of co2. Depending on how much beer you drink, at that point you should have several days to a week or more before you completely run out.

[hbsongs]

Maybe I dreamed this while enjoying my BM23 and Sam Adams Octoberfest, but I thought I had seen somewhere in all the paperwork and brochures that came with it that there was a pre-drilled knockout in the unit to accomodate an external line.

[Abraxas]

No pre-drilled knockout but it doesn't matter, my 10 pounder fit fine. The 1/2 keg I got yesterday is a little smaller in diameter than expected at 15.5". I reversed the pressure dual gauges so that they are upside down and facing to the right/front, put the tank on the far right side on the ledge and strapped it in with the springlike strap that is supposed to be used to strap in the waste bottle. Only downside is that the keg has to be pulled out a bit to read the low side pressure.

Door closed fine, in fact I have a tad bit of room to spare.