The big suppliers like Airgas definitely gouge for small tank refills. It’s just not a business catering to customers like homebrewers. Unfortunately a lot of the independent welding supply shops seem to be going out of business, like many other small businesses in general.
Right .. if it’s not successful and lucrative, they disappear and this is what I see here locally. Weird because I live in a metro area with 8-9 million people and you’d think there would be many options but there aren’t. At least right now. Btw, what led to this most recent issue is that I had a bad in-post o-ring on a keg and I let a full tank of CO2 bleed out overnight. 
I just swapped a 5 and a 20 at a firefighter place. $60 total. About a 40 minute drive each way, but I live 25 minutes out of town.
1 Like
You’re like that guy on the plane who tells you his airline ticket was $2. 
I kid.
what can I say? 
That’s very true. Geography dictates the climate for bottles gas availability for any home brewer. I live in the middle of nowhere in Colorado and my closest, and seemingly reputable supplier, is the Airgas location in Pueblo. They’re aver an hour drive from me. That said, they’re certainly not the cheapest option but a big enough bottled gas supplier that I can confidently purchase food and beverage grade CO2 and know what I’m getting. Buying from local HVAC suppliers or fire extinguisher companies, I have no idea what the overall quality or purity might be.
1 Like
In the 10 years I have been serving my beers on handpull I have never replaced a CO2 tank. Based on some of the prices I have seen I think my beer engines are now “free”
Which is great for the styles you brew. Wouldn’t work for me.
To chime in a bit late on tis thread, I have a local welding store near me and am on their tank exchange program. They will swap tanks for me even if they are out of date and will hydro test the swapped tank that is out of date. CO2 tanks have to be hydro tested every 5 years. The only one I have a problem with is my older “pencil” tank (a tall and skinny one) which fits better next to my keezer in the basement. They will hydro test it and refill it for me when it is time and it is not too expensive for me to do have it done there. If you can find an outfit like this, you might try to get on their exchange program.
curious how that works? so you have a CO2 tank hooked up, but you also naturally carb (i think, correct?) so CO2 is generatedbefore you hook it up to the gas?
tbh i intend to naturally carb mine in keg as well, its worked well so far.
yeah and my 2 cents i do the same, i use a fire extinguisher / fire safety shop. he refilled it rather than exchange, somewhat expensive at $35 CAD monopoly money (thats about $6 american i think).
Yes I naturally carbonate. I vent my kegs sort of a manual spunding so that the beer does not flow through the engine. Though it does the first few pours.
After that I can pull beers through the engine and since I don’t drink every day the beer generates enough CO2 and reaches an equilibrium so the next time I have enough over pressure to pull beers but not enough to force the beer out
When I start to feel resistance I hook up my CO2 through the cask breather and to the corny keg. This allows just enough CO2 to enter to displace the volume of beer.
Thus I use very little CO2
1 Like
I read on the Beer Engine vs Nitro thread where people use a bag system to dispense via hand pumps so there is no need for CO2 or a cask breather setup. I think that is very good idea. However I already had corny kegs from when I traditionally dispensed (still naturally carbonated) so I did not pursue that option.