I am finally going to start kegging. Since I brew small batches and will be using small kegs, I was thinking it might be more convenient to use paintball tanks. I know there are specialized paintball regulators and adapters, but I also see adapters that could let me scale up to regular CO2 tanks as needed:
http://www.amazon.com/AQUATEK-CO2-Paintball-Tank-Adapter/dp/B004M49QDC
Can I assume these work ok?
(Someone) 
posted a long thread not too long ago about CO2 tanks and the purity of gases. He came to the conclusion that the tank is the point of concern. I would read up on paintball tanks before I used them with beer. Just my .02.
I have been reading up on paintball tanks, including searching the Forum. Not sure who “someone” is, just tried another search, etc. Haven’t been on forum that much while I’ve been in the middle of a job change, parental health crisis, household move, & progress in a doctoral program… just took a rare break to dip in for advice.
This would be a new tank that would be filled, not exchanged.
Back to studying…
Here you go…https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=23158.0
Again, this was really more about the gas component, but people commented on the quality of the tank as well.
Whew, thanks. Definitely interesting thread worth thinking about.
That will work. I ended up getting one with a thread going right into the regulator body already attached but if you have an extra regulator sitting around. You can get one of those that you posted. I’m not sure on the right hand or left had thread part for the adaptor below that goes right into the regulator body.
I did find a full size regular to be a bit tippy if the bottle was sitting by itself.
I ended up getting this. Its 10 bucks more that when it came our a few weeks go but way cheaper that the 135 when I first started looking into them.
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/PAINTBALL-TANK-MINI-REGULATOR-P3933.aspx
If you are worried about the quality of the paintball tanks, keg outlet sells manufacture cleaned tanks as “food grade”
I’ve used paintball tanks a couple times. I’ve never really worried about it. The tanks a brand new, sold empty.
For the regulator, I use one of these: http://www.amazon.com/J-6901-91-Portable-Compressed-Pneumatic-Regulator/dp/B000QF7I7W/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8
Thanks all. This is a lot of great information. (And I like that paintball regulator… I should go for “more flexible” but it’s a fascinating piece of equipment.) – kgs
Those mini-regulators are cool and I’ve wanted one for years. Never could justify the expense, though.
Prices coming down make it more appealing. I remember when they were over $100
I’ve used that JacPac thing I bought maybe a total of three or four times. I think I paid $40 for it and even that’s hard to justify since I don’t use it much.
It’s also complicated getting the paintball tanks filled. One of the lovely things about living in Chicago is that I cannot get paintball CO2 tanks in the city. You need to drive way out into the hinterlands. My local gas place wants $10 to fill a 20 oz. paintball tank, $15 for a 5 lb. tank. Dick’s will fill the small tank for a couple bucks and even free sometimes, but I have to drive 45 minutes to get there.
Having moved from San Francisco to the North Bay, things like paintball CO2 refills are not too hard (no idea what it was like in SF). Dicks’ around here confessed that their CO2 had been broken for more than a month. Sports Authority assured me they could do it, no problem, and they are ten minutes away. There are other CO2 places around here as well.