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Bottled O2
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 12:37 pm
by greggn
For those using the Bernzomatic O2 bottles for oxygenating their wort/wash/must prior to pitching, be aware, that they appear to be no longer sold at Home Depot.
My two local stores, here on the US east coast, have none in stock. It is no longer shown on the Home Depot website. Just for fun, I checked inventory in California and nothing there either.
They're still shown on the websites for Lowes, True Value, and Ace Hardware. My local Lowes had 11 in stock but not available on the shelf ... I had to place a web order and get them from "Customer Pickup" which makes me wonder if Lowes is in the process of discontinuing stocking them too.
For the record, yeah, I know there are other means of introducing O2 but this is part of my workflow and it works very, very well.
- bernz.jpg (13.09 KiB) Viewed 931 times
Re: Bottled O2
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2023 12:47 pm
by zed255
An 'R' sized cylinder from your local weld supplier will contain a fair bit more gas than one of those throw away cylinders without huge cost and not be much bigger physically. If you like to use pure O2 look into it.
Re: Bottled O2
Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2023 3:32 am
by Chauncey
Isn't that not pure o2 by our standards, industrial grade over food/medical grade...
Re: Bottled O2
Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2023 4:27 am
by still_stirrin
Chauncey wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2023 3:32 am
Isn't that not pure o2 by our standards, industrial grade over food/medical grade...
Well, the yeast will be perfectly ecstatic with commercial (industrial) grade O2. It’s a different story if YOU intend to suck on it, however. Either way (industrial or medical), both products are filled at your local Airgas supplier.
I have a 15# bottle of commercial O2 that I use to aerate my brews (stainless steel airstone) and it’s always worked just spectacular. I don’t think I’d want to pay for the medical grade tanks just for brewing.
Oh, and I have a couple of the small disposable Bernz-O-matic O2 bottles too for my Mapp-Oxy torch. It’s great for soldering copper, especially for making shotgun condensers. The pin-point flame is just what you need to melt the solder in a very controlled manner.
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Re: Bottled O2
Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2023 6:12 am
by zed255
Got a news flash for ya regarding O2. I work for a major supplier at a transfill station so I believe I can speak to this.
The different 'grades' are all decanted from one of two sources, either USP (United States Phamacopia, 'medical') or UHP (Ultra-High Purity, 'laboratory'). In most cases it is USP that is used, even in an industrial cylinder. The UHP only gets used where the increased purity is required. You read it right, medical oxygen is the lesser of the two, and this actually applies to some other gasses too, such as CO2.
It is the paper trail that differs, making a medical, or other consumable grades, traceable. The pre-fill inspection is the same, no cylinder with a contaminated / damaged valve nor an odour gets filled. The filler treats the cylinders the same. The QC lab verifies quality of medical and other consumable products before releasing, which doesn't happen with industrial but the gas and process is otherwise identical. There should be no reason to fear 'industrial' gas, it just isn't really any different except for traceability.
Re: Bottled O2
Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2023 2:39 pm
by BrewinBrian44
zed255 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2023 6:12 am
Got a news flash for ya regarding O2. I work for a major supplier at a transfill station so I believe I can speak to this.
The different 'grades' are all decanted from one of two sources, either USP (United States Phamacopia, 'medical') or UHP (Ultra-High Purity, 'laboratory'). In most cases it is USP that is used, even in an industrial cylinder. The UHP only gets used where the increased purity is required. You read it right, medical oxygen is the lesser of the two, and this actually applies to some other gasses too, such as CO2.
It is the paper trail that differs, making a medical, or other consumable grades, traceable. The pre-fill inspection is the same, no cylinder with a contaminated / damaged valve nor an odour gets filled. The filler treats the cylinders the same. The QC lab verifies quality of medical and other consumable products before releasing, which doesn't happen with industrial but the gas and process is otherwise identical. There should be no reason to fear 'industrial' gas, it just isn't really any different except for traceability.
Very interesting! I always wondered where it all came from
Re: Bottled O2
Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2023 2:23 pm
by elbono
BrewinBrian44 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 08, 2023 2:39 pma lot
Very interesting! I always wondered where it all came from
Most common gasses (nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, etc) are distilled, they compress air to get liquid then it goes into a column and then pull off components at different points. Same process that we use just the heat source is ambient since the liquid is at cryogenic temps.
The difference in a lot of materials is more about paperwork than the product