Diy Yeast Co2 With A Pressure Regulator And Timer

[Andy the minion]

Hello All,
Well posting is certainly a challenge, I have tried dozens of times with and without images and it is blocked by the Spam gods. Lets try an alternative method, This is a screen grab of the text, if this works I will try to add the real content afterwards.
Regards
AtM

 

[Andy the minion]

Hello All,
Well posting is certainly a challenge, I have tried dozens of times with and without images and it is blocked by the Spam gods. Lets try an alternative method, This is a screen grab of the text, if this works I will try to add the real content afterwards.
Regards
AtM

 

[Molli Polli]

Very fun! You put a lot of thought and work into taming the organic co2. Makes me want to share some of my journey!

When I started down the path of co2 I began with the diy options. I looked hard at going with a tank for pressurized co2 after not too long. I couldn't handle the lack of control.

Of course marriage puts limits on the purse hehe. And I kept mulling over how to fix it. I came across a "low" pressure regulator that a local business had special ordered a quantity of. After a lot of trial and error I ended up with a pretty solid setup.

I went with citric acid and baking soda for the reaction. There are 2 regulators one keeps steady pressure for the solenoid, control, counter and into the pump impeller.

The other regulator goes back to the acid bottle to keep it at a constant pressure so it only feeds the soda once the pressure drops below that setpoint. Check valves (good ones!) Keep things working smooth. They took me the longest to figure out.

Now there's no over pressurized bottles waiting to explode, and very little time fiddling with it anymore, just double checking pressure gages and fluid levels. It could build a ton of pressure, I'm limited to 55psi max by the hose I use. And I keep it at 20psi. The 1 liter bottles last about 4 weeks at 1 bubble a second. Since it's on a 3g tank with a 3g sump its good enough for me.

In the end I probably could have saved a lot of time going with a tank. But these sort of contraptions are another thing to enjoy about the hobby/obsession.

 

[Andy the minion]

Very fun! You put a lot of thought and work into taming the organic co2. Makes me want to share some of my journey!

When I started down the path of co2 I began with the diy options. I looked hard at going with a tank for pressurized co2 after not too long. I couldn't handle the lack of control.

Of course marriage puts limits on the purse hehe. And I kept mulling over how to fix it. I came across a "low" pressure regulator that a local business had special ordered a quantity of. After a lot of trial and error I ended up with a pretty solid setup.

I went with citric acid and baking soda for the reaction. There are 2 regulators one keeps steady pressure for the solenoid, control, counter and into the pump impeller.

The other regulator goes back to the acid bottle to keep it at a constant pressure so it only feeds the soda once the pressure drops below that setpoint. Check valves (good ones!) Keep things working smooth. They took me the longest to figure out.

Now there's no over pressurized bottles waiting to explode, and very little time fiddling with it anymore, just double checking pressure gages and fluid levels. It could build a ton of pressure, I'm limited to 55psi max by the hose I use. And I keep it at 20psi. The 1 liter bottles last about 4 weeks at 1 bubble a second. Since it's on a 3g tank with a 3g sump its good enough for me.

In the end I probably could have saved a lot of time going with a tank. But these sort of contraptions are another thing to enjoy about the hobby/obsession.


View attachment 14681

Oooo a chemistry set
A 3gln tank with a sump, wow that is unique! There must be a story behind that. I did also look at a baking soda system as these are inherently self pressure limiting but I was put off by the refill requirements with a bigger system. However it must also be possible to scale up a soda systems as well, it would probably need a tiny orifice (1/10ths of a mm I expect) in the acid line to restrict maximum liquid flow and prevent a sudden increase in production but that is achievable. If you ever try a large system I would be interested in knowing if it its practical. Take care when you start it up, it might be exciting

 

[EvolvedThreads]

Hello All,
Well posting is certainly a challenge, I have tried dozens of times with and without images and it is blocked by the Spam gods. Lets try an alternative method, This is a screen grab of the text, if this works I will try to add the real content afterwards.
Regards
AtM

View attachment 13525

I'm curious how far you got with your Yeastinator. I have been doing a lot of research on these types of setups. Although I haven't found anyone who is actually using any overflow with the yeast production, in principle, this is a lot like making sparkling wine (albeit in multiple bottles rather than one bottle.

 

[rajkm]

Yeast production cannot be controlled. Pressure regulating it can cause 2 types of failures. Either the bottle giving way (in ordinary bottles) or the intense pressure and co2 buildup killing off your yeast culture.
if you want to use pressure regulator with diy you have to go with a chemical reaction like citric acid one.

 

[EvolvedThreads]

@rajkm I've got a real cool little setup. The output is following a curve (higher at the beginning and trailing off later). At about the 3 week mark I've noted a big drop in daily production. I used a gelatin mixture of Sugar, Gelatin, and Water to try to keep the mixture running a bit longer, and then a mix of water and champagne yeast for the active CO2 production. I did this with about 500 ml of the sugar gelatin mixture and a liter of water w/ yeast (1G of yeast). I'm planning to try to do this with 2/3 the yeast this next time to see if I get a longer lasting mix. Then I may try a bigger bottle to see if I can get more longevity out of it. So all a bit of an experiment.