Practical use of Argon, Nitrogen, CO2

I went with Argon. I got it from a local welding gas supply shop.

I bought a 5lb tank. (looks like

Then I went to my local hardware store and bought an air nozzle that looks a heck of a lot like this.

My regulator goes from 0 to 35 CFM.

I set mine to about 3-4 CFM and let it fill. You will need to do your own calculations using volume of container and flow-rate to determine how long to fill, but keep in mind argon is heavier than air and really, you only need to blanket your wine to keep the oxygen off of it.

I am very happy with it. I use it to top off carboys and bottles (the few i do not finish......) lol

Rule of thumb for CO2 and Ar, use twice the volume of the ullage. Re-gas weekly. However consider that doing this is a bit like putting something in the refrigerator, it will still go bad, but not as fast. Try to top it, or move it to a vessel which matches the volume. Full tanks are the way to got, if you have a little bit that is not full, then keep lots of SO2 in it, say 50 free SO2 min, then back blend this across the final blend.

James.

My newsreader (Thunderbird) seems to be unable to search on sender. :( When I try to search I get an error "NNTP: aborted by user" error message and no results. And so I can not find the posts by Tom S you refer to. So at the risk of repeating old content, my understanding on bottled gasses was that the greatest risk was concerning the quality/purity of the gas, as anything other than medical grade carried the risk of all kinds of contaminants including oils and other substances being contained in the gas. Is this a realistic concern, and if so how have you protected your wine against foreign substances being introduced via bottles gasses?

Cheers, Ken

Hmm, you bring up a point i had not considered deeply.

A quick google seems to indicate that TIG welding uses pure argon at

"In the Tungsten Inert Gas welding (TIG) process, the gases used as back shielding gases obtainable from the gas supplier ere usually pure argon having a purity which is at least equal to 99.999% (the impurities content is below 10 ppm)."

I am not an authority on this.

I think you mean PSI, not CFM. As regulators change pressure, not volume.

Also, if it was me, I would put a valve just after the regulator with a barbed hose end and use the same tube you use for siphoning your wine.

Steve

FYI... here is Tom's previous thoughts on the false sense of security... BTW - have not heard the impurity rationale before...

First th> >

Not sure I understand the purpose of the valve after the regulator. Aren't you going to regulate the output by adjusting the regulator? Dan

On Jul 23, 7:01 pm, Steve Potter wrote: ...

Dan, Using inert gasses to store wine involves much more than just squirting a little gas into the container. Please see the info here

Yes, you are going to regulate the pressure with the regulator. The valve is to start and stop the flow as well as a crude regulation of the volume.

Steve

My rig has two guages and two knobs.

One knob opens the tank. And it's Guage is PSI. the other knob adjusts the gas flow rate, it's gauge is CFM.