gallon container for DIY CO2 ?

[caesar2]

Would there be any benefit for using a 1 gallon container? If you added more sugar and yeast would it produce longer? Thanks in advance for your input.

[ChicoRaton]

Bigger containers produce more gas, but if you use the same sugar-water-yeast ratio will produce for about the same amount of time. HTH

[Rex Grigg]

Multiple smaller bottles setup on a staggered basis are better than one large bottle.

Also the CO2 production with bread yeast stops due to alcohol levels not lack of sugar.

[dirtmonkey]

Rex, that meakes me think the gallon container, or a few of them, would be better. If you added only the amounts of sugar and yeasts for a 2l. container, it would last longer because double the water would dilute the alcohol concentration by half. I doubt it would be that clear cut, but going in that direction anyway.

It's an Idea I'll keep in mind anyway, in case I'm going away for a while and forget to get wine/champagne yeast before leaving.

[ChicoRaton]

True to an extent, but in a container of any given size, the yeast will reproduce until it reaches a point of equilibrium with the food supply. Therefore, a bigger container with a more dilute sugar water concentration may produce slightly longer, but not really much, since the yeast will quickly multiply to take advantage on the large amount of growth medium. You might get an extra day or two, but the length of time a DIY co2 bottle produces is more determined by the total amount of food available and the type of yeast. The only way to really know for sure would be to do it.

[Jaysn]

When I brew beer/mead, I usually use 5 gallon carboys. I've also brewed smaller test batches, 1.5-2 gallons usually. They ferment for the basically the same amount of time. With a higher volume you will get more CO2 over the same time period than a lower volume.

If you want to extend the length of time you're producing CO2, you have to change the temperature at which you are fermenting. Lower temperature (to a point, below about 60*F will stop most fermentation) will slow the yeast down so they are producing less CO2 over a longer period of time. You could probably use a higher volume at lower temp system to produce similar quantities of CO2 as a lower volume, higher temp system, but you would need to know a lot about the yeast and wort (sugar & water mix) to be able to calculate how much.