The best thing about Hambleton Bard S30 cylinders is that you could just inject just the amount of CO2 you wanted into your keg without wasting loads of gas.
The bad things about Hambleton Bard S30 / Brewgas L30 CO2 bottles is that they now tend to leak gas and the extra problem is, the S30 / L30 cylinders are becoming difficult to get refills. Sending back your empty and having to wait till your replacement is sent to you in the post.
But there is an alternative. CO2 disposable cartridges.
There are 2 types of disposable CO2 cartridges, threaded and non threaded.
The non threaded 8gram cartridges inject all their gas in one go and it can over pressurise you beer or worse, all the excess co2 escapes from the pressure relief valve, wasting lots of gas.
But the threaded 12g and 16g cartridges can be used with a regulator and so you can control exactly how much CO2 you are injecting into your keg.
You can easily convert a 4" cap to take the threaded cartridges. You will need some new equipment, but that costs less than buying a new Hambleton bard S30 / Brewgas L30 cylinder, and a pack of 10 disposable 16gram threaded (food grade) CO2 cartridges.
Here's what you will need...
1/2" Drill bit.
Now, to convert your 4" S30 valve cap...
First take your King keg cap. You need to leave the old valve in place as this is still your pressure relief valve in case you inject too much gas. These are set at 12 PSI.
Take the nut off the CO2 Ball Lock post and locate it on the rim of the seal.
Then mark the centre of the nut with the 1/2" drill bit.
Drill the hole in the cap with a 1/2" drill bit. I prefer to use a spade bit
Clean up any burrs and loose plastic.
Now insert the ball lock post and tighten it up, being careful not to pinch the o-ring. It only needs to be hand tight to get an airtight seal.
Now you can either use a regulator, or an injector.
With a regulator like the one pictured above, you can control the pressure in the keg and set it, so as your pull off a beer, the regulator adds more gas automatically.
Or you can use an injector where you control how much co2 is injected. Just like with the hambleton bard bottles, only injecting gas when the flow from the tap begins to slow.
With these, you can convert many kegs, and you only need 1 regulator, as you can just lift off the grey connector and push it down onto your other kegs.
It's as easy as that. For about the same price as a new Hambleton Bard S30 / Brewgas L30, you can have a new reliable system. The replacement threaded co2 cartridges are easy to get hold of, just remember to use food grade as there are similar products that cyclists use to inflate their bicycle tyres that aren't pure CO2 and may contain oils and other contaminants.
As always, if you need any help, feel free to get in touch.