Just stopped in at Kost Fire & Safety to pick up my CO2 cylinders which they had filled for me.  I was informed that my fill was the last fill they will be doing because they have stopped stocking food grade CO2.  Apparently food grade CO2 has recently doubled in price and doesn't make sense for Kost to continue (because they focus on non food grade CO2 for fire control).

So I imagine Air Liquide offers food grade CO2 (BevGas), but not sure of their current levies when you aren't renting cylinders from them.  Anybody know?

From what i have researched on the web, and other brew sites, there isn't much, if any difference between Food Grade CO2, and just welding CO2,

I get mine exchanged from liquid air, and have never specifed that it was to be food grade or anything, so I am assuming I am just getting welding CO2.  That said, I haven't noticed any off flavors in my force carbed kegs in three years, nor have I grown a third nipple or any other detrimental side effects.

I don't use bev gas either, as i prefer the co2 bubbles sans nitrogen (I have also read you burn through the bev gas cylinders faster than straight co2)

Just my 2 cents.

Derek

Other suppliers you could check out is Praxair (medgas), or oxypro.

That sounds like about the best deal to be found in Calgary right now. One question, though -- it sounds like you paid for a deposit on the tank. Do they charge you a 'rental' fee on the tank too? That seems to be the case with most other places.

Oh, also -- what's the address of the shop you used? Thanks.

The address of the Air Liquide I went to is: 22-2520 23 Street Ne. You can actually see it from Barlow Trail, but you have to access it from the road one block east of Barlow...turn into the parking lot - it's close to the Hooters, boys, so you should be able to find it. You then drive around the large strip mall building to the front. Sorry if that sounds confusing. Anyway, I checked my actual invoice from the store. Total charges, including lifetime rights to new tanks when I need refills, was $186 and change. The last time I went to refill, it cost me about $27. The tanks last a long time. It's been MANY brews carbonated since my last refill, and I have hardly put any sort of a dent into the tank's volume. Great stuff. The guys there were also really reasonable gents, which is an added bonus. Let me know if anyone has any questions about it!

I'd be very careful about using welding grade CO2. From my research, the filling process for welding grade allows for backflow into the canister. This means the possibility of humidity getting into the canister, and rust forming. Rust, as we know, is bad. Bad for flavour, and bad for health.

Food grade CO2 has an extra valve in the filling process to prevent backflow. That's probably why it's more expensive.

Sources:

http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants...

http://www.njreefers.org/forums/index...

Disclaimer: What I just told you is based on what I read on the internet. So you're taking advice from an anonymous guy on the internet who read something on the internet.

J