# DIY CO2 - food cost analysis



## Adam (Oct 19, 2004)

Just took a food costing class at school, so I figured I turn my new found skills against DIY CO2, since it uses food items 

Here is what I found:
10 LBS of sugar = $4.49
3 pack yeast - $1.50/pack

1Wz of sugar = $.028/Wz
1 packet of yeast = $.50/packet

There are 7.1 Wz in a cup of sugar = $.199/cup

You need 2 cups per 2 liter bottle = $.398/bottle
You need 1 packet of yeast per bottle = $.50/bottle

1 bottle = $.90

Assuming a bottle lasts you 3 weeks you will need 18 bottles per year to keep up production of CO2 which = $ 16.20/year

At a cost of roughly $225.00 for a pressurized system that would take approx.....

13.89 years to pay off the Preasurized system at 1 bottle every 3 weeks.
or
6.94 years to pay it off at 2 bottles every 3 weeks.

I know the benifits of pressurized, and I realize if you have the money to replace the headache of DIY you should. I just had some free time on my hands and thought I would run a few calculations. This post is not intended to bash anyone who bought pressurized systems, or say they arent worth it... this is for educational purposes only... so hopefully I I dont get flamed.... :lol:


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## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

> At a cost of roughly $225.00 for a pressurized system that would take approx.....


#5 CO2 cylinder: USD75.00
CO2 fill: USD15.00
Milwaukee regulator with bubble counter: USD75.00 (inc. shipping)

Total: USD165.00

The price you suggested above must be local. Even in NYC we can do better.

Keeping a 2 litre fermentation system going at maximum output requires most people to use more than 1 bottle per 3 weeks. IME, 1 bottle with a weekly 70% recharge of sugar and yeast; meaning 50 bottles per year.

Andrew Cribb


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## aquaverde (Feb 9, 2004)

There's more to the question than just material costs. Labor for each of these CO2 systems and actual results are wildly different. But if bux is your primary concern and your own labor is not an issue, then might as well roll up those shirtsleeves...


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

Guys, remember to take into account pressurized CO2 refill costs. I spend 20$ on that a year.

I think DIY CO2 has its place --in smaller aquariums, using pressurized CO2 is way overkill and superfluous to getting the results you want. I think most agree that outfitting a 10g with pH controller, pressurized CO2, etc is a bit overkill.

Carlos


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

For me, there were two major driving factors that made pressurized CO2 a no brainer

1) Changing out my 2L bottles on my various tanks every 1-2 weeks was not fun to say the least
2) Stability due to consistant CO2 flow rates


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## Adam (Oct 19, 2004)

Ok... seems you guys missed my point. I suppose I should have dropped the comparison at the end to the price of pressurized systems. This was just meant as an FYI. Just more of a thing for people so say "Oh, never really though about how much it cost, thats interesting" sort of thing. I thought I had kind of explained that at the end of the post. Anyway sorry for anyone who was offended by it.


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

Don't think there was any one offended, people are chiming in with their own data points and reasons for going with DIY or Pressureized.


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

Not offended at all

Lets try and compare this to my system

tank used 2x2L bottles
2 cups of sugar per bottle
replaced every 1.5weeks on average

Price of supplies: 
Sugar=4*0.199*52/1.5=$29.85
yeast=0.50*52/1.5=$17.3
Bottles=$1.80
Pack of airline fittings $1.50
Baking soda $3

Total=53.45

Now, if I changed my bottles every week like I tried to do (I did I mentione I hated doing that ), it would cost me ~ $75


5# CO2 cylinder $60
Milwaukee regulator=$76
refill=$8 (w/ controller, my cyliner is less than 1/2 used after a years use......so lets say refill every year when used with a timer that your lights use)=$16
Total=$152

Now the difference isn't as big.


Now lets say you have a 75g tank. You would need atleast 6 2L bottles going IMO.

DIY=160.35 @ 1.5weeks or 240.53 @ weekly

Now, I am sure you can get sugar and yeast cheaper when you are doing it so much in bulk, but you can see how things really shift. For presurized, you don't jump up nearly as much in price.


It is an interesting exersize though.


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## Adam (Oct 19, 2004)

I am curious about how often you recommend changing the contents of the bottle.... I have two friends who have both used the DIY CO2 and they claim bubble production stays fairly even for nearly 4 weeks before production starts to drop off.

Are you putting more yeast in so that the sugar is consumed faster with more CO2 produced; and that accounts for the massive discrepency in production rates?

Also from what I have read you actually harm your yeast reactors when adding baking soda to it.


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