CO2 Distributors
 

Hi,

In an effort to piece together a keezer as economically as possible, I am trying to find as much stuff as I can second hand. I recently purchased a tower of tappers, I got 7 taps for $115. I have found a guy selling some co2 distributors.

I am thinking I will wind up with a 7 cf freezer, similar to the popular GE model. It could fit 5 ball locks between the hump and the floor.

This person selling CO2 distributors has a few of them, one has 3 connectors on it ($30), one has 4 connectors ($40), and 1 has 6 connectors ($50). Are these good prices for distributors?

I am thinking I would like to have maybe 1 cider on tap as well as 3-4 beers, and possibly a root beer as well. I have a single stage CO2 regulator as well as 2 dual stage CO2 regulators (got them for $20).

If I want a root beer, I will need to use a distributor for that, correct? And then I would have another distributor with check valves for the other lines?

So I could have:
.................................................. ..../--check valve -- root beer
CO2 tank - dual stage @ root beer psi -| splitter
.................................................. ....\--single stage @ beer psi -- four way distributor with check valves


Am I correct in that logic? I know that if I had various styles of beer on tap ideally they would be at different pressures, but I think for a more quick and dirty solution, this is more practical.

Is $40 a good price for a 4 way distributor?

I'll leave the regulator question for someone else to answer fully, but I think normally a regulator has a minimum PSI input or else it doesn't work correctly (at least it was this way with paintball), so you might have issue if you have a regulator dropping from 850psi down to 30 psi and then into the 2nd reg. The 2nd reg may have a problem, but I'm not educated enough to say this confidently.

In regards to the manifold price. I've noticed that a manifold is basically priced as $10 for the manifold itself (base price) and then $10 / check valve attached. This is to buy new. So a 6way manifold normally seems to run $70, 4way run's $50, 2way runs $30. yada yada yada.

So it seems like you're saving about $10 for the manifolds

Not sure if one of these will meet your needs, but we have a sale on our 3 and 4 way manifolds right now. You may want to consider checking them out:

http://www.birdmanbrewing.com/gas-splitters-accessories/

Warning, if the shank and faucet are not stainless you really should not run cider or wine as they will strip the chrome off the brass and pull the lead out of the brass into solution.

Is there a way to tell if the shank and faucet are chrome or stainless? I guess I hopefully suspect they are stainless, because I purchased them from a high end restaurant that was renovating, but I am not positive.

Are they used? If they've spent any time dispensing beer....which also dissolves the chrome...it'll be obvious. Take the faucets apart look at the plunger, and the inside of the faucet body, if they look like tarnished brass, then they were chrome. Also the shanks where the faucets attach, if they look like brass they were chrome. Remember chrome plating is shinier than stainless. As far as the brass containing lead....it is known that chinese brass tend to contain lead, as far as wether your does(if it chrome plated) who knows...

Almost all brass contains a % of lead if I remember correctly from a about 15 years ago when I toured the Perlick plant in Wisconsin there was around 2-3% lead added to make it more easily machined.