At Long Last, I'm Ready to Keg!

Okay...so it's been a year now. I've got 38 batches under my belt (40 if you count Apfelwein). And while I'm not ready to completely ditch bottling, I really want to get into kegging. I've got a lagerator (new chest feezer with johnson temp controller) that I can use to store a few cornies and CO2 tanks.

I've been "given" (the reason for the quotes is that I don't know whether it's temporary or permanent) 4 cornies and one picnic tap that is shown here:



So, I'm completely new to this. I have no idea what kind of disconnects and gauges I need. I don't know how to keg (do I force-carb, naturally carb, or both?). What temp should I set the lagerator to? What PSI do I need? I tried searching for "kegging", but everything is pretty scattershot. I didn't see much on the Wiki either.

So...how do I get from 4 cornies, a lagerator and a picnic tap to cold draught beer flowing into my glass?

Well to start out with you will need 4 liquid (OUT) side connectors (grey) and 4 CO2 (out) connectors (black) to connect your 4 corneys. Then you can use any length or size of line for your CO2. I believe that I am using 1/4" ID line for my CO2. The liquid line is a little different. To help balance out your system and minimize foam, I recommend using 3/16" ID line at least 6' in length. Most people don't naturally carb the kegs. They just connect them to a pressure and let it carb over a week. Or you can force carb when the keg is cool by turning up the regulator to 20psi and shaking the piss out of it. The CO2 setting will depend on temperature and what carb level you want in your beer. So a google search on beer carb levels and you will find a sheet for reference. Also it is a good idea to leave at least one CO2 line long so that you can work with a keg outside the freezer if force carbing and such.