Scheming on a Manifold

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Evan!

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2006
Messages
11,835
Reaction score
115
Location
Charlottesville, VA
So as you may know, I have a fridge that holds, among other things, 4 cornies. I don't have, and am not planning to install, any permanent taps---right now I just have a gas line that tees into two, and two picnic taps. However, I'd like to be able to tap all four kegs at the same time if need be. I'm not guessing that splitting the gas line into 4 lines using two more tees is the best idea, so I thought I'd get a manifold like this one.

AirDist,%204%20way.jpg


Am I correct when I assume that the check valves will prohibit beer from backing up into the gas lines if I connect kegs with different pressures? I've had that happen a couple times with my current "tee" setup and it's a major PITA to disassemble everything.

If anyone has any other pointers or suggestions on my scheme, hit me with 'em. Thanks!
 
Does it back up even if you off-gas prior to hooking up the higher pressure kegs?

Ex: You have four kegs. Three at serving pressure are hooked up to the manifold and turned on at 10 psi, via your one regulator. The fourth you already have force carbed and just sitting there in the refer for a few days. So you pull it out, bleed it per OhioB's method a few times, then hook it up to the fourth peg on your manifold. Does it still flow back into the system? If not, you should be OK.

The only issue would be force carbing a single keg when you have others on the system at serving pressure. I think you could close all of the serving pressure valves, hook up a keg to force carb, apply your 30 psi, take it off and let it sit. Then bleed the system back to serving pressure and open the rest of your valves.
 
Does it back up even if you off-gas prior to hooking up the higher pressure kegs?

Ex: You have four kegs. Three at serving pressure are hooked up to the manifold and turned on at 10 psi, via your one regulator. The fourth you already have force carbed and just sitting there in the refer for a few days. So you pull it out, bleed it per OhioB's method a few times, then hook it up to the fourth peg on your manifold. Does it still flow back into the system? If not, you should be OK.

The only issue would be force carbing a single keg when you have others on the system at serving pressure. I think you could close all of the serving pressure valves, hook up a keg to force carb, apply your 30 psi, take it off and let it sit. Then bleed the system back to serving pressure and open the rest of your valves.

Well I think it's a bit of user error, but if there's ANY differential when I hook it up---say the other kegs are all at 10psi and this one's at less than that because I just offgassed it. If either of those three kegs are full, then it comes up through the gas diptube until the pressure is normalized. Of course, this is also probably because I'm sometimes too stupid or fickle to stop the siphon before the beer reaches the bottom of the gas diptube. :cross:
 
I have a 6 port manifold.

I have witnessed beer going back up into the line but it never makes it far before the check valve stops it.
 
Back
Top