Question about multi-keg set up

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rdwj

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I'm very new this hobby - I haven't even brewed my first beer yet, but want to go right to kegging.

My question has to do with having kegs in different states in the fridge. From what I understand, in order to force carbonate, I need to increase the pressure in the un-carbonated keg above normal serving pressure. So far, I've only seen air distributors and splitters that allow equal pressure in all attached kegs.

Is there a way to get different pressures in kegs attached to the same tank or do I need multiple tanks? Or, am I completely off base and making noob mistakes?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!
 
rdwj said:
From what I understand, in order to force carbonate, I need to increase the pressure in the un-carbonated keg above normal serving pressure.

This is 100% false and this incorrect assumption is unfortunately widely repeated throughout the hobby. There is no reason to raise the pressure above serving pressure.

Basic physics is at work here- CO2 gets forced into beer through pressure until the beer is saturated and won't absob more.

What happens if you then reduce the pressure ? The CO2 comes back out of the beer just as easy as it went in. CO2 does not get absorbed permanently. :mug:
 
rdwj said:
From what I understand, in order to force carbonate, I need to increase the pressure in the un-carbonated keg above normal serving pressure.

Not true. If your system is balanced, you should be able to set the pressure based on the volumes of CO2 you want in the beer and leave it at that pressure until its carbed, then continue to serve at that pressure.

rdwj said:
Is there a way to get different pressures in kegs attached to the same tank or do I need multiple tanks?

Yes, if you get a double regulator, you can attach this to 1 tank and it will allow for the tank to dispense at multiple pressures as you can set more than one line independently from 1 CO2 tank.

This would be nice if you are serving soda, or two styles of beer with really different volumes of CO2, otherwise I think they should be close enough that just splitting the CO2 should be sufficient.

If you want to use the over-pressurization method, you can always unhook the keg that is already carbed (will hold pressure as long as its not leaking), set the gas higher and attach uncarbed keg (to force carb with the "quick" method), return to serving presure and hook both up.

Personally I think the "set it and forget method" is much less hassle

Edit: Mikey beat me to point 1
 
Great! Thanks guys!!

Hey, one last thing (for now)

Is there any advantage or disadvantage to keeping the CO2 tank outside of the fridge? I've seen it done both ways.
 
My current setup has the primary regulator and the CO2 tank outside the kegger. The bottle sits under some shelves along with empty kegs. I can just see the high pressure gage when I go in for a pint, so I don't run out of CO2. This happened too often before with the tank inside the kegger. I have two secondary regulators in the kegger, each feeding 2-way manifolds.

I feed CO2 at 30 PSI in, with a line going to the soda water keg. One secondary regulator is set at 10 psi for the cider, the other is at 4 psi for the "real" ales (quoted bcause someone always has to post that real ales aren't pressurized. Well, I don't have a beer engine yet and it takes 4 psi to dispense).

Higher initial pressures merely carbonate faster, then you have to degas before dispensing.
 
clayof2day said:
Yes, if you get a double regulator, you can attach this to 1 tank and it will allow for the tank to dispense at multiple pressures as you can set more than one line independently from 1 CO2 tank.


Personally I think the "set it and forget method" is much less hassle

Yes you're right, but you didn't mention that the "set it and forget it method" takes a week to carbonate the beer. Over-pressurizing will only take a couple of days. There is really nothing wrong with either method, but I'm impatient with my kegs, so I went with the double regulator.:)
 
LHBS Guy told me of a friend of his that kegged 5 gal of beer, ran the c02 up to 60 psi, rolled the keg around on the floor for 3 hours and poured, was a bit warm and green but had one hell of a head. (I would assume it would work great for a 2.5 abv light beer just fine. You know, the wimpy light yellow beers that have almost no hop flavor at all. Age them and they just get old, heheheh ;) )
 
Grimsawyer said:
LHBS Guy told me of a friend of his that kegged 5 gal of beer, ran the c02 up to 60 psi, rolled the keg around on the floor for 3 hours and poured, was a bit warm and green but had one hell of a head.

Yes that method works, but there's a huge difference between you CAN do it that way, versus you MUST do it that way.

Many people are under the false assumption that you MUST overpressurise to carbonate the beer.
 
I still can not understand why you would want to over carbonate and drink it pretty much immediately. We all know that the longer a beer sits the better it become, so why rush it.

If you're in such a hurry to get into the new keg, then you are not brewing enough!!

IGOR
 
Igorstien said:
I still can not understand why you would want to over carbonate and drink it pretty much immediately. We all know that the longer a beer sits the better it become, so why rush it.

If you're in such a hurry to get into the new keg, then you are not brewing enough!!

IGOR

I'd already lagered my Bock for six months, I was getting thirsty and I had a tap with nothing coming out of it! I could have ten cornies ready for carbing, but it still would have to take up the tap space for a week without being able to pour one. That's just torture, man. So I just set pressure at 25 for a couple-three days, turn it down to serving pressure, and away I go.
 
Igorstien said:
If you're in such a hurry to get into the new keg, then you are not brewing enough!!

IGOR

AMEN BROTHER!!!!:mug: Is it just me or is the idea of brewing too much out of the realm of possibility?;)
 
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