Nitro kegging Vs Regular CO2 Kegging

Just got my kegerator in the mail earlier today and im like a kid on Christmas.

I purchased an upgraded dual gauge regulator and found they shipped a regular single gauge regulator with in.

Now onto my question. I plan on eventually getting a stout faucet and was wondering what I would need to add to serve nitro. Are the nitro regulators different? What about the gas tanks? Ive read that Nitro are much more pressurized but was curious what all I would need. Am I looking at a whole new kit or would I be able to just purchase a new tank and regulator? Or could I use the current regulator that I received with it (It is a micromatic regulator so its not a bad product by any means).

nitro regulators are different, but you can buy a $20 adapter and use a co2 regulator on a nitro/beer gas tank.

You can run beer through stout faucet with CO2, but you won't be able to increase the pressure to optimize use of stout faucet.

Ideally you want 30-40 psi serving pressure with stout faucet. If you set this pressure with CO2 you will have an over carbonated mess. If you use beer gas (75% N2 / 25 % CO2) you can run at high pressure withou overcarbonating your beer, because N2 is not very soluble in beer.

At a minimum you will need a bottle of beer gas. No one should fill CO2 bottle with beer gas as they are rated differently. Next you will need a regulator compatible with that bottle which will have male threads. You can buy converter to work with CO2 regulator, but I recommend spending money on N2 regulator (again they are rated differently).

You'll end up with one setup for nitro and one setup for CO2. More expensive, but right way to do it.

yeah I think i might just sell the regulator that it came with and invest in both a nitro tank and a nitro regulator.

One final question, what about the tubing? Is the higher pressure an issue with the regular tubing that I use with the CO2 or can i use the same for both?

dermotstratton said:

You can buy converter to work with CO2 regulator, but I recommend spending money on N2 regulator (again they are rated differently).

Click to expand...

can i ask why? just curious...my adapter works just fine.

Pratzie said:

yeah I think i might just sell the regulator that it came with and invest in both a nitro tank and a nitro regulator.

One final question, what about the tubing? Is the higher pressure an issue with the regular tubing that I use with the CO2 or can i use the same for both?

Click to expand...

regular gas/beverage lines are fine.

The adapter will work fine. Do you have a dual regulator? A Nitrogen regulator shows bottle pressure and serving pressure. The scale is better setup on N2 regulator.

Also in general, I like to avoid an additional failure point.

You can good results with adapter, but it is not the best setup.