2nd keg

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Patrickdc9

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I'm new to kegging so I'll apologize in advance for my question. I'm considering buying a second corny keg so I can start a beer's carbonation process prior to my current keg being kicked. Is it possible to carbonate the beer in the 2nd keg to 12 psi, put it in the fridge, then remove the co2 tank and put the tank back on my current (number 1) keg for serving? Or do I need to buy another regulator that's capable of pressuring both kegs simultaneously?
 
Hooking it up to one keg, allowing it to carbonate, then putting your tank back on the serving keg will work fine. It's a lot easier if you can have them both hooked up at the same time. At 12psi it'll take over a week to carbonate the beer fully so during that time you won't really be able to drink whatever you have on tap. If you want to swap the tank between kegs I'd reccomend kicking it up to 30psi for about 48 hours (though I've found 36 hours gives me perfectly acceptable results) and then putting your tank back on the keg you are serving from. When it's time to tap the new keg vent the gas from it, then hook it up at your serving pressure.
 
If you just want a glass or two out of your current carbed keg you won't even need to hook up the CO2. The pressure will already be plenty to serve. Obviously this will reduce the pressure a bit, but not enough to matter if it's only a few pints.

But yes, you can switch back and forth. Remember to use common sense for gas pressures so you don't push beer up into your regulator.
 
Another approach would be to prime the second beer in the second keg. Then you don't have to screw around with the CO2 tank, and the beer will already be fermented when you are ready to tap it.
 
Another approach would be to prime the second beer in the second keg. Then you don't have to screw around with the CO2 tank, and the beer will already be fermented when you are ready to tap it.

When you say "prime the beer", do you mean with sugar? And for how long? I'm not sure I trust my keg to hold a tight seal unless I'm at 10 psi or more.
 
Yes that's what I mean. Put some sugar in it (IIRC you want less than you'd want for an equivalent amount you're bottling; search on that). Give it a quick shot with the CO2 tank to give it some initial pressure as you note, and stick it in a corner for a couple weeks.
 
I'd put a splitter on the CO2 line so You can have two gas connections for your kegs- one for the one currently in tap and one on the keg that is still carbonating. This way you don't have to switch back and forth, and there is no detriment to what you are currently drinking!
 
You can buy a simple Stainless Steel or even plastic T for a splitter. I had that inline off my regulator going to 2 kegs for a few months before I built my Keezer. Worked perfect for me. It allows for quick connect/disconnect for carbing or serving. As mentioned earlier, once you have fully carbed beer, the serving pressure will be fine for a few pints. That's what I do. I carb up 1 keg while pulling a few pints off my other one. When pressure gets low, I hook it back up to gas for about 30 seconds to a minute (or until I dont hear gas entering the keg anymore) and take it back off. Good as new to serve 2 purposes. But putting in a simple T into the gas line and adding a 2nd disconnect would be the easiest and cheapest.
 
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