serving pressures for beer?

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gnef

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so i've been kegging for a while now, and always just adjust the pressure from the regulator to match whatever gives the best pour.

now i have quite a few kegs (empty, but hopefully not for long), bought a chest freezer a while ago i thought i'd convert into a kegerator, but recently bought a top/bottom fridge that can support six soda kegs. so i'm going to convert the chest freezer into my fermenter, and going to use this fridge as my kegerator.

now to premise my question. i never really took careful note of the pressures for each beer. i know that each beer generally requires a different pressure from another beer. for me, this comes down to cost. i can get a 6 output gas manifold for about 50-60 dollars, and this would be the easiest and cheapest setup. i've been thinking about a different, slightly more complex, more expensive setup. i was thinking about getting two inline secondary regulators mounted in the fridge, each with a four output gas manifold attached, so if anything, i could at least have two different pressures for serving (i may carbonate in this fridge, maybe not, since i have multiple co2 tanks and two regulators).

so how worried should i be about the different pressures for the beer? would having one pressure for all the beers be adequate and work for me? or should i wait till i have hte money and invest in the more expensive setup where i can put two different pressures? and if i were to do this, are two pressures enough variance?

thanks!

edit - is there any way to change my symbol? i had accidentally tic'd the thumbs down for some reason...
 
It depends on how picky you are? :D I use the same pressure for all of my beers, about 12-13psi. Most of my styles are similar, so I don't run into problems there. If you do vastly different styles where the recommended pressures vary greatly, then you may want to explore the more expensive option. Personally, I would go with the cheaper solution first and see how that works. If you're not satisfied and you don't need the manifold anymore, sell it on ebay and go the more expensive route.
 
hm, that's sorta what i was thinking. thanks!

how large is your manifold, and did you buy or make it? can you give more details? and how many beers do you normally run off of it without having issues?
 
I have a much smaller setup....just 2 kegs. I've been trying to get more, but I need an extra fridge/freezer first. I use a simple Y splitter/adapter (??) that I bought at some brew shop (cant remember which one). Sorry...wish I could be of more help.
 
I have four kegs and use a simple manifold. Originally it was a three port and I added one. There's a picture in my gallery. I currently keep a keg of soda water, which needs 30 PSI, so I just open the door and crack the valves as required. I have secondary regulators on order and plan on moving the CO2 bottle and main regulator out of the kegger. I'll connect one regulator to the ale manifold and the other to the soda keg.

Since I never draw from more than one tap at a time, I've never had capacity issues. I suspect a single regulator can supply a frat house without a problem.

I'm hoping to be able to cram a fifth keg into the fridge once the CO2 is outside.
 
i couldn't find any photos in your gallery.

thanks for the reply. i'm a bit confused as to what you plan on doing though. so do you plan on using a bulkhead and have two secondary regulators inside the fridge?

i think what i may do is just have the 6 output, and if i ever need two pressures, i'll add another bulkhead and connect another co2 tank, and even put another manifold if i need it. seems like the cheapest and best solution right now.

there shouldn't be any coolant lines in the side of the fridge, right? is there any way for me to check?
 
gnef said:
i couldn't find any photos in your gallery.

thanks for the reply. i'm a bit confused as to what you plan on doing though. so do you plan on using a bulkhead and have two secondary regulators inside the fridge?

i think what i may do is just have the 6 output, and if i ever need two pressures, i'll add another bulkhead and connect another co2 tank, and even put another manifold if i need it. seems like the cheapest and best solution right now.

there shouldn't be any coolant lines in the side of the fridge, right? is there any way for me to check?

Probably not.. but I'm no expert. I just ran across this and thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

I just dismantled an old fridge (a kenmore if that helps). I'm in the process of builidng a custom fridge/insulated box to go in the space under my stairs so I can put the taps on the outer wall and hide the kegerator to make the fiance happy (plus it'll save space and that old fridge was ratty).

Anyhow, I think they all work pretty much the same, even the new fancy ones. You have a high pressure coil on the outside and a low pressure coil on the inside, it'll be mounted on the inside of the freezer. On my old fridge there was a copper line that went from the rear coil to the front via the underside of the fridge... it then ran all the way up the fridge wall, hidden of course, to the coil in the freezer). It seemed pretty bass ackwards since they could have just sent it right through the back of the fridge but maybe they needed the length to create a pressure drop or somesuch. Anyhow, this line is the only thing I think you could run into by drilling into the side of your fridge and if you can locate it somewhere else (as in under the fridge) then you *should* be fine. I'd also drill on the side opposite the ice maker (if you're using it) as they may run electrical lines to the thing via the fridge wall.

BTW, a hole saw works just fine for cutting holes in the thing but that foam insulation will melt all over your nice hole saw.
 
thanks for the info. unfortunately, i already cut holes into the fridge. i put the bulkhead through the door. it looks a little weird, but not too bad, and it was worth not risking ruining the refrigerator by guessing if/where a line was in the side of the fridge.

and given the state of my funds, i'm thinking i will only get a 4 output, and use flared tees to expand it to 6 when i actually brew enough, and get enough shanks and faucets (i only have two beers in kegs, and only four shanks/faucets right now). i also plan on getting flare inline check valves, so the co2 lines should be ok linked in pairs with cutoffs only for each pair. this will have to wait a while though. i've bought way too much stuff recently...
 

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