Keg C02 Regulator/Manifold Questions

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freyguy

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I'm looking for the best setup for my beer fridge. I currently have two beers kegged, and the third in the secondary. I have 3 taps on my door. Right now I'm using this regulator:

MM642-2.jpg


I need to add at least a 3rd co2 line, but I'm debating how to go about it. Right now my CO2 tank is inside the fridge (20#, but also have a 5#). I'm wondering if I should go with a manifold, or add some more regulators to mine. Something like this:

MM1162.jpg


What is your opinions? I want to do it right this time. It would be nice to be able to force carb without worrying about the other kegs, but not necessary. Also, an extra port for a beer gun in the future would be nice I guess. And should I put the tank on the outside? What kind of fitting if I do so?

Thanks in advance for any input. :mug:
 
I would move the C02 tank outside. Use the splitter you have now to attach two lines - one to go into the fridge and one to use outside for force carbing and possibly a beer gun.

For the line you run into the fridge, use a bulkhead to go through the wall of the fridge, don't just run the line through there. On the inside of the fridge, I'd run a secondary for each pressure you want to maintain. I can't imagine you'd use more than two, but you can add on.

If you don't have more than two kegs per secondary, no reason for a manifold - just use a splitter with a check valve.

That's the set-up I have right now minus the secondary regs. I'll be adding those soon.
 
Secondary regulators are extremely useful in a kegger. If you decide to take that route, you won't need a manifold. I started with a splitter, bought a manifold, then bought two secondaries and split the manifold into two. The latest move was to put the tank outside the fridge and connect an extra line inside. Now I have three pressures available in the kegger.

Since you have two tanks, you might just add a second splitter inside the kegger and get a second regulator for the #5 tank. That covers the beergun/forced carbonation issues and gives you portability.
 
freyguy said:
I'm looking for the best setup for my beer fridge. I currently have two beers kegged, and the third in the secondary. I have 3 taps on my door. Right now I'm using this regulator:

MM642-2.jpg


I need to add at least a 3rd co2 line, but I'm debating how to go about it. Right now my CO2 tank is inside the fridge (20#, but also have a 5#). I'm wondering if I should go with a manifold, or add some more regulators to mine. Something like this:

MM1162.jpg


What is your opinions? I want to do it right this time. It would be nice to be able to force carb without worrying about the other kegs, but not necessary. Also, an extra port for a beer gun in the future would be nice I guess. And should I put the tank on the outside? What kind of fitting if I do so?

Thanks in advance for any input.
I have that exact set up from Micromatic in my keg fridge and I couldn't be more pleased that I chose this route over a manifold. These are high quality regulators. Hand adjustable is nice too!

As you can see in the photo from my gallery, I have the primary reg on the 10 lb CO2 tank. I split it with a wye fitting and two check/shutoff valves. One goes to my soda keg at 30 psi. The other goes to the input of the secondary reg. From the secondary, one output is set to 10 psi for my porter and the second output is set to 16 psi for Ed's Apfelwein. Thanks again Ed! Woohoo! We Love it! I also put a wye splitter on one of the secondary outputs just to have another CO2 source. I have used it for carbing some beer in a 2L coke bottle with a carbonator cap. All the outputs have shutoff/check valves, and for even more security I installed inline check valves from US Plastics in each gas line. Everything is flare with the exception of the 5/16" ID tubing connecting the primary reg with the secondary reg, which is barb. Oetiker Stepless clamps all around.

I have little ones and don't want to have the tank out side of the fridge. I also have a 5 lb tank that came with the kegerator. I put a wye fitting on it as well and use it for other tasks like purging and sealing kegs, the Beergun, etc.

4295-DSC02172.jpg
 
I have that exact set up from Micromatic in my keg fridge and I couldn't be more pleased that I chose this route over a manifold. These are high quality regulators. Hand adjustable is nice too!

As you can see in the photo from my gallery, I have the primary reg on the 10 lb CO2 tank. I split it with a wye fitting and two check/shutoff valves. One goes to my soda keg at 30 psi. The other goes to the input of the secondary reg. From the secondary, one output is set to 10 psi for my porter and the second output is set to 16 psi for Ed's Apfelwein. Thanks again Ed! Woohoo! We Love it! I also put a wye splitter on one of the secondary outputs just to have another CO2 source. I have used it for carbing some beer in a 2L coke bottle with a carbonator cap. All the outputs have shutoff/check valves, and for even more security I installed inline check valves from US Plastics in each gas line. Everything is flare with the exception of the 5/16" ID tubing connecting the primary reg with the secondary reg, which is barb. Oetiker Stepless clamps all around.

I have little ones and don't want to have the tank out side of the fridge. I also have a 5 lb tank that came with the kegerator. I put a wye fitting on it as well and use it for other tasks like purging and sealing kegs, the Beergun, etc.

4295-DSC02172.jpg

This is a very nice setup. Would you mind sharing what fridge that is, and maybe a part list/price list to replicate it? I am embarking on a setup and have the same needs as the OP. Thanks.
 
The reply could be a while, That post is over 3 1/2 years old and his last post to the forums was June of '09...

Anyone else know what setup this is? Is it a commercially sold kegerator setup, or a DIY? It looks like a kegerator to me.
 
It's a proper kegerator. I can't tell what brand it is though.

Looks like it's got a 2 tap tower and holds 3-4 kegs.
He's got a single body regulator with the output split. One feeds directly to a keg, and the other feeds 2 secondary regulators.

He's also using MFL fittings on the valves and QD's too (Good man!)
 
call this a dumb question, but my kegerator has three kegs in it as well, all requiring different keg pressures for different styles. how do i go about keeping these kegs pressurized at different pressures while saving money and not always going in side to change pressures too.
 
call this a dumb question, but my kegerator has three kegs in it as well, all requiring different keg pressures for different styles. how do i go about keeping these kegs pressurized at different pressures while saving money and not always going in side to change pressures too.

The easiest way would be to put a single body regulator on your CO2 tank, and set it for the highest pressure you need. Then feed that to the highest pressure keg, and also to a pair of secondary regulators set for the lower pressures.

A primary regulator takes the high pressure CO2 (400-800 PSI) and regulates it to a lower pressure (<50 PSI).
A secondary regulator takes lower pressure CO2, and regulates it even lower. So if you need 25, 14, and 12 PSI, you set the primary regulator on the tank to 25 PSI, and the secondary regulators to 14 and 12 PSI.

You can find secondary regulators at ChiCompany, Micromatic, and other places like that.
 
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