How can I carb and serve w/ 1 CO2 tank?

briewer2 · Apr 18, 2009

Hey all,
I'm currently getting my kegerator set up and have a question. How can I serve a beer and force carb a beer simultaneously from the same CO2 tank (ie different pressures). I have a dual gauge regulator already, but I can't tell if I need to get an add on primary regulator, or a secondary regulator. I also have a three way gas manifold, but obviously all three ports would be under the same pressure. I looked for a thread on this and couldn't find it, so I'm sorry if this is repetitive.

Thanks alot

BTW this is the kegerator I just bought. Sweet. This is my first post so I don't know if the pics work.

GreenwoodRover · Apr 18, 2009

Why the need for different pressures. Looks like there's enough room in the fridge for 2 cornies. You'll basically doing the set it and forget it method on one of them while serving the other...

Coastarine · Apr 18, 2009

I also like to keep my beer pressurized to the carbing pressure, that way I know it won't be slowly offgassing and getting flatter. The key to this is having enough restriction in the line so that the serving pressure doesn't cause a glass of foam.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/cure-your-short-hose-troubles-100151/

Now, I still like to keep different kegs at different pressures, because not every beer gets the same carbonation. Look for a double body regulator, and that will allow you to have two different pressures.

Hammy71 · Apr 19, 2009

You need a secondary regulator to carb your beers at a different pressure than your serving the other. You'll need to tee off the outlet side of your primary reg and add....

Beer Regulator - Secondary CO2 Regulator - Economy Series

Piece of cake.....Just set your primary reg to carb pressure and the secondary for pouring....

nostalgia · Apr 19, 2009

You can also use a dual primary regulator. You just set each reg to the pressures you want.

-Joe

Shay · Apr 19, 2009

nostalgia,

What did you make your tank holder out of? That is very nice.

nostalgia · Apr 19, 2009

Shay said:
What did you make your tank holder out of? That is very nice.

Thanks! It's two heavy-duty shelf brackets with an old plastic cutting board screwed to them. The black straps are Velcro hold-down straps.

Works a treat and looks pretty trick

-Joe

z987k · May 6, 2009

briewer2 said:
Hey all,
I'm currently getting my kegerator set up and have a question. How can I serve a beer and force carb a beer simultaneously from the same CO2 tank (ie different pressures). I have a dual gauge regulator already, but I can't tell if I need to get an add on primary regulator, or a secondary regulator. I also have a three way gas manifold, but obviously all three ports would be under the same pressure. I looked for a thread on this and couldn't find it, so I'm sorry if this is repetitive.

Thanks alot

BTW this is the kegerator I just bought. Sweet. This is my first post so I don't know if the pics work.

Whoa, you bought Matt's kegerator.... why did he sell it, do you know him?

Arkador · May 7, 2009

nostalgia said:
You can also use a dual primary regulator. You just set each reg to the pressures you want.

-Joe

This is the same setup i use, and love it! Complete control over each pressure!

I will eventially add a 2way manifold to one of them, so i can have 2 under serving pressure (12-14PSI) and the other at whatever pressure I want.

briewer2 · May 7, 2009

z987k said:
Whoa, you bought Matt's kegerator.... why did he sell it, do you know him?

I saw his ad on craigslist, I didn't know him. Great guy though, I could feel his pain in having to give it up (he's moving), but it was quickly masked by my joy of having a sweet kegerator. I am taking good care of it though, and welcome friends to come try some of our flowing homebrew. Got an IPA and a Belgian golden going right now and a west coast red, belgian strong and simcoe IPA on deck.

IrregularPulse · May 7, 2009

briewer2 said:
I saw his ad on craigslist, I didn't know him. Great guy though, I could feel his pain in having to give it up (he's moving), but it was quickly masked by my joy of having a sweet kegerator. I am taking good care of it though, and welcome friends to come try some of our flowing homebrew. Got an IPA and a Belgian golden going right now and a west coast red, belgian strong and simcoe IPA on deck.

I see what you did there! You invited us all over for beer, But then hid your location..."Wow, he is a really great guy, let's go over and drink..wait , where's he live...Waaaaiiit a minute!"

briewer2 · May 7, 2009

IrregularPulse said:
I see what you did there! You invited us all over for beer, But then hid your location..."Wow, he is a really great guy, let's go over and drink..wait , where's he live...Waaaaiiit a minute!"

Hey if I gave a location for free beer, I would have a lot more people show up than just classy, respectful homebrewers. Besides any locals worthy of drinking good homebrew will see me at the club meeting tonight anyhow. :emoticons are stupid:

RC0032 · May 7, 2009

briewer2 said:
Hey if I gave a location for free beer, I would have a lot more people show up than just classy, respectful homebrewers. Besides any locals worthy of drinking good homebrew will see me at the club meeting tonight anyhow. :emoticons are stupid:

I cant make it

springer · May 7, 2009

this is my set up when I bought it .I was able to set two to carb and five to serve or vise versa since then I have added four more secondaries so I can set for different PSI depending on the beers .

z987k · May 7, 2009

briewer2 said:
I saw his ad on craigslist, I didn't know him. Great guy though, I could feel his pain in having to give it up (he's moving), but it was quickly masked by my joy of having a sweet kegerator. I am taking good care of it though, and welcome friends to come try some of our flowing homebrew. Got an IPA and a Belgian golden going right now and a west coast red, belgian strong and simcoe IPA on deck.

Did he mention if he picked Grad School or Siebel? Hell he's even on this board, not that I've seen him on in awhile.
Handle is EamusCatuli

conpewter · May 7, 2009

I just set and forget. I put it at the serving pressure (12 psi usually) and leave it for a week, usually needs the age anyway. By then it is nicely carbed just like the other kegs.

riored4v · May 7, 2009

springer said:
this is my set up when I bought it .I was able to set two to carb and five to serve or vise versa since then I have added four more secondaries so I can set for different PSI depending on the beers .

pretty cool.

i just got all my kegging stuff last night and immediately started to wonder how i wanted to do a setup for carbing and for drinking. so you just have the primary and 2 secondary regulators. did you you have to do any special tapping into the manifold for the 1st secondary? i might try to use a similar design.

springer · May 7, 2009

nothing special the 1st reg has two lines one goes to the bank of secondaries its the one that goes from the primary and behind the manifold to the secondaries and the other capped that's the way I got it . I just set the primary to 40 PSI then I set the secondaries to the proper PSI

springer · May 7, 2009

maybe this is better little crude

The 1 secondary is feed by this line . It then feeds the manifold at say 12 PSI the 2nd reg get the full pressure from the primary set at 40PSI so I can force carb.I guess this is the way Coke set up their systems

How can I carb and serve w/ 1 CO2 tank?

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