how many regulators?

I was calculating the my gas pressure on ibrewmaster and noticed that there is a huge range of different pressures I will need. I'm building my first kegerator and was hoping to have four beers to serve. Does that mean I need four (expensive) regulators or can you cheat by using different length beer hose to lower the pressure for beers needing lower pressure? I hope that made sense. It sounded good in my head anyway.

Why do you need four different pressures? I only have one pressure for five kegs. Of course, I like my beers fairly well carbed, but definitely not carbed really high like for soda, and I even carb my British mild probably higher than "style".

I would guess that two regulators would be enough, depending on what you're planning on having on tap at any given time.

Carbonated kegs rely on static pressure from the regulator. Everything is going to be the same pressure until the valve opens to pour beer. Dynamic pressure is what you are referring to and it only works with moving beer. Just set the pressure to the highest beer. You can always unplug the beer once it hits the right carbonation and plug it in from time to time to push beer. I know it is a PITA, but otherwise you need regulators.

I suggest 2 regulators and settle with one pressure or the other.

Depends how much money you want to spend...
I'm setting mine up with a primary regulator with Y output... one line to dual secondary regulators... one of those going to a 3-way splitter... the other just having a single output...
So that gives me 3 at one pressure, and 1 at two other pressures... All shut offs have check valves...Cost me ~170 + tubing

I agree...two regs is sufficient unless you want a brown porter, APA, and hefe all on tap simultaneously. Even then, you can use one reg as your force carb and one as serving...that's what I'm doing now. I tend to brew low carbonation beers, though.

My keg fridge hold 3 kegs, and one tap is dedicated to rootbeer for the kids (and me). I also like hefe's and stouts, both of which have there own traditional levels of carbonation. I went with this setup. Main regulator feeds the two secondary regulators and also provides my source of 30psi for my rootbeer. The other two regulators can be set for whatever I've got on tap. Each of the secondary regulators has two ports coming off them. Typically one higher for hefe's and IPA's that I like very carbonated, and the other set lower for stouts.

Ok, I just found this. I didn't see it my first visit to the site. I guess that's not too bad of a price.
http://www.beveragefactory.com/draf...T1672ST_two_product_secondary_regulator.shtml

I have a dual body regulator on the tank outside my brew fridge. I have four kegs inside the fridge, being fed CO2 via two manifolds. This allows me to feed up to three from one body and up to two from the other (making it possible to carbonate pretty much any style I'll brew). I use one pressure set for all my ales, with another for any porters (or stouts) I have on tap. I can also use the second body to hit a keg with higher pressure if needed, such as to carbonate faster (IF I really need/want to).

I really like having the CO2 tank outside the brew fridge. For one thing, it's easier to see the gauges and adjust as needed. For another, it's easy to change CO2 tanks as needed. Plus, I don't lose all that space inside the brew fridge. Not to mention I'd be more limited with what size CO2 tank I could use in the brew fridge. With it outside, I have no issue using the 20# tank. I could even go to a much larger CO2 tank if I ever wanted to.

Golddiggie said:

I have a dual body regulator on the tank outside my brew fridge. I have four kegs inside the fridge, being fed CO2 via two manifolds. This allows me to feed up to three from one body and up to two from the other (making it possible to carbonate pretty much any style I'll brew). I use one pressure set for all my ales, with another for any porters (or stouts) I have on tap. I can also use the second body to hit a keg with higher pressure if needed, such as to carbonate faster (IF I really need/want to).

I really like having the CO2 tank outside the brew fridge. For one thing, it's easier to see the gauges and adjust as needed. For another, it's easy to change CO2 tanks as needed. Plus, I don't lose all that space inside the brew fridge. Not to mention I'd be more limited with what size CO2 tank I could use in the brew fridge. With it outside, I have no issue using the 20# tank. I could even go to a much larger CO2 tank if I ever wanted to.

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20# tank!?!? Wow, that wold take up space. I've just got an old steel 5# tank. I figure it's good enough for now.

I got a good deal on the 20# tank... Costs all of $17 to get it filled too.

I started with a 5# tank (aluminum), then added two 2.5# tanks and finally a 10# tank too. I also have some paintball CO2 bottles, for when I need to be ultra-portable. :rockin:

Golddiggie said:

I got a good deal on the 20# tank... Costs all of $17 to get it filled too.

I started with a 5# tank (aluminum), then added two 2.5# tanks and finally a 10# tank too. I also have some paintball CO2 bottles, for when I need to be ultra-portable. :rockin:

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I figure as small as the 5 pounder is its fine for going to parties too, but maybe that 32 oz paintball tank will come in handy for something since I haven't played in probably 7 years.

Check the date on that paintball tank... It could very well be outside of the hydro date. Unless you can get it stamped on the cheap, I would just replace it.

Golddiggie said:

Check the date on that paintball tank... It could very well be outside of the hydro date. Unless you can get it stamped on the cheap, I would just replace it.

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Yeah, it probably is out of hydro. I don't think I once saw one of those morons at the sporting good shop check it before filling it. I work on airplanes, so I we have all kinds of hydro tests done... O2 cylinders, emergency brake and gear N2 bottles, Halon engine fire bottles, etc. my sister is a dive master too. I'm overwhelmed by hydro tests!!!

I bought a 5# to fit in my keezer... figured summers in texas wouldn't be good on a co2 tank being in the garage... otherwise a 20# outside of freezer would be nice..

centex99 said:

I bought a 5# to fit in my keezer... figured summers in texas wouldn't be good on a co2 tank being in the garage... otherwise a 20# outside of freezer would be nice..

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10# tanks are only a few inches taller than the 5# tanks... :rockin:

Franc103 said:

I agree...two regs is sufficient unless you want a brown porter, APA, and hefe all on tap simultaneously. Even then, you can use one reg as your force carb and one as serving...that's what I'm doing now. I tend to brew low carbonation beers, though.

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I have a 4 tap keezer with 4 secondary regs because I like to have a hefe, stout, IPA/APA, and a mild on tap at the same time and I like to carb to style. There is no such thing as carbing pressure vs. serving pressure. Eventually serving pressure will become your carbing pressure as it equalizes over time. If you carb at 15 psi but then set your "serving" pressure at 5 psi, your beer will lose carbonation over time as you serve it as the head space in your keg increases and the pressure decreases.

heyjaffy said:

I have a 4 tap keezer with 4 secondary regs because I like to have a hefe, stout, IPA/APA, and a mild on tap at the same time and I like to carb to style. There is no such thing as carbing pressure vs. serving pressure. Eventually serving pressure will become your carbing pressure as it equalizes over time. If you carb at 15 psi but then set your "serving" pressure at 5 psi, your beer will lose carbonation over time as you serve it as the head space in your keg increases and the pressure decreases.

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I agree, sort of. I carbonate seltzer water to 3.5 volumes (about 30 psi) and then serve it at 8 psi. During the life of the keg (2-4 weeks), I don't lose carbonation, or at least not noticeably. I agree that over time the level of carbonation could decrease; I just haven't seen this effect over the life of a keg.
It is also possible that water behaves differently than beer.

Regulator setups are just as personal as anything else. My setup is kind of fun and it took me a while to settle on it before buying. I have 5 tap keezer and two ferm chambers.

They are all run off of a taprite primary on the tank pushing 30 PSI that is split with a wye out the bottom. One goes to a 3 port gas manifold powering the above chambers, and the other is hanging out there with a QD on it for purging corny kegs conveniently.

The 3 port manifold feeds 30 PSI to the keezer which has a 3 regulator secondary in it terminated with a barb valve, feeding the 30 PSI thru to a seltzer keg. So, I have capability for one low pressure beer, two mid pressure beers, and one high pressure beer with the fifth tap being always the seltzer (which I could change pressure downward by just turning down the primary on the tank if I wanted).

The ferm chambers have their own secondary regulators for transferring and/or force carbing in the primary, etc.

It was awesome when my Berliner Weisse was pushing out at 23 PSI. Tasted totally different. Lower carb on my stout. And I love the seltzer. It's just another thing to tinker with!