Kegging n00b questions

My SWMBO has authorized the purchase of a kegging system for my birthday (end of September). Ive got a few questions though.
1. The kit I've picked out is from Midwest Supply (because it was the cheapest from a recommended site) and comes with a 5# tank but I've got 2 20oz tanks from when I played paintball. Can these be used? What hardware do I need to adapt them?
2. Can I fill the keg 3/4 of the way up and bottle the rest of it? I know with bottles, to much headspace leads to oxidation, but if the headspace is filled with CO2 it won't oxidize, right?
3. Can the CO2 tank be kept inside my keezer with my kegs?
That is all for now, I'm sure I'll have more before the big day comes...
Thanks!
~neumann

Not quite sure if the big boys will work. No experience with that though. You can fill the keg up 3/4 of the way because you will first purge the keg of all oxygen, then rack into the keg, and purge again. All that will be left in the keg is beer and CO2.

You can also keep the keg in the freezer if you prefer. That's how mine and many others are setup. The amount of CO2 will show up as less on your high pressure regulator but that's just due to the cold temperatures and the less dense gas. CO2 in a freezer is not a problem at all.

Midwest has some great kits. I got my 2 keg, 2-way regulator setup from them. Good stuff and good prices!

your right you would have to have some adapters. what i dont know. i would suggest sticking with the 5#er...when you force carb you will want to burp the relief valve to let the air out..no oxidizing occurs. i keep my cylinder in the fridge and all is well, you may notice your main gauge will read low because of the cold...

You'll go through those paintball tanks pretty fast. You will want the 5lb or bigger. There is no problem with filling kegs 3/4.

Oh man... didn't even notice that you said 20oz. tanks. I thought you had 20lb. tanks. You'll definately want to get a 5# tank for carbing/serving your beers. I have seen some guys use paintball tanks for picnic types of setups but are used only for serving pressures, not carbing the beer. You'd be going through 20oz. tanks quite often if you used those to carb and serve.

My real plan with the 20oz tanks was to use them as a back-up as the kit comes with a 5#er. I imagine what would happen is I would get towards the end of a keg and run out of pressure and throw on the 20oz to keep the party going. Not to use the 20oz exclusively.
On a side note, does anyone here have a 5 CF freezer and can get my the inner dimensions of it? Specifically, will a corny keg and a 7 gallon fermenter fit in it?

neumann said:

My real plan with the 20oz tanks was to use them as a back-up as the kit comes with a 5#er. I imagine what would happen is I would get towards the end of a keg and run out of pressure and throw on the 20oz to keep the party going. Not to use the 20oz exclusively.
On a side note, does anyone here have a 5 CF freezer and can get my the inner dimensions of it? Specifically, will a corny keg and a 7 gallon fermenter fit in it?

Click to expand...

the 20oz paintball tanks have a pinvalve. You would need to either change out the valve for an on/off or buy an adapter to accept a pinvalve

My paintball tank has the on/off valve so i can simply swap it in/out when my 5# tank is empty. (I usually fill it back up within 48 hours and only use an oz of gas or less in that time.)

Also of note, Kegconnection just beat Midwest's homebrew kit....
2 Keg Basic Keg Kit, DUAL BODY REG, Standard Kit
this is with their econemy regulator, AND and on/off with checkvalve for each regulator!!!

those valves are like $6-10 each and they also throw in 2 sets of new orings(a $5 value each) for only $189

I have the kit from Midwest, and love it. If this were available 5 months ago, I would probably have this in my keezer.

Arkador said:

Also of note, Kegconnection just beat Midwest's homebrew kit....
2 Keg Basic Keg Kit, DUAL BODY REG, Standard Kit
this is with their econemy regulator, AND and on/off with checkvalve for each regulator!!!

those valves are like $6-10 each and they also throw in 2 sets of new orings(a $5 value each) for only $189

I have the kit from Midwest, and love it. If this were available 5 months ago, I would probably have this in my keezer.

Click to expand...

+1 on kegconnection. their customer service is great and they will customize any order. i just placed an order with them for this kit, but upgraded to the taprite regulator, minus the co2 tank. granted, i paid the same amount as the midwest kit that comes with the tank, but i get clean corny's, replacement o-rings, and a premium regulator. besides, i can get a filled 10lb tank locally for $70.

I am loving my kegconnection setup. I also went with the taprite regs...high quality stuff.

Instead of filling 3/4 and bottling the rest, why not keg and force the whole batch. Then you can use the BMBF to fill any amount of bottles you want.