Keezer and CO2 logistics

[mjcoussens]

My wife and I will be moving back to the mainland soon and as part of the move I've been given permission to bless our household with a keezer, in addition to resurrecting my reef and discus aquariums .

Ideally, I'd like to have 4 beer taps, 1 soda tap, and room for at least one more keg. I'm thinking that a 8.8 or 9cft chest freezer would be the way to go. Does anyone here have any idea if this is enough room? I'm planning on a collar, so putting kegs on the compressor hump will work ok.

The other goal I'd like to accomplish with this setup is to run the kegs, and the CO2 systems on my aquariums (reef and planted/discus) all off of the same CO2 tank. I'm assuming that I can do this just by replacing the standard regulator with a 4-way regulator with a manifold for the 4 beer taps.

One tee would go to the Soda keg at 30psi, another to the beer/manifold at 12psi, and then the last two tees would go to the Ca reactor on the reef tank, and the CO2 reactor on my discus tank, correct? This way I can just keep one 20# bottle full instead of keeping track of 3 different CO2 tanks.

Thanks for the help

Matt

 

[Liquidicem]

I wouldn't even replace your standard regulator. There are some very inexpensive secondary regulators out there. I don't have the page bookmarked but do some searching here or hopefully someone will chime in with the a site.

The freezer will be hit or miss. You will need to check each freezer to make sure it is capable of what you what. Even with the same cubic feet, the actual dimensions vary by model and brand.

 

[Bobby_M]

8cuft is def too small for 6 kegs. The whirlpool 8.9cuft is big enough to fit 5 kegs like a glove so that's a reasonable compromise... either 4 beer, one soda or 3 beer, one soda, one cold conditioning beer. I first put four faucets in thinking I'd want the 5th position for cold conditioning but it was always ready to drink before one of my four tapped kegs kicked.

 

[srm775]

8cuft is def too small for 6 kegs. The whirlpool 8.9cuft is big enough to fit 5 kegs like a glove so that's a reasonable compromise... either 4 beer, one soda or 3 beer, one soda, one cold conditioning beer. I first put four faucets in thinking I'd want the 5th position for cold conditioning but it was always ready to drink before one of my four tapped kegs kicked.

Home Depot has the Magic Chef 10cf chest freezer and it fits 6 kegs perfectly with room on the hump for CO2 tank and additional beer. The site has it listed at $269, but they are on clearance and mine was $199 (cheaper than the 7.2cf model).

 

[mjcoussens]

Just adding secondary regulators sounds like a good idea. I figured freezer dimensions varied by manufacturer, but the magic chef model sounds like it may be the best option and it's certainly in our price range.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[malkore]

My only concern, having used CO2 for freshwater planted aquariums with high light, is running out of CO2 at the least convenient time.

I'd say you'll want a 10lb cylinder if you want 4 beer kegs, 1 soda keg (which will use more CO2 due to the higher pressure to carb it), and then the constant trickle to the calcium reactor.

 

[mjcoussens]

Yep, I'm planning on either a 20# tank, or I may just get a lease on a larger tank along the lines of my O2 and He cylinders I currently use for mixing my trimix gases.

Matt

 

[david_42]

http://www.sciplus.com generally has secondary regulators available. Another advantage of using secondaries, you can run standard gas line between them, rather than high pressure lines. My main regulator runs at 35 psi feeding the soda keg directly & the secondaries over in the conditioning cabinet.

Depending on your CO2 usage, you can use my trick for 'emergency' CO2. I have an extra keg on the soda line at 35 psi, so if the tank runs out, I have some reserve.

 

[ghart999]

I just got the 10cf Magic Chef at HD for $197 as well.

Great freezer. If you want to use the hump for more kegs, you will need about a 12 inch collar though. You could probably fit a carboy on the hump for lagering with a typical 4-6" collar.

 

[mjcoussens]

6 kegs and room on the hump for lagering/storage sounds just fine to me. I'm thinking that I'd probably just start with a 4 keg setup from kegconnection (seems to be a favorite here) and upgrade the CO2 bottle right away, keep the 5# bottle around for emergencies, and upgrade to perlick faucets as time/money allows.

Thanks for all the help,

Matt