Kegging question - Schematic?

[tonkota]

I went to a Barley Wine (commercially available stuff) tasting last Tuesday and had a very good time. The host had a keg of his stout also out. I liked the setup! Now I'm thinking about kegging my homebrew.

One keg looks easy to set up. Multiple kegs looks more difficult. Is there a schematic for CO2 line routing? Do I need multiple regulators? Or can all beers be set up at the same PSI?

 

[tonkota]

I found this, is it correct?

 

[Grimm]

you can run multiple kegs off one bottle of co2, but all kegs will then be at the same PSI so you wouldn't be able to force carb a keg while one was ready for dispensing. if you have multiple regulators you have the ability to change the pressure per keg/line.

 

[steinsato]

I have a two tap kegerator and run 2 Co2 lines off the same regulator. I usually just leave the PSI at 12.

 

[RickWG]

you can run multiple kegs off one bottle of co2, but all kegs will then be at the same PSI so you wouldn't be able to force carb a keg while one was ready for dispensing. if you have multiple regulators you have the ability to change the pressure per keg/line.

Not quite true. if you get a double body regulator setup you can run two kegs at different pressures.

 

[tonkota]

you can run multiple kegs off one bottle of co2, but all kegs will then be at the same PSI so you wouldn't be able to force carb a keg while one was ready for dispensing. if you have multiple regulators you have the ability to change the pressure per keg/line.

I can still carb with corn sugar or DME or honey etc. right? I don't have to use the bottle?

 

[shortyjacobs]

Your schematic looks fine. The 20 lb tank is connected to all the kegs but 1, and the 5 lb tank goes to 1, most likely for force carbing at a higher pressure.

I do something similar...my tank goes into a dual regulator. My regs are set at 34 PSI and 11 PSI. The 34 PSI line is T-ed into 2 lines, one of which goes to a soda water keg, the other I periodically connect to kegs to force carb. The 11 psi line is T-ed and T-ed and T-ed to make 4 lines, each going to my serving beer kegs. This means I have 4 kegs at 11 PSI, one soda keg at 34 PSI, and one empty space in my fridge at 34 PSI for when I want to force carb a keg quickly.

 

[Walker]

You don't need to force carb at a higher PSI that you serve your other kegs at. You only need to do this if you want to try and get a keg ready fast. My beers generally need a couple weeks in the keg before they are really ready to drink, so letting them sit at around 10 to 12 psi during this time is fine with me. No messing with the regulator.

If you want to force carb at a higher pressure, you need the second tank and regulator, or a dual regulator.

You can also carb with sugar and not use the tank at all. This will take a couple of weeks at room temp, but will save you a lot of CO2 from your tank since the tank is then just used to serve. I just started doing this myself because it makes my pipeline flow smoother. I should be emptying a keg at the same time that a sugar-primed one is carbonated, so all I have to do is throw the new keg into the kegerator and let it get cold and it'll be ready to go.