New Kegerator Setup Questions

[Schultzey24]

I have bottled a few batches of beer and am converting to kegs. I am slowly buying everything that I need to make the switch. I have already purchased a mini fridge from Bestbuy. A 4.4cu model number BFPH44M4LM. My plan is to have a cornie keg and a 1/6 barrel of commercial beer for my non home brew friends and times where I will have several beers in one sitting. Does anyone know if this fridge is going to have enough room?

I already have one cornie keg, a co2 tank, a duel gauge regulator and faucets. I know i am going to need a D system valve for the commercial keg. I plan to force carb my beer. Is there any valves that i can get to use one co2 tank and have two kegs? I want to have the commercial keg at pouring pressure and have the other at carbing pressure. Am I going to have to get another regulator? Am I better off just disconnecting the commercial keg for a few days while I carbonate?

I apologize for all of the questions but i am very new to this hobby and this is my first post!

 

[zachattack]

If you do the "set it and forget" it method, and carb your homebrew at the same level as the commercial beer (let's say 2.6-2.7 volumes), you can keep them at the same pressure. Just get a cheap wye fitting and split the line.

 

[grv]

If you want to force carb and don't have a regulator that will let you set two pressures, the cheapest thing to do would be to disconnect the commercial keg for the 24 hours or so that you are running a higher pressure. If you already have the regulator, you can add the wye as suggested above, and put a low pressure regulator on one side of the wye. Low pressure means the input of the regulator is meant to attach not to the CO2 tank, but to the output side of an upstream regulator like the one you have. It would allow you to run two pressures while still hanging on to what you have already. You'll probably find that some styles like porters, stouts and hefes will make you want to deviate from the pressure of a commercial beer even when not force carbing. Just put the lower pressure beer on the secondary downstream regulator.

 

[butterpants]

Get a dual body regulator.... more expensive but 2 different pressures off one bottle is sometimes priceless