Regulator or Perlick Flow control

[BNC04]

I had posted this in the wrong forum I think.

I’ve been out of the homebrew hobby for several years now and sold my 5 tap keezer when I left.

Well, I’m back and getting ready to get started on a keezer build and have questions regarding gas delivery and beer dispensing.

Plan- 3 tap keezer which will supply qty. 2 -5 gallon corny home brews and a ¼ barrel of commercial or microbrew. These beers will consist, of wheats, browns, Kolsch, basic ales and every now and then a chocolate stout

I also plan to condition/carb another 5 Gallons of home brew in the keezer.

I still have a dual body regulator and Sankey connection. And I’m trying to decide if it is better to control the flow of each beer via individual pressures using separate regulators or via the Perlick spouts

Options-
Run the current dual regulator with a 3 way gas distribution block off one regulated port and Perlick control spouts on all 3 using the 2nd regulated port for high pressure carb/conditioning.

Run a triple regulator to a 2 way dist block with 2 Perlick control spouts, one line from a dedicated regulator with a standard Perlick spout and one line from a dedicated regulator for high pressure

Run a quad Regulator with a regulated line dedicated to each and standard Perlick spouts on all

Interested in your thoughts and opinions,
Thanks
Brett

 

[geejay]

And I’m trying to decide if it is better to control the flow of each beer via individual pressures using separate regulators or via the Perlick spouts

One thing to keep in mind is that the CO2 pressure will not only determine the dispensing pressure, it will determine the amount of CO2 dissolved in your beer. Some styles are traditionally more or less fizzy than others and it can make a big impact on drinkability.

You can control serving pressure by changing the length of the beverage tubing. The longer the tubing, the slower the pour (assuming 3/16" inner diameter tubing). There are threads here on "balancing beer lines".

That said, I serve four beers at the same time from one regulator, and so far I haven't been bothered by having them all at the same CO2 level. But I'm about to make some wheat beers and I think I'll put those on another regulator so I can make them more carbonated than the stout and porter.

 

[MagicMatt]

I don't think any of your options will work as is. The last one comes close, but doesn't mention if you'll be swapping out the lines for longer ones on the higher carbed kegs.

I'm assuming you want to be able to carb different beers to different volumes of CO2, yes? If so, then you'll absolutely have to get a regulator for each desired level (i.e. one line at 1.5vols, one at 2.5vols, one at 3.3vols, etc). Because if you keep a constant pressure on them (as you would in a keezer) with a single regulator, at best 2 of the 3 kegs will have changed carb level (possibly all 3), and relatively quickly.

Now you mention the flow control faucets. The reason you'd want these is so that you can run the same lengths of line on your system and not have to worry about needing extra lengths for resistance when pushing highly carbed beers. The flow control faucets let you add resistance and slow the pour so you don't get a bunch of foam. If you plan to swap out the lines between keg and tap each time the serving pressure on it changes, or if you will designate a certain tap as always serving the same pressured beers, then you shouldn't need the flow control faucets, as your system should remain in balance with proper line length.

Hope this helps.

 

[BNC04]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm going to go with a 3 stage secondary added to the dual regulator I have now.

Brett