Dual Regulator - Good Idea or Wasted Money?

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a kegging system, and I'm wondering about these dual pressure regulators. Does anyone have it and find it very useful? Does anybody not have it and wish they did? Does anyone have it and find it a useless waste of money? Does anyone not have it and never felt the need for it? Please help me make a sound choice from your wisdom.

I think it all depends on how you want to run your system. I wish I had a duel regulator instead of a single. My system has three taps and a four way air distributor. I will slow carb a keg on the 4th air line, but if I'm trying to carb quickly, I can't serve beer and force at a high pressure at the same time. That's the inconvenience of my system. I'll upgrade some day.

The benefit of the duel regulator is that you can carb one keg at high pressure and serve another at a lower pressure. You can also serve different styles at different pressures. I'm just not that picky.

i would like to have one. i brew alot of random styles of beer, it would be nice to have a couple different options for controlling your pour. also, if you carb in your keezer or kegarator, you can have one set high to carb up, while the other still pours correctly. other wise you end up disconnecting or turning off gas lines while you force carb...go for it.

I have a dual in my kegerator and run three kegs on it. It has worked very well for several years.
When I added a lager ferm chamber (chest freezer) to my set up this Summer I also added a CO2 cylinder w/ a single regulator. This way I can force carb if I want. I usually keg condition but it's been handy.

Well worth the extra cost. I recommend the Taprite with the red knobs. Much easier to adjust the pressure.

http://www.learntobrew.com/regulator-2-product-2-pressure-co2-w-easy-turn-knobs/

being able to carb (30psi) as well as drink (<10psi) an existing batch is priceless

It's unanimous! Looks like the dual regulator is the way forward. Thanks everyone for chipping in.

I have the same model and love it. Right now in the keg fridge, I have root beer at 25 psi and an English bitter at 10. Can't do that without a dual body. Cheers!

If you look carefully at the photo you will see that the 'dual' unit consists of two single units in series (that is, the high pressure connections are in series with the high pressure gauge at the end). Thus such a system can be cascaded for as many regulators as you like. Companies usually sell these with 4 or 6 as a 'panel' (and often the high pressure gauge is not there) with the gauges mounted to a sheet of stainless intended to be attached to a cold room wall. Thus you can expand this system if you want too bearing in mind that as you add more gauges the CO2 bottle will topple unless held upright (a friend uses a Christmas tree stand).

Do you want to do this? Absolutely. Being able to separately adjust the CO2 on each of several beers grants you needed flexibility if you are, for example, serving lagers and ales at the same time.

Yeah I started with a single and added the other regulator later. Took about ten minutes to install

I run each to a triple manifold. And close off each beer when it gets to the desired carbonation. Not perfect but it works.

LLBeanJ said:

Well worth the extra cost. I recommend the Taprite with the red knobs. Much easier to adjust the pressure.

http://www.learntobrew.com/regulator-2-product-2-pressure-co2-w-easy-turn-knobs/

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I wholeheartedly concur with this statement. I couldn't do without it. Kegconnection, great website and options. Don't scrimp on the regulator

BigFloppy said:

being able to carb (30psi) as well as drink (<10psi) an existing batch is priceless

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I do exactly this with mine. I also made the carbing gas lines 6' each, so I can open the fridge and purge kegs or other CO2 uses outside where it's much easier to access.

I wish i had one. I'm missing so many pieces to my draft system it's crazy. This is pretty high up on my list though. My system works but i have 2 kegs and only 1 worth of qd's, line, and faucet... would awesome to have a duel regulator.

I prefer having secondaries downstream because I can mount them inside and just have one line into the keezer. For me it's mainly to carb to different levels. I've never had a need to burst carb at high pressures, I'm drinking most beers by 3 wks as it is which is good enough for me.

get the dualie! I have a three tap system, onefor soda (30psi) and the the other two for beer (8psi) love it, would have it no other way!

Get the duel. One at typical serving/carb pressure the other can be used for purging anything from empty kegs to lines to bulk hops. Belgians like more dissolved co2 as does soda and some other carbonated beverages. My $.02

The dual is the way to go. Love being able to carb one keg and serve a separate one. I will say that you have to be really careful balancing though, this will make your CO2 very top heavy. I have caught mine falling on more than one occasion.

Todd820 said:

The dual is the way to go. Love being able to carb one keg and serve a separate one. I will say that you have to be really careful balancing though, this will make your CO2 very top heavy. I have caught mine falling on more than one occasion.

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agreed! I had to rig a tie line to mine from the top of one keg to the top of the Co2 tanks, so it wont topple over every time I open the fridege.

LLBeanJ said:

Well worth the extra cost. I recommend the Taprite with the red knobs. Much easier to adjust the pressure.

http://www.learntobrew.com/regulator-2-product-2-pressure-co2-w-easy-turn-knobs/

Click to expand...

I have this unit, and I am happy with it. I can serve and have a keg carbing at the same time. Also handy if you have a particular beer you want carbed low or high compared to your others, like a lineup of IPA's and one stout.

One of the primary leads to a 4 valve secondary regulator inside the keezer, which goes to the kegs and the other primary is for external CO2 work - filling cleaned kegs for storage, hooking up to kegs for cleaning the lines, purging O2 before placing in the keezer (though this can be done in the keezer).

It's a "nice to have" but not required.

yohoe said:

One of the primary leads to a 4 valve secondary regulator inside the keezer, which goes to the kegs and the other primary is for external CO2 work - filling cleaned kegs for storage, hooking up to kegs for cleaning the lines, purging O2 before placing in the keezer (though this can be done in the keezer).

It's a "nice to have" but not required.

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I have a triple now, and adding a 4th tap so have a 4th regulator coming. Maybe overkill but it's nice being able to adjust each independently, especially when carbing up on or two kegs with others at serving pressure.

Added the 4th one today, I say go for the double

Dang that looks top heavy! I'll stick to secondaries.

Yes it is, had to be strapped in or it will tip over lol

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419743003.376769.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419743047.605947.jpg

A couple pictures of my setup. 20# CO2 with double primary to quad secondary. Great setup...wouldn't change it!

yohoe said:

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A couple pictures of my setup. 20# CO2 with double primary to quad secondary. Great setup...wouldn't change it!

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Haha, I have a similar temp conversion chart on my controller box.

If you flash the stc1000s with alpha software you can control in F

4 in the kegerator

Those are some awesome pics. Thanks guys!

I did indeed go with the tapright dual regulator, 10# tank, 3-way manifold, 3 taps (I upgraded to the perlick SS and SS shanks), 4 kegs (ball lock), 4 gas lines, and some really snazzy 6" wooden tap handles. Was quite astounded by the total cost which was just shy of $1000 Canadian - and that was with some shopping around for sales too.

Now I'm a little worried about getting the appropriate length of beer line in order to get a good pour. The guy at my LHBS went online to a calculator and said I needed around 9 feet for each line. That seems excessive, but I'd rather err on the side of too long and cut it down rather than have to go out and get even longer lines.

Another option is to have two tanks with single regulators. That way you have a back up tank and can force carb or carb to style as needed. A dual regulator would be nice but I've never brewed any beer that the standard 10-12 PSI wasn't acceptable.

andy6026 said:

Those are some awesome pics. Thanks guys!

I did indeed go with the tapright dual regulator, 10# tank, 3-way manifold, 3 taps (I upgraded to the perlick SS and SS shanks), 4 kegs (ball lock), 4 gas lines, and some really snazzy 6" wooden tap handles. Was quite astounded by the total cost which was just shy of $1000 Canadian - and that was with some shopping around for sales too.

Now I'm a little worried about getting the appropriate length of beer line in order to get a good pour. The guy at my LHBS went online to a calculator and said I needed around 9 feet for each line. That seems excessive, but I'd rather err on the side of too long and cut it down rather than have to go out and get even longer lines.

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Sounds about right. I carb and serve at 12psi. Fridge is set to 38, and my beer lines are 10ft each.