Brand new to kegging- need help with shopping

[ShagmeisterBrewing]

Hey all,

I have never kegged before but I've been brewing for almost a decade now. I just cleaned out an old fridge that I will soon be converting into a kegerator, but I need helping choosing a regulator.

My long term goal is to have a three tap setup, but I only want to start with 1 tap, to see how I like the system.

My main question is, if I buy hosing, a CO2 tank, and a regulator to use now with a single keg, will I need an upgraded regulator later if/when I add more kegs, or is it a simple splitter of some sort?

Any advice or even links to recommended products would be appreciated. I've been looking at this kit to get started ( https://www.midwestsupplies.com/3-gallon-cornelius-keg-system )

Cheers,

James

 

[gwinn758]

You can get this from Kegconnection with the CO2 tank for the same price and $7.99 flat rate shipping. You can look at all the setups and actually would save money buying the bigger system as a kit as the kegs are discounted on the kits.
https://www.kegconnection.com/1-faucet-basic-homebrew-kegerator-kit/
https://www.kegconnection.com/2-faucet-basic-homebrew-kegerator-kit/

If you don't want a dual regulator to have different pressures for different beer you can buy one of these later.
https://www.kegconnection.com/2-way-gas-extension-kit/

 

[Matthew Nelson]

I've learned a lot since I set up my system, which currently is one 10lb tank with a single body regulator that runs to a three way manifold inside the frig for two tap service. The problems with this setup are that I have to either keep similarly carbonated beers on tap or live with one over or under carbed beer for one correctly carbed beer. My falty assumption was that the CO2 is there just to push beer out the faucet, but that is not so. In professional bar tap setups the CO2 pressurizing the kegs are each set to the individual beers proper level of carbonation. So each glass poured is properly carbonated from the first to the last. Pushing the beer through the lines is a secondary result. If you wish in the future to have say an english bitter, an IPA, and a wheat beer all on tap you will need to apply different pressures to each keg to keep each beer at it's proper level of carbonation. What the correct service pressure should be is whatever volume of CO2 you wanted for your beer based on this chart.

http://www.kegerators.com/carbonation-table.php

Also when I'm force carbonating I have to close the gas off to my tapped kegs until the new keg is finished. And when I want to fill a new keg I have to disconnect the tank from the frig altogether, do my purging/filling, and reconnect when I'm done. All of which is a pain.

Here's what I would have done had I known then, what I know now.

Same 10lb tank but with a dual body regulator. Like this

https://www.homebrewing.org/Taprite-Double-Body-T-handle-Regulator_p_6154.html

One line for the kegorator the other for purging and filling kegs. The kegorator line would run to a three way secondary regulator inside the frig like this one.

https://www.homebrewing.org/3-Body-Secondary-Regulator-Taprite_p_2904.html

Two lines for serving, one line for force carbonating. I'd also have beer lines cut and labeled for each CO2 volume I brew. This is a more expensive setup but it eliminates compromises on function and beer quality.