Conversion from 1 to 2 taps

[DGibb]

Hey there,

I'm on a pretty tight budget with 1 kid in day care and another due to arrive in May, but I wanted to upgrade my kegerator from 1 tap to 2 (draft tower). Looking at what I would need, I see it like this:

Current Setup

• CO2 Tank
• Single Gauge Regulator
• Gas/Beer lines for 1 tap
• Single draft tower with chrome handle

Future Setup

• CO2 Tank
• Dual Body Regulator
• Gas/Beer lines for 2 taps
• Two draft tower with chrome handles

1. How necessary is it to get a dual body regulator? Could I just get a Y-splitter and turn off the gas to one of the taps while I force carb, or just have the two kegs carbed at similar levels instead?
2. I'm even considering a three-tap tower; would a dual regulator work for that? (Serve 2 at same pressure, 1 at other or serve 2, carb 1)?
3. Cheapest case scenario, I keep the single regulator, and just serve 2 kegs at the same pressure. Any issues with this?

 

[ChefRex]

Hey there,

I'm on a pretty tight budget with 1 kid in day care and another due to arrive in May, but I wanted to upgrade my kegerator from 1 tap to 2 (draft tower). Looking at what I would need, I see it like this:

Current Setup

• CO2 Tank
• Single Gauge Regulator
• Gas/Beer lines for 1 tap
• Single draft tower with chrome handle

Future Setup

• CO2 Tank
• Dual Body Regulator
• Gas/Beer lines for 2 taps
• Two draft tower with chrome handles

1. How necessary is it to get a dual body regulator? Could I just get a Y-splitter and turn off the gas to one of the taps while I force carb, or just have the two kegs carbed at similar levels instead?
2. I'm even considering a three-tap tower; would a dual regulator work for that? (Serve 2 at same pressure, 1 at other or serve 2, carb 1)?
3. Cheapest case scenario, I keep the single regulator, and just serve 2 kegs at the same pressure. Any issues with this?

You will be fine with any of those scenarios.

 

[PinzonCachondo]

I'm with you in the kid department with a 2 year old and a 5 month old and I get how brewing time & money are tight. I'm in the process of building a kegerator and am going with single body reg and two faucets.

1. Dual body reg will only be useful if you want to run two kegs at different pressures. If you use the "set and forget" method of carbing, you can carb it just fine at the same serving pressure. As long as you're happy serving the beers at the same pressure and carbonation then you'll be fine with a splitter.
OTOH, if you decide to serve beers with different levels of carbonation, (e.g. an English Special Bitter on one tap and a hefeweizen on another), then you'll need the dual reg setup in order to have each at its proper carbonation level.

2. Yes, the dual body reg will work with the three faucets as you describe.

3. You'll be fine. I'd say skip the dual body reg for now, upgrade your tower and stick to beers styles that have similar carbonation levels. Down the road you can still add the second stage to the reg when your budget recovers and if you feel it's restricting you.

 

[DGibb]

All right then. Thanks to both of you for quick responses. I am doing a bit of birthday shopping for myself (tomorrow), and I think I will look at upgrading my tower now and regulator later! I found a triple tower on eBay that I might keep my eye on. It's only $55 right now... I can upgrade to Perlicks later.

 

[brewprint]

I have 3 kegs hooked up to a single body regulator. I just have 't's splitting them off. I have a picnic tap system.

When I force carb another keg I just remove the other 2 from the posts. If I need to pour a glass before the 36 hours there's plenty of gas in there to pour several growlers.

That's how I roll.

I'm in the process of building a collar and purchasing another keg but still sticking with the single body regulator.

 

[schmittychris]

I just converted from one tap to two on my Summit kegerator. I was able to score some single stage regulators off of ebay that were pulled from a restaurant. For instance:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cornelius-C...d&pid=100005&rk=6&rkt=6&sd=321692453559&rt=nc

The beautiful thing about these is that if you want to expand, you just add another single stage regulator in series. I was able to pick up two taprite ones that were already connected for $25. I have them mounted inside the kegerator and I can change the pressure in the kegs individually.

Edit: With two of these you can control pressures to three different kegs. The flow through both regulators will be at whatever the primary is set to. You would want that as your highest pressure.