Diving into Kegging have a couple questions

[bigpapa7272]

Going to take the plunge into kegging. Soda and beer. I was talking to my local homebrew guy last night about a setup and I was interested but not at his price tag!

Ive heard that you can force carbonate beer in the keg with out yeast is this true how hard is it.

Also I want to dedicate a keg to root beer i have always loved keg root beer fan(when I can find it).

Im guessing I will need a dual body regulator since i will be doing beer and soda for the different pressures.

How big of a tank would you recommend? I was thinking about starting otu with a 2.5 but think that will not get me far. Any opinions?

Thanks

 

[shortyjacobs]

You can force carb beer in the keg, or prime it with sugar. Either way works fine. If you are force carbing, having the yeast in the beer is no problem. Obviously for priming you need the yeast.

You'll want a dual body reg. Beer at 10-14 psi depending on temp and style, soda at 25-35 psi depending on temp and desired level of carb.

2.5 lb? Very small, but will still dispense a few kegs before running out. (It'll force carb and dispense 2-3, or just dispense 6-9). I have a 10 and 15 lb tank, and bigger's always better. Usually it costs damn near the same to exchange a 5 lb or 15 lb, but you get 3x CO2 with the bigger tank, (i.e. for me, it's $13 to exchange a 5 lb, $15 for a 10 lb, and $17 for a 15 lb.).

 

[bigpapa7272]

I am looking a one of the basic 2 keg setups from keg connection to get started and upgrade from there. For startup they seem to have the best package price

 

[FarSide792]

I am looking a one of the basic 2 keg setups from keg connection to get started and upgrade from there. For startup they seem to have the best package price

I just ordered the premium, 2 keg faucet kit from them, and with shipping it came to $257.90...seems like one hell of a deal (I got the pin-lock variety). Hopefully shipping from TX-FL won't take too long

 

[Chrisl77]

Figure out where you can get co2 filled around your area. Some places do tank exchanges instead of filling tanks. If the ones in your area only do tank exchanges you may be better off getting a setup without a tank and save on shipping costs. No point in getting a shiny new tank if the place you fill it at is going to swap it with a used tank.

 

[bucfanmike]

you should also know that anything you put rootbeer in will be rootbeer only for eternity. lol. rootbeer doesnt come out of orings, tubing, faucets. So just know that you will need dedicated stuff for it. I wouldnt go smaller than a 5 lb, which isnt a large tank but will serve you well. Force carbing has nothing to do with the yeast, its using the pressure of the co2 to carbonate instead of putting in priming sugar for the yeast to eat to create the co2.