Kegging Beginner Questions

[tssgery]

I'm sure these have been asked and answered but I can't seem to find answers.

I'm looking to build out a 2-4 tap keezer and want to ability to use homebrew as well as commercial kegs. Is there anything special I need to look/plan for?

Also is it possible to force carbonate when I would have only one CO2 canister? I am assuming not as I'd need to up the pressure which would interfere with the other taps. If that's the case, how do people carbonate in this manner, have a separate CO2 to just carbonate or do natural carbonation with sugar?

 

[day_trippr]

For the first part, I believe you can find Sanke D system couplers with the same size flare fittings as used on corney keg flared disconnects. Then you can go back and forth between cornies and sankes.

For the second part, you can certainly bring a keg up to carbonation level while maintaining and serving any number of other kegs, all using a single regulator (*)
You just can't do the "burst carb" thing, so it'll take a couple of weeks for the new keg to carb up to the level of the other kegs on line...

(*) Note: some restrictions apply - like trying to carb up a 4 volume hefe while serving a bunch of 2.5 volume pales and a 2 volume porter, etc...

Cheers!

 

[tssgery]

Thanks.

I'll research a bit more on part 1, using the cornies and sankes on the same system.

And force carbing makes sense too, it'll just take longer.

 

[JuanMoore]

I only have one regulator, and just carb them all to the same level. I use the set and forget carb method for the vast majority of my beers, but I have occastionally burst carbed when I was in a rush. To do that I just disconnected the gas from the kegs that were already carbed, cranked the pressure up for 36 hrs, and then turned it back down and reconnected the kegs. You can't pour much beer from the carbed kegs while they're disconnected, but it works in a pinch.

For using sankeys and cornies together, the simplest method IMO is what day_trippr mentioned. Just make sure you buy all MFL style corny QD's instead of the barbed ones, and then buy two of these MFL tailpieces for each sankey coupler-

That will allow you to simply unscrew the lines from any coupler and switch to another.

 

[orion7144]

Also Kegconnection sells a conversion package for a decent price.