Now that I have my brewing cycle down, I really need to start kegging. I understand concept behind it, but not smart on all the parts. I will carb at two levels (2.4 and 3.0...estimations). The plan now is to get a 3-gauge regulator (two out). My questions:
Will I need two manifolds to carb at two different levels?
If you're going to try to carb more than one keg at each level, you'll need something to accommodate that. Manifolds
like this, or
splitters, or something so you can feed more than one keg w/ the same pressure.
What size should I go with (1/4 or 5/16)?
5/16. I like to use the red CO2 lines; makes it very clear what's what inside the keezer. I used to use clear lines, like the red ones better.
Is it best to put CO2 canister inside or outside the cold area?
That depends on your setup. I started by having it in the keezer; I realized it cost me a spot for a keg, so I moved it outside and fed the CO2 to the inside of the keezer using a
bulkhead shank; some just drill a hole through the collar and feed the line through there.
It doesn't hurt to have inside, and it's a cleaner look.
I've attached a few pics below showing different options.
The first shows my old keezer; I used to have a manifold in there to distribute CO2 to different kegs, eventually went to secondary regulators to do that. You can see, no CO2 tank inside, it's feeding from outside.
Old keezer died; below is the new one. You can see I moved the secondary regulators to the outside; this makes it easier to get kegs in and out, and allows me to both monitor and change pressure easily and without opening the lid.
Inside of the new keezer; there are four lines leading into the keezer from 4 secondary regulators. The bottom line feeds a small keg full of water I used to pressurize my glass rinser.
The second line from the bottom isn't connected in the pic; I typically use it to force carb, or to provide serving pressure to a 5th keg. I have five faucets, thus 5 feeding kegs.
The third line from the bottom feeds the manifold on the right, and the top line feeds the manifold on the left. That allows me to have two different pressures on two sets of kegs if I want, in addition to that fifth line.
I'm thinking that something like this is probably what you're looking for.
Here's the final version; glass rinser is on the left of the keezer, fed by a pressure line from the small keg inside.
