manifold and regulator

[nittanybevo]

Go big or go home right? We are not only brewing our first batch, but building a keezer at the same time. Our intention is to have 5 kegs at once (maybe a year from now) with 3 beer, 1 wine and 1 soda.

While our first brew is fermenting, we would like to start the cream soda/root beer as a keezer test. I bought the kit from Adventures in Homebrew that contained the first set of keg taps and connection lines. Now I'm thinking I need to build a manifold and add a second regulator, since the soda will be carbonated at a different level than the beer.

If I can't get what I need at Home Depot/Harbor Freight, I can have them machined. Any suggestions?

 

[Walker]

a word of caution.... I don't make soda, but I've heard a number of people state that you want to have separate kegs for beer and soda, Especially root beer. Apparently, you cannot get the flavor of rootbeer out of the lines and gaskets on the keg, and it will taint everything that gets put through later with the flavor of rootbeer.

 

[JayInJersey]

As for the actual hookups

I use www.kegconnection.com.


They are the only place that had a reasonably priced 6 body secondary regulator on site when I needed one.

And their shipping is pretty cheap too.

 

[nittanybevo]

a word of caution.... I don't make soda, but I've heard a number of people state that you want to have separate kegs for beer and soda, Especially root beer. Apparently, you cannot get the flavor of rootbeer out of the lines and gaskets on the keg, and it will taint everything that gets put through later with the flavor of rootbeer.

Yeah, one keg is intended to be dedicated soda. I sorta feel bad for the kids when I have beer and wine on tap and nothing for them. We actually plan on testing the system by making a batch of cream soda (while the beer ferments and we figure out the manifold). Hopefully I'll have pics of our build this weekend after our kegs come in tomorrow.

 

[JuanMoore]

Even if the beverage line doesn't get any flavor contamination, you'll need a dedicated one for soda simply due to the length needed, probably a minimum of 25' of 3/16" ID. There are lots of manifold options out there, and your question is very general. Do you also want a manifold on the primary reg to run more than one soda or have an extra 30psi line for sealing kegs/etc, or just a splitter to the second reg and one soda keg? Do you want shut-off valves or check valves on the beer manifold? Do you want QD's for the gas lines, or just hose barbs w/ clamps? How many lines do you want on the beer manifold? Will the wine be sparkling or are you going to get a separate nitro tank and regulator for that?

 

[nittanybevo]

Even if the beverage line doesn't get any flavor contamination, you'll need a dedicated one for soda simply due to the length needed, probably a minimum of 25' of 3/16" ID. There are lots of manifold options out there, and your question is very general. Do you also want a manifold on the primary reg to run more than one soda or have an extra 30psi line for sealing kegs/etc, or just a splitter to the second reg and one soda keg? Do you want shut-off valves or check valves on the beer manifold? Do you want QD's for the gas lines, or just hose barbs w/ clamps? How many lines do you want on the beer manifold? Will the wine be sparkling or are you going to get a separate nitro tank and regulator for that?

Sorry for being vague..I'm still learning...and I see I still have A LOT more to learn. So my idea was to have the soda and wine on the same regulator, and the 3 beer taps on the same regulator (since they should) be about the same pressure. I wasn't planning on doing nitro/argon with the wine, but since that is still a way off, I'm not super concerned about it today. I'd like to try the sparking wine, but again, that may be closer to christmas time before we start messing with that.

My plan for the weekend - build a 2 keg manifold. 1 keg beer (which isn't ready yet) and 1 keg soda. Since my beer isn't ready yet, I was planning on testing my system out with the soda. I'd like to have shut off valves for the manifold, but I was going to skip the check valves right now. Would I be able to carb the soda then disconnect the gas to carb the beer next week? I have heard that once the carb is done and the tank is pressurized, you can pour without having the CO2 tank connected.

Sorry to be basic, but does the 25' line for the soda go from the tank or to the tap? I saw a formula somewhere to calculate the line and the carbonation, but I have since lost the link.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[JuanMoore]

Once you carb, you can take a keg off the gas without any problems if it's just going to sit. If you want to serve from it, there will only be enough pressure to serve a couple of pints, and every pint you draw off will decrease the carbonation level of what's left in the keg. It's really best to leave the gas on the keg if you'll be serving from it. The 25' minimum for soda is for the beverage line, which goes from the keg to the faucet. Since soda is carbonated at much higher levels/pressures, you need longer lines to increase resistance and keep the system balances. Trying to pour using 30psi through a short line will result in a firehose of foam.

I'd suggest at least one check valve to protect the regulator, which your reg may already have built in. To avoid cross contamination between kegs without check valves, make sure to avoid overfilling, and also avoid hooking two kegs to the same part of the gas system that have different pressures. The easiest way to do this is every time you add a keg, shut the gas off, and vent the pressure from the other kegs running off of the same manifold. Then once everything is connected the gas can be turned back on.

To serve both the beer and soda at the same time, you'll want get that secondary regulator. Come out of the primary into a 3 port manifold; one to the secondary, one for the soda, and one for the wine. Then make another 3 port manifold for the secondary reg with a line for each beer keg. Harbor freight has some great cheap manifolds, but they no longer show on the website, and some of the stores no longer carry them. The cheapest ones were blue anodized aluminum for ~$2 ea. They also carry a little more expensive 4 port manifold with air QD's on it. I don't recommend those QD's though, since they are prone to leaks if there is even a slight sideways pressure on them.