Poor Man's CO2 Manifold?

[VikeMan]

I'm putting together a 6 product jockey box. All 6 kegs will be pushed from a single CO2 tank/regulator. Instead of spending bucks on a 6-way manifold (with its threaded body connections and unneeded (for my purpose) shutoff/check valves), I'm thinking of using "TEEs" connected by gas lines, like in the attached work of art. Anyone know a reason why this would be a bad idea?

 

[day_trippr]

What's at the terminal ends of the gas distribution system? And will there always be six kegs connected?

Cheers!

 

[beren]

The duotight tees aren't too expensive and there are plugs for them.

 

[VikeMan]

What's at the terminal ends of the gas distribution system? And will there always be six kegs connected?

Corny keg gas QDs. There will more than likely always be 6 kegs connected. But if not, there will still be a QD at any unused line's end.

I'm not at all concerned about beer getting into the gas lines/regulator (if that's where your question was leading). The kegs won't be overfilled, will be level, etc.

 

[day_trippr]

That pretty much covers my wonderings

Cheers!

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I'm not at all concerned about beer getting into the gas lines/regulator (if that's where your question was leading). The kegs won't be overfilled, will be level, etc.

Maybe. I was at a campout last year with a similar setup where and over carbonated keg of fruited beer ended up sending beer and fruit bits up through all the CO2 lines. It was a real pain to have to disassemble and clean the entire set of lines. Also, when we needed to replace one of the gas disconnects, we had to disconnect the connections from all of the kegs, and then repurge all of the CO2 lines.

As long as nothing goes wrong, this type of setup will work fine.

But yeah, is it worth the money for a proper distribution setup? If you are using EVABarrier lines, there are some fairly inexpensive options there.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

I'm putting together a 6 product jockey box. All 6 kegs will be pushed from a single CO2 tank/regulator. Instead of spending bucks on a 6-way manifold (with its threaded body connections and unneeded (for my purpose) shutoff/check valves), I'm thinking of using "TEEs" connected by gas lines, like in the attached work of art. Anyone know a reason why this would be a bad idea?

View attachment 818448

As long as all of your connections are tight, leak free your plan should work fine.

Like some of the others I'd recommend using a 6 port manifold with check valves and shutoffs or even (2) 3 port manifolds to separate things a little more. I'm not sure how much extra cost would be, but IMO it's a better setup.

Good luck with whatever avenue you go!

 

[scrap iron]

I think that should work but I would add some check valves. Are you using Eva barrier lines? The shut off valves and check valves are very easy to install.
I replaced an old 2 keg fridge with a larger 3 kegger and just used my 2 line manifold I bought not long before. I just put in an Eva tee with check valve to the extra keg, works fine.

 

[ringneck]

It will work fine, and I use a tee on my set up too. I put a 2 valve regulator in front of my tee. one of the regulators is set to serving pressure and then tee'd out to all the 'ready' kegs. I can use the other regulator to force-carb or for any other reason run a different pressure on one other keg

 

[beren]

Corny keg gas QDs. There will more than likely always be 6 kegs connected. But if not, there will still be a QD at any unused line's end.

They have been known to leak fwiw.

 

[Deadalus]

They have been known to leak fwiw.

Right, relying on the QD poppet vs. a check valve isn't a great idea in the field where running out of CO2 may be a bigger issue depending on where and when you are.

There are 11 connections after your regulator and before the QDS vs 7 for a 6-way manifold. There would be more with the manifold if you have valves but that applies as well to your drawing. If you use ptc fittings and included ball valves and check valves, that is two more connections per line vs a manifold where the inline valves also have the check valve built in. And if the jockey box is moved, the extra connections add more stress points for leaking.

 

[Deadalus]

Maybe. I was at a campout last year with a similar setup where and over carbonated keg of fruited beer ended up sending beer and fruit bits up through all the CO2 lines. It was a real pain to have to disassemble and clean the entire set of lines. Also, when we needed to replace one of the gas disconnects, we had to disconnect the connections from all of the kegs, and then repurge all of the CO2 lines.

As long as nothing goes wrong, this type of setup will work fine.

But yeah, is it worth the money for a proper distribution setup? If you are using EVABarrier lines, there are some fairly inexpensive options there.

If set up with evabarrier, ptc tees, ball valves, and check valves, it's probably a wash vs using a manifold. A ptc tee, ball valve and check valve is close to $10 per line and manifolds with valves usually run about $10 or less per line. I have seen just a couple of ptc manifolds that were cheaper but I couldn't tell whether they were junk or not.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

I recently ran all EVAbarrier Co2 lines and finally have manifolds with check valves. Cost a bit, but the peace of mind bonus makes it a wash.

 

[Yesfan]

I recently ran all EVAbarrier Co2 lines and finally have manifolds with check valves. Cost a bit, but the peace of mind bonus makes it a wash.

View attachment 818580

I have that same distributor for my Komos kegerator. How much space do you have in yours or is that mounted well above the tops of your kegs? I have mine laying on top of my kegs. I really wished the mount was at a 90 like the Keg Connection distributors.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

The screws are about 23 inches above the refrigerator floor, making the connections a couple of inches below the top of the kegs. I used hot glue to bond the distributors to the inside refrigerator wall for some added support. The mounting works for me because there is enough room for four kegs and the distributors.

 

[Slim M]

I do something similar to your drawing the only time I’ve gotten beer in the line is when I had a leaking prv on one keg lid. I disconnected the line to remove the keg and fix it but forgot to disconnect the pressurized keg prior to connecting to the fixed one, not to mention the pressurized keg was slightly taller with regulator set at 12 psi so I yeah I was cleaning lines later.

 

[JAReeves]

A couple of experiences that may help: 1. If you have a collar on your keezer, it’s a good place to mount the CO2 splitter; and 2. Since I often seem to be getting a lot of leaky QD’s I put keg lube in the threads to assist in the seal. Seems to work like a charm.

 

[Broken Crow]

For what it's worth, I've had cheap QD's leak, but never had a leak from a CM Becker.