Regulator decision?

[Khirsah17]

I am slowly amassing all the parts I need for building my kegerator system, and I'm really stuck on whether I should get a single body CO2 regulator, or spend the extra money on a dual body. I guess I was wondering if people have experiences that may help make a decision. Which should I get?

I was looking at the Great Fridge Project writeup, and I'm probably going to make a manifold similar to the one that guy made. He had just a single body regulator, and pressurized individual kegs as needed. Do most people get away with just doing that? Any limitations here?

Thanks!

 

[FlyingHorse]

Not sure how many kegs you are planning to run? There are people here who will advocate both stratgeies...it basically comes down to whether you want to compromise on a single serving pressure for all your beers (or mess around with each of the kegs every so often to maintain different pressures).

I currently run a single reg for my 2-tap kegerator. When I go to a 6-8 tap chest freezer, I'll probably run 3-4 different pressures.

In any case, if you decide you want multiple regs, you should check out this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=9650&highlight=good+deal+regulator

 

[Bigfoot99]

Also take into consideration how you plan on carbonating your beer, and if you plan on having soda on tap. If you force carbonate, you will not need to remove the dispensing CO2 and adjust the pressure; all you need to do is set the second regulator to the force carbonating pressure. If you decide to dispense soda, it needs to be served at a higher pressure than beer, so the second regulator is nice to have.

Then there's the argument about different levels of carbonation based on beer styles...

 

[Jester369]

I went a little overboard... couldn't resist the inexpensive regs

 

[Khirsah17]

As far as number of kegs, probably good information to give! Sorry, I'm in that after-lunch slump. I'm planning on running 4 different kegs.

As far as how I plan on carbonating, it's going to be force carbonating. I don't see myself doing any more natural carbonating once I get a kegging setup. Bigfoot, I'm not quite sure I follow what you said here:

If you force carbonate, you will not need to remove the dispensing CO2 and adjust the pressure; all you need to do is set the second regulator to the force carbonating pressure.

I guess what I was imagining with a one regulator body setup is that I would pressurize an individual tank to a certain level, then close it off. Then do the same with the second tank and so on. Then I would have a length of line long enough that the line resistance would bring the internal keg pressure down to serving pressure. Is my dispensing CO2 pressure going to be lower than the pressure in the tanks? Is that going to cause backflow? Man, i think i have a lot to learn yet about basic kegerator operation!

Jester, oh..my...god! Where did you get all those regulators?? Yea, i bet they are cheap if you buy them in BULK! Wow!

 

[Bigfoot99]

What I meant by not needing to remove the dispensing line to force carbonate is that the easiest and most common (read cheapest) CO2 setup is to run tubing from the regulator to each keg, using barbed tees to branch out the single line from the regulator to the four kegs. If you were going to dispense four kegs, you would need a long length of tubing, 3 tees, 4 ball or pin lock gas (gray) connectors and 14 hose clamps. This would allow all four kegs to be connected to the same regulator.

Assuming you only have one tank and regulator, you would need to disconnect all four kegs, increase the pressure to force carbonation levels, force carbonate, return it to serving pressure and reconnect to dispensing kegs. If you had the second regulator, you could leave the dispensing lines and pressure alone, and setup the second regulator for force carbonation.

You do not want to pressurize and disconnect the CO2 from your serving kegs. Always maintain the regulated pressure on them - it will prevent them from going flat, it will keep the lids and fittings properly seated (no leaks) and you'd be surprised at how quickly pressure can drop while dispensing beer if you do not have a tank connected.

 

[the_bird]

I went a little overboard... couldn't resist the inexpensive regs

That is freakin' awesome! Where'd you get all the regs, how much did they run you?

 

[heinz57]

I'm pretty sure he got them here.

I landed the same site from a different thread. Regulators run about $6 each.

Gages and fittings etc separate.

 

[heinz57]

What do you have coming off the cylinder itself?

Is it just a single gage regulator that feeds into all of these?

 

[Jester369]

I'm pretty sure he got them here.

I landed the same site from a different thread. Regulators run about $6 each.

Gages and fittings etc separate.

Yep - sciplus.com. about $6 for the regs, another $6-7 for the guage, and whatever the threaded nipples cost - not much. No such thing as overkill :rockin:

 

[Jester369]

What do you have coming off the cylinder itself?

Is it just a single gage regulator that feeds into all of these?

Just a standard 2 guage regulator on the CO2 that feeds into the manifold at the elbow.

 

[Khirsah17]

I'm just amazed at all those regs. That's DEFINITELY the way im going to have things set up.

As far as hooking up to the tank, I think I want just a single gage regulator hooked up to the tank itself, and then it'll feed 4 other regs for the individual tanks. Can I make the tank regulator by buying one of the cheap reg bodies and a tank pressure gage? Id like to make the tank regulator on the cheap, instead of buying a fully made unit. Makes sense that I could do it this way, but just want to make sure.

Also, where can I get the connecting piece to the tank? Is there a McMaster number for that thing?

Damn, I wish i was more of a DIY guy!

 

[Bigfoot99]

Can I make the tank regulator by buying one of the cheap reg bodies and a tank pressure gage?

No. They are not rated to handle the pressure from the CO2 tank directly; only secondary pressure. I don't have one near me, so I don't recall the maximum working pressure (it is on the label).

You are dealing with an extremely dangerous component of your kegging system. Don't skimp on safety or quality.

 

[RadicalEd]

Yarg, I saw the thread for those Surplus regulators earlier, but they're no good to be without a primary regulator...Anybody have a suggestion on finding a cheap one? Without skimping, of course.

 

[Bigfoot99]

Yarg, I saw the thread for those Surplus regulators earlier, but they're no good to be without a primary regulator...Anybody have a suggestion on finding a cheap one? Without skimping, of course.

Beverage Factory has decent prices. Look under "draft beer equipment".

 

[kvh]

I bought mine from Micromatic, (I'll have photos of it up next week - i'm out of town). I bought this one, but had to mount the thing upside down and change the ball valve to a 90 threaded barb (again photos + explanation later) to make it all fit in the space I had for it, but it does...

I decided I'd like the regulator with the pressure release on it *JUST IN CASE*. I'm away from home so hopefully everything is fine... (I hooked it up the day before I left, drank my first draft, and left town 2 weeks ago.)

That leads to my 3-regulator secondaries which can be seen here. I decided 3 pressures for 4 kegs was more than enough. I'll re-post my parts list from McMaster-Carr sometime, but most of the parts on the regulator manifold were from there except the valves and regulators themselves.

I just ordered the remainder of my missing parts last night from NB - They're all due to arrive monday....

kvh