Secondary Regulator Question

Gytaryst · Jan 2, 2018

I'm in the planning stage for my keezer. I started researching 2-way secondary regulators and when I visited the TapRite site I ran into this.

Without spending 3 days trying to track down all the differences between them my main question is: How important is the check valve?

BeardedBrews · Jan 2, 2018

They can save you some mess, but aren't mandatory.

The check valve serves as insurance that you aren't going to accidentally blast beer up into the regulator body if the pressure in the keg is higher than the input pressure.

This could happen if you're force carbonating at 30psi and then you snap on the 10psi serving gas without releasing pressure first. It could also happen if you vent one keg and the pressure in the other(s) becomes higher than the input.

Gytaryst · Jan 2, 2018

BeardedBrews said:
They can save you some mess, but aren't mandatory.

The check valve serves as insurance that you aren't going to accidentally blast beer up into the regulator body if the pressure in the keg is higher than the input pressure.

This could happen if you're force carbonating at 30psi and then you snap on the 10psi serving gas without releasing pressure first. It could also happen if you vent one keg and the pressure in the other(s) becomes higher than the input.

So just to get my head around this. If you [DO] accidentally blast beer up into the regulator, is it ruined? And two, is it just a matter of being careful, like closing the valve before filling up the boil kettle?

LLBeanJ · Jan 2, 2018

Gytaryst said:
So just to get my head around this. If you [DO] accidentally blast beer up into the regulator, is it ruined? And two, is it just a matter of being careful, like closing the valve before filling up the boil kettle?

Not ruined, but the reg will need to be disassembled and cleaned. Also, I guarantee you there will be a time when you inadvertently blast beer up your gas line and I can also guarantee you will do it more than once. It's real easy to become complacent and forget which side has the higher pressure. One second everything's fine, then you open a valve or attach a line to an overfilled, pressurized keg and the next thing you know you've got beer all the way up the line. So, technically, they're not necessary, but practically speaking, I wouldn't run without a check valve in front of every regulator and manifold valve.