Force carb one keg while serving from others?

[QuadConPana]

We recently replaced our kitchen appliances from Best Buy. With reward points and a gift card they gave me because of screwed up delivery, I have a 10.2 cf chest freezer on the way that cost me $22, delivered. So, it's keezer here I come.

Most of it seems self explanatory, except when it comes to the gas distributor. Most of what I see looks something like this:

I assume the pressure coming out of all valves will be the same. So, I wouldn't be able to force carb one keg while serving out of another, would I?

So, instead of the above distributor, I guess I have the choice of this for $150:

Or trash my old regulator and replace it with a dual body for $100. Not much difference in cost, actually, since I would still need to buy the distributor.

Then, third choice is buying a bigger CO2 tank. (I only have a 5lb now, anyway) and get a cheap single gauge regulator for force carbing from my backup tank.

I'm leaning toward solution #3, since that will mean I've got a tank of CO2 as a backup. I just want to know if I'm missing something that would make these 3 options unnecessary.

 

[Homercidal]

First, the PROPER way to serve beer is at the same pressure that you carb it up with. People *normally* don't touch the CO2 once it's hooked up to their kegs. The way to do this is to use serving line that is the smallest diameter, and length that pours right at that pressure and temperature.

Now *sometimes* people will "burst" carb their kegs to get them carbed up faster than normal, but that's a separate thing. Normally you just fill the keg, put it in the keezer and hook up the gas. In 1-2 weeks it's fully carbed.

The reason you would get a Co2 Regulator with additional heads is when you want to carb different beers to different pressures (carb levels) like a Pilsner might be 2.5 volumes, and an oatmeal stout might be at 1.5 volumes. So you need to be able to turn on regulator up, and the other one down.

If you are only going to be serving at one pressure, then a distribution manifold is the simplest way to go.

Of course it might be nice to have a second regulator if you burst carb beers very often. That way you don't have to disconnect the other beers when you crank the pressure and fill the new keg with 30 lbs pressure. I generally just let me kegs carb at serving pressure rate.

 

[Homercidal]

Oh, and I highly recommend getting a 20# tank for that many kegs. It will save you trips to the gas store. Just make sure to check very well for leaks, especially if this is a new setup. Losing 20# tank of gas does not feel good.

 

[NoahBeach]

I use that same manifold on my kegerator, installed it when I moved the CO2 tank outside the fridge. Works fine for carbing and serving at the same time as long as you're not burst carbing (as Homercidal mentioned).

My kegs stay at 40F so with my regulator set at 13PSI I maintain around 2.5 volumes of CO2 in solution as well as have nice foam free pours. When ever I add a new keg I simply hook it up uncarbed with the others and wait about a week and a half.

Here is a chart showing solubility vs temperature for CO2.

Also, just a side note, on your signature:

"search:www.homebrewtalk.com/whatever" (Type that into a Google search window after replacing "whatever" with what you're searching for. It works great)"

That should be "site:www.homebrewtalk.com whatever" which will limit the search to results that only come from www.homebrewtalk.com and are related to the query "whatever". The way it is currently in your signature includes results from outside of www.homebrewtalk.com as well as searching for the query "www.homebrewtalk.com".

Hope this helps!

 

[QuadConPana]

Also, just a side note, on your signature:

That should be...

Thanks. It is now.

 

[Homercidal]

Thanks. It is now.

Also, the google search at the top of the page is fixed now...

 

[Peruvian802]

At 30 psi I can force carb a keg in under 36 hours. During this time, I usually close the valves to my other 2 kegs. I can still pour several pints from each due to the residual pressure in the keg. I then bleed the forced carb keg, lower the psi back to serving level (under 10psi) and open all 3 valves to equalize.
I usually like to let the forced keg sit for a day or so to let any carbonic bite settle out but then I'm good to go.

 

[NickTheGreat]

At 30 psi I can force carb a keg in under 36 hours. During this time, I usually close the valves to my other 2 kegs. I can still pour several pints from each due to the residual pressure in the keg. I then bleed the forced carb keg, lower the psi back to serving level (under 10psi) and open all 3 valves to equalize.
I usually like to let the forced keg sit for a day or so to let any carbonic bite settle out but then I'm good to go.

I came here to say this. With a little planning, I can 'force carb' a keg at a much higher pressure than the other kegs I'm serving.

 

[btbnl]

I went with a four-body secondary regulator for the extra flexibility it gives for a fairly modest one-time cost - as well as varying the carbonation of different styles, I can be force-carbing one keg while bottling from another and serving from a third.

 

[dcrog]

If you wind up with the four gang secondary regulator set up, you can feed it with your current reg set to about 30 psi. On the left side of the 4g there is a plug, or if it is like my taprite a hole, that can lead through to another gauge. If you simply put a shut off valve, with a backcheck coming out of that you simply need a hose and gas in for your keg. This will always be running at the pressure set on your gauge coming off the tank, about 30 psi. No need to touch the other secondaries.

Makes burst carbing a breeze if you have the room in your keezer for the extra keg.