Starting to keg

Purchase a dual regulator, you will thank me later.

 

Agreed. I have been struggling swapping hoses between 2 kegs for 2 years. I finally got a dual reg setup. Hooking it up this weekend.

 

I would buy 2 kegs, maybe more. You will want to transfer a new beer into the second keg while drinking the first so that you have a beer ready when the first keg blows. It really sucks when the keg blows and you have no beer to drink since you had to clean the keg and fill it with fresh beer and wait for it to carbonate and condition. That's a good 1-2 weeks w/o beer.

 

Which ever method you choose, consider adding "wyes" for your shut-off valves. If you have a single output, by adding a wye you get two outputs (same pressure). For a dual-primary reg add two wyes and you'll have four outputs. A reputable supplier will add them for you or it's a small effort to install yourself. The wye's will be less than ten bucks and the extra shut-off valves are also under ten bucks.

What you get: Obviously more outputs. If you need a spare outlet to purge a keg or run a beer gun the effort is minuscule. Want to transfer keg to keg or carboy to keg . . . easy to do without disassembling your serving kegs. You will find CO2 is your friend with lots of applications. No one ever complains about having too many CO2 connections. Oh yeah, plan on at least double the number of kegs you think you'll need . . . 'cause you'll end up needing them. You'll love kegging.

 

Just snagged one of these today when they came back into stock. Already have a 3 valve. I will swap them out, this will give me the ability to carbonate 3 kegs prior to putting in the fridge if I see fit... like the 3 kegs of IPA dry hopping right now.

 

I have a 3 and a 2...should have just gotten another 3.

 

Take the number of kegs you think you'll ever need for the rest of your life, double it, then add four for good measure.
In my case, I was convinced that four kegs were plenty. Once they filled up, I bought four more. Then another four for a total of twelve. I always have at least one empty at any given time, so that's a good number for me. Obviously, ymmv.

I should gloat point out that I bought these when they were widely available for around $20 each, shipped.

 

Take that number and double it again!

 

I second @JohnSnowNW Get a dual regulator so you can carb at least two kegs(to start) at different carb levels. And I started with one keg and quickly moved to three and need a bunch more!

Kegging is the tits.

 

like many things in life, you get what you pay for. kegging is not hard but it requires a bit of knowledge and probably more money than you anticipate. but it is worth every penny. none of us, and i mean nobody, has ever regretted switching to kegs.
my advice...

do not buy a regulator from some unknown .com. if it is un-named, half the price of everything else you see, run away. you will replace cheap parts quickly. you may ruin your homebrew in the process. this is a fact.

buy more cornies than you need, and soon. the price keeps going up. buy used. don't be a sucker for shiny. many of us have corny radar switched on at all times.

find out who your local CO2 source will be and ask if they exchange or refill. chances are your supplier will exchange gas cylinders, and you do not want to buy a shiny new tank for an exchange tank later. so bite the bullet for the full tank first time, every other time you just pay for the gas.

get good beer line, and buy a roll of 50' or more. you will need it. do not get bargain beer line. (and 3/16" ID x 7/16" diameter OD while your at it. 3/16 x 5/16 is too thin and costs about the same.

learn how to balance your system. read up. not difficult, but know it. or pour a lot of foam.

spend some time looking through home bar forum. those dudes know what they are talking about!
Cheers.

 

Ive been using 2 kegs for almost a year now but recently bought a third keg just to ensure there's always something on tap. I wouldn't advise anything less than 2 if you plan on mainly drinking homebrew around the house for reasons mentioned by jbakajust1. I would also thinking about having at least as many fermenters as kegs to keep those kegs filled as much as possible too.

 

Hate reading this thread because I know I won't be able to start kegging until I move and am able to setup my man cave the way I want. For now I'll suffer through bottling and keep reading threads like this for info.

 

I will be kegging my first batch Friday. My local homebrew store was a huge help. I have a nice used ball lock keg, will be getting a second and a third soon. He helped me out with all the fittings and a newer c02 tank. They only do exchanges and will only swap out their tanks that get inspected and are in good condition. As of now I only have a picnic taper and a mini fridge. I plan on building a keezer that can hold 3-4 kegs. I already regret not buying a dual gauge but you live and learn.

 

Do you mean dual gauge or dual primary regulator? Dual gauge just means that there is both a high pressure (tank pressure) gauge and a low pressure (output, post regulator) gauge. "Economy" regulators often only have the low pressure gauge.

Dual primary regulator means two (independent) regulator bodies. The advantage of a dual primary regulator is that you can carbonate/keg two different kegs at two different pressures. With a single regulator, you can feed multiple kegs (with the addition of a splitter or manifold), but they will be at the same pressure.

And just to add a little more confusion... you can also add a secondary regulator downstream from the original primary regulator (via the primary regulator's regulated output). In this case, the secondary regulator can be used to provide equal or less pressure (but not greater) than what the primary regulator is currently providing.

 

Dual Primary is what I meant. @VikeMan

 

I initially bought a single but quickly upgraded to a dual. Go for the dual.

 

You can still split off multiple CO2 lines with a single primary output (just all at the same pressure) with wyes/splitters or step up to secondaries. As you expand it's likely (desirable) you will end up with extra CO2 tanks so don't fret a single primary output. A suggestion: weigh your full tank with reg attached . . . this allows you to figure your tare weight w/regulator. With a set of scales you can predict when the tank will kick.

 

I have a single primary (dual gauge, FWIW) and two secondaries, ganged together. The secondaries are inside the keezer. The reason I did it this way is that the tank and primary are in a relatively remote location - in a closet adjacent to the bar. With this arrangement, there's only one gas line from there to the bar.

...which you can 'upgrade' to a non-economy model for about $5, if you're so inclined.

 

remember too that many, but not all secondary regulators will have a pass through for ganging multiple regulators.

get one dual gauge primary and set it to 20 psi. then you daisy chain each secondary with the pass through. the final regulator in the chain has a plug screwed in place of the hose barb. you can add as many regulators as you could ever want with this set up, and single gauge pass through regulators are relatively cheap. a length of braided hose can be installed in between if you use hose barbs and need to separate the regulators by more than a few inches.