Another first time kegger here

[Banjo-guy1]

I just bought (2) 2.5 gallon ball lock kegs from Beverage Elements. They are Italien made and were a little pricey! I haven't seen the small Italien made kegs available lately so I jumped on them and paid the price.

Right now I just have the kegs and nothing else. For now I'm just going to keep one at a time in my mini fridge untilI figure out if I will put them into a keezer or a kegerator. I'm not sure which I will use because I am setting up my garage for brewing and beer storage and don't know which way will fit my space better.

I'm planning on having a two keg 2.5 system eventually but would like to use the kegs right away so that I can see if they are holding pressure. What should I buy so that I can grow into the system that I will eventually have ?

I assume I will need some sort of "splitter " so that I can use both kegs at the same time. Can I still carbonate one keg while serving the other?

Should I just get a picnic tap until I know if I will need a tower setup? I Want to avoid buying things that I won't need or use once I set up my 2 keg system.
What do I actually need to buy and can some of the things be used again when I get my kegerator or keezer.
Thanks. I know a few people on the borg just got kegs. Sorry if this stuff has been discussed already.

[Beer-lord]

Just my opinion but yes, a splitter is the best way to go. I have a splitter PLUS a manifold so that I can actually carb and serve up to 6 kegs at a time (my kegerator only holds 3).
Picnic taps are cheap so get 2 as you never know when you'll step on one and brake it.....not that I have ever, ever done such a dumb thing!

If you're getting into kegging, a tube of food grade lubricant will last you a lifetime. Get some extra ball locks, rings and other keg parts just in case you have a problem. It's too late to find out you don't have any extra parts once you put the beer into the keg. I keep lots of rings, meaning the ring for the lids, the rings for the tube and extra ball lock posts (both posts, in and out). Also, a few extra poppets for the posts are good to keep around.

[Kealia]

Congrats! I would recommend a picnic tap for sure.
You're going to need a way to carb, or at least push the beer out so you're looking at either:
1) CO2 tank to do both (easier, if you want my opinion)
2) Naturally priming and pushing with CO2 cartridges

So you're looking at a CO2 tank, regulator, splitter (cheap) and picnic taps/beer lines.
Ideally you want 10 feet of 3/16" ID tubing for serving the beer. This will allow you to carb and serve at the same pressure.

Keg lube as Beer-lord mentioned, is a must IMO - and cheap.
I feel like I'm missing something so I'll keep noodling.

[The_Professor]

...I feel like I'm missing something so I'll keep noodling.

...grabbing catfish?

[Banjo-guy1]

AIH has this kit for people who have kegs already. I'd still have to get a C02 tank. Does this kit have quality regulators ect..
http://www.homebrewing.org/Homebrew-Keg ... _4472.html

[Kealia]

Yes it's a good regulator. We found out in a recent thread that many of us are using the Taprite brand.

Gas lines! D'uh....that's what I was thinking about earlier. They give you tank to regulator and regulator to kegs so you would be set there.
As far as the beer lines, though. Almost every place includes 4-5 feet of beer line and it's almost always too short. (They don't mention the actual diameter in the write up either). I would strongly recommend getting 10' of the 3/16" ID and working with that, though.

It's a few bucks more for 5 extra feet of tubing but it will save you:
- Posting about why your beer is foamy
- Posting about why your beer is flat
- Going out and buying longer lines later

The worst thing that happens when you have lines that are too long is that your pour is slower. You can always cut length if you're not happy.

The worst thing that happens with lines that are too short or don't provide enough resistance is that you get foamy, flat beer.

[Banjo-guy1]

This is what I have as a shopping list. I'm sure I missed something.

(2) 2.5 Ball Lock Corny Kegs (I already have)
Taprite CO2 Regulator - Dual Gauge - 2 Keg.
Gas Line- (how much and what diameter ?)
Beer Line -10ft 3/16 ID
Picnic Tap
C02 Tank
O ring set- ( backup)
Keg Lube
Manifold and/or Splitter ? Do I need one or the other( or both) for two kegs ?

Connectors. Are there options for this such as quick disconnect or flared fittings that I should buy?
Am I missing some part that is necessary for a two keg system.
I would like to serve two beers and also be able to carb one keg while having the other on tap.
Eventually I will put it into a kegerator.

I don't have a clear picture in my mind of how this all hooks together. Because of that I have no idea what I need to buy. The AIH kit is nice because it has what I need in one package but I don't want to buy it if I will need to replace hoses and connectors and need to buy a splitter when a manifold was what I should of bought ect...

[Rebel_B]

Gas line should be: ball lock gas-in quick disconnect (barb), 5 ft of 5/16" ID tubing, and two hose clamps for each keg...
Beer line should be: ball lock beverage-out quick disconnect (barb), 5 ft of 3/16" tubing, hand held faucet, and two hose clamps for each keg...
I would recommend having your local Homebrew store put everything together for you. At my LHBS, they will put together all the fittings & hoses together, hook it up to a tank & test it right there for me. The AIH kit looks like all the basics you need to get started.

[RickBeer]

I'd suggest grabbing some paper and drawing out the layout, not worrying about scale, so that you then can verify you have every piece you need. I do that as I'm horrible at visualizing.

[Banjo-guy1]

I'd suggest grabbing some paper and drawing out the layout, not worrying about scale, so that you then can verify you have every piece you need. I do that as I'm horrible at visualizing.

Your right Rick! My father,who was an engineer would always draw great drawings of any project he was building. He would always say" It's not to scale but it's pretty close"

I feel a little reluctant to buy before I know what the options are. I just want to make sure that one style of connector is better or more suitable than another or that a different manifold would be better in the future when I make a Keezer. I don't want to buy things twice.

I bought a Blichman burner before realizing that I really don't need it for 2.5 gallon batches. My kettle is also too big and I just bought another one and so on...

[Kealia]

That's understandable. The kit looks like it has everything except hose clamps which I would recommend. I'm talking about these:



By my count, you'll need 10 of them to cover all connections.

And from their FAQ:
"Our standard gas line is 5/16" ID ( item 91-28179a )."
"This kit comes with 4 feet of beer line for each picnic tap assembly."

I stand by my earlier post about needing 10' of 3/16" ID for each tap. If you search other forums (HBT for example) the first question asked for every "why is my beer flat/foamy"?" post is about the length and diameter of the beer lines.

[Inkleg]

Here is the same kit you are looking at, but from who I have gotten all my kegging supplies from. I can't say enough good things about them.

You might never be able to "buy once" though you would like to. I have This regulator with a 6 way manifold which is nice. I have one gauge set up to the manifold and carb all my beers to 2.3-2.5 volumes of CO2, the other gauge I have set up with a splitter and a gas and liquid disconnect on the line. The liquid is used to purge kegs before filling and the gas is used to purge the keg after filling.

If I were doing it again. Same regulator, but with Secondary Regulators so I could serve normal beers at 2.3, Saisons at 3.5, a regulator set to 2psi for bottling from the keg. Well you get the picture.

Edit: All the kits from Keg Connection come preassembled, just add a CO2 tank and beer.

[Banjo-guy1]

Here is the same kit you are looking at, but from who I have gotten all my kegging supplies from. I can't say enough good things about them.

You might never be able to "buy once" though you would like to. I have This regulator with a 6 way manifold which is nice. I have one gauge set up to the manifold and carb all my beers to 2.3-2.5 volumes of CO2, the other gauge I have set up with a splitter and a gas and liquid disconnect on the line. The liquid is used to purge kegs before filling and the gas is used to purge the keg after filling.

If I were doing it again. Same regulator, but with Secondary Regulators so I could serve normal beers at 2.3, Saisons at 3.5, a regulator set to 2psi for bottling from the keg. Well you get the picture.

Edit: All the kits from Keg Connection come preassembled, just add a CO2 tank and beer.

Keg Connection looks like a good place to buy from. I like that you can easily customize the order.
If I want to have two ball lock kegs in my keezer with ability to serve one keg while carbonating in the other what do I need?

What does the manifold do? Is that always part of a kegging system?

[Beer-lord]

The manifold lets you split the CO2 between more tanks, each having their own on/off valve. They come in different sizes, usually with 3 or more valves. I have this one and it's worked great for me for almost 2 years.

manifold.jpg (18.72 KiB) Viewed 1382 times

[Banjo-guy1]

Ok.im starting to get the picture. It's like most in that it's easier than it seems at first.
This article that More Beer gas is helpful to me.
http://www.morebeer.com/themes/morewinepro/kegging.pdf