Can I pressure carbonate 4 kegs from one co2 bottle? Plus some temperature questions

[Berry454]

Hey guys

Been brewing wine for years but finally getting into beer and kegging. Picked up 4 x 19l corny kegs, a regulator and a 4 way manifold to connect one gas canister to all 4 kegs using the one regulator.

The first 3 kegs will be beer and the last keg will be a sparking white wine.

My issue is this. I can only fit 3 kegs in my fridge. So say I get all 4 kegs down to a low temperature then force carbonate all 4 kegs at the same time, will I be fine keeping one keg out the fridge at room temperature? If the 4th keg is stored out of the fridge will it go off faster or lose its carbonation? Somethings making me think that if the keg warms up it will lose carbonation? But unsure honestly.

Also just checking, could I disconnect that 4th keg from the 4 way manifold and the co2 so I can put the other 3 kegs in the store without it losing carbonation?

I’m assuming the kegs have some sort of valve on top so if they are disconnected from regulator they don’t lose pressure?

Any other tips you guys can give me would be great please.

As said I’m planning to run 3 kegs directly to 3 separate taps connected to the front of my fridge and keep the 3rd keg out the fridge to switch out when the kegs in the fridge get empty.

 

[LeeH]

You will need 3 more regs to throttle down the pressure on the beer. You might as well get a 4 way reg for flexibility.

The manifold was not needed but it can come in handy as a 5th supply for when you are cleaning kegs is handy.

Best thing to do is to watch a few kegging videos on YouTube.

 

[MashBag]

I did this another way.
1 cylinder, 1 reg, 1flying hose.
Reg is variable pressure (it has a knob in the middle) pop it on the keg you are drinking. Adjust according. Shudown ay cylinder everyday after use. Gas is expensive & leaks ime.

Ps. White fizz works nicely @ about 10psi.

Pps. If you kegs don't leak, they don't need live gas in storage.

 

[Berry454]

You will need 3 more regs to throttle down the pressure on the beer. You might as well get a 4 way reg for flexibility.

The manifold was not needed but it can come in handy as a 5th supply for when you are cleaning kegs is handy.

Best thing to do is to watch a few kegging videos on YouTube.

Can I just ask why I need a separate regulator for each keg if I want to serve them all at the same PSI?

What would happen if I was to hook 3 kegs up to the manifold, carb them all at the same psi and then serve them the same way?

Possibly turning the co2 off when not serving to preserve the co2?

Just looking for the pros and cons because I spoke with the micro brewery who sold me this equipment (they were upgrading to larger equipment) and apparently this is how they ran the system in the micro brewery bar?

This is the image of the regulator that I have. Do you by any chance know what regulator this is?

 

[LeeH]

Because sparking white wine is as fizzy as feck, while most beers are not.

Beers have a wide range of carbonation depending on style.

 

[Berry454]

I did this another way.
1 cylinder, 1 reg, 1flying hose.
Reg is variable pressure (it has a knob in the middle) pop it on the keg you are drinking. Adjust according. Shudown ay cylinder everyday after use. Gas is expensive & leaks ime.

Ps. White fizz works nicely @ about 10psi.

Pps. If you kegs don't leak, they don't need live gas in storage.

Could you tell me what a flying hose is? @MashBag

Is there any reason why i couldn't serve from 3 kegs at the same time using the one regulator and the manifold to connect all the kegs to the one regulator? Assuming i wanted to serve them all at the same pressure, would this really be an issue? The manifold has 4 valves on each outlet so i could simply close all the valves accept for the one i was serving from if i wanted to serve at a different pressure couldn't I? Or do i have the complete wrong idea haha?

Plus following on from your setup above couldn't i simply shut the regulator off when not serving to avoid wasting CO2?

Here is the basic setup that i would be looking at..

 

[Berry454]

Because sparking white wine is as fizzy as feck, while most beers are not.

Beers have a wide range of carbonation depending on style.

Wouldn’t I simply be able to close the valves on the manifold for everything but the white wine line when I wanted to serve it at a different PSI than the beer?

Or do I have the wrong idea here. As said honestly I’m still very new to this.

 

[LeeH]

There are 2 variables (well 3 if you include time) for carbonation.

1. Pressure.
2. Temp.

See this chart

 

[YeastFace]

Ignore, I've zoomed in and can see the nut now.

 

[LeeH]

Not for beer they won’t, wine yes. Beer will be 60/40.

 

[Berry454]

There are 2 variables (well 3 if you include time) for carbonation.

1. Pressure.
2. Temp.

See this chart

I completely understand your points regarding carbonation. And I’m more than willing to carbonate each keg separately.

If I was to individually carbonate each keg do you think the setup above would work with the manifold?

Serving all 3 beers at the same PSI with the valve on the manifold closed for the white wine. Then when I want to serve the white wine at a higher psi to simply close the 3 beer lines on the manifold and open the white wine line?

In my theory closing and opening the manifold valves should isolate the regulator to work on whichever keg I open the valve on the manifold for. Though as said I’m not really sure.

 

[LeeH]

Yes, sure that would work. But what a faff.

 

[MashBag]

Yes, sure that would work. But what a faff.

That's where I was.

It will has a good chance of being leak central, which probably means to build it, but end up hating it.

 

[stripeyjoe]

You need a reg and one secondary reg, set the reg to the pressure you need for the wine, set the secondary for the pressure you need for the beer and connect it to all three kegs via a manifold. You can get a secondary for around £20 or cheaper from AlExpress
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/400...58870e3665!10000013764050178!sh!UK!2691396099

 

[hoppyscotty]

Don't even need a manifold...just some John guest T-pieces and an elbow piece to make a few branches off the main line.

 

[LeeH]

I wouldn’t trust how those hoses are made off on that manifold too.

Loosing a bottle of gas is very annoying.

You’re better off with a much more flexible tube for the barbs. You can warm it up in water and just push it on.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/26424340...vBTlSqlThu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[gavp1979]

Personally for the price of the secondary regs that @stripeyjoe linked to I would buy 1 for each line so that you can leave the reg alone and have options to change each line to suit. I use John Guest fittings on my system and leave the gas on, never had a leak and lost any gas (probably just jinxed myself now ). Reading up on the options can sound complicated but I found that everything made more sense once I set my system up and then started tweaking it to my requirements (adding a manifold and secondary regs inside the fridge)

 

[MashBag]

Loosing a bottle of gas is very annoying.

Properly makes me fizz. Off everytime for me.