Gas Manifolds

[fergi]

i currently have 4 kegs set up in my beer fridge, only three taps though, i have all 4 kegs set up and connected via T pieces,
this system seems to work fine with no apparent problems,had it this way for about 2 years.

is there any advantage in buying a gas manifold to connect all my 4 kegs together or isnt it worthwhile.

fergi

 

[bignath]

i currently have 4 kegs set up in my beer fridge, only three taps though, i have all 4 kegs set up and connected via T pieces,
this system seems to work fine with no apparent problems,had it this way for about 2 years.

is there any advantage in buying a gas manifold to connect all my 4 kegs together or isnt it worthwhile.

fergi

Yep, the advantage is being able to have different beers carbed at different levels. Switch off the lines to other kegs, carbonate the one you want to a higher level and provided you've got non return valves installed, you can then turn your other lines back on and serve...

Looks neater too, but that's just me.

One day i hope have a setup big enough to make this worthwhile. My keezer is only capable of holding 4 kegs at a pinch, but i only have two taps. I usually only have three kegs in keezer (two serving, one conditioning) and the rest of the space for some bottled stock.

 

[bconnery]

i currently have 4 kegs set up in my beer fridge, only three taps though, i have all 4 kegs set up and connected via T pieces,
this system seems to work fine with no apparent problems,had it this way for about 2 years.

is there any advantage in buying a gas manifold to connect all my 4 kegs together or isnt it worthwhile.

fergi

Absolutely.
I had exactly the setup you describe, for a little longer, and it all seemed fine.
It was a little pain if you ever want to gas up a keg outside for transfer, or if you want to carb up a bottle you've filled off the keg, but I lived with it.
I purchased a gas manifold after a period when I always seemed to need to do one of the two above things and now I can't imagine life without it.
I keep one line from the manifold permanently on a two piece split, as I always seem to have two kegs on at least out of the four. One line is permanently connected to a loose line for gassing kegs or bottles externally, and the rest stay on or off depending on keg usage.
Another great thing is that you can keep one or more kegs on a higher pressure for a period if you are looking to carb them up initially, or for whatever reason, and just turn the others off if they are already at proper serving level.
There are plenty of other uses too.

Personally, and everyone's results will be different, but it was something I managed ok without, but it is one of the best spends I've made on my setup full stop.
Also I've found that my gas usage has gone down since I've had it too...

 

[mxd]

for me the big plus (my manifold has one way valves) is I stop sending different beers and aroma's to each keg

 

[fergi]

yes well that looks like a good idea might invest in one, what are they worth,do they go inside/outside of the fridge.

fergi

 

[Synthetase]

I went el-cheapo and bought a few of these. (Not specifically from that guy: google image search turned up the link is all.)

They work well, but don't have a built-in non-return valve, so you can either put one of these onto each one which will stop all back transfers between kegs and allow a little freedom on carbonation levels, or you can be cheap like me and just put one between the manifold and the regulator.

It's best if you keep them in the fridge, that way, you have one master line going through the wall, rather than a tangled mess of 4.