JasonY,
This post may be a bit late... and it is rather long... also my opinions differ somewhat from the mainstream of members here who have consistently achieved excellent results with their kegs using different techniques to those I espouse below.
I am fairly new to kegging but after considerable research and some experimentation I do have a few suggestions for your consideration.
In order of importance:
1) Consider using the 'balanced' keg system.
2) Have at least one more keg than you have taps.
3) Buy an extra gas inlet post (the thing at the top of the keg that you hook the gas to)
4) Consider using the patient method of carbonation over any of the faster methods.
5) If choosing patient method 4 above then get enough 'T' pieces for the gas line so that all of your kegs are on the gas at once.
6) Choose a regulator that has an easy to use T piece handle over one that needs a screw driver to adjust pressure. (If you get the screw type then fit a handle to make life easier)
7) Consider having a gas 'T' piece, gate valve and gas snaplock on the outside of the fridge.
8) Whenever possible take advantage of option 3 to pre-fill any beer container with CO2 before transfer. (This is made much easier if you have also chosen option 7.)
9) Choose your keg fridge temperature (above zero) and dont muck about with it.
10) Keep your glasses away from detergent and store them in the fridge.
Easiest to explain first.... 2 is because you will want a keg carbonating/carbonated while another is being drunk so that when the first runs out there is always a replacement. You may not think so at first but this will become important.
If you use option 3 then you can shove a piece of plastic hose into the fitting and then pour out CO2 any time you want. This is useful if you want to rack your beer to another container because you can eliminate the chance of oxygenation by pre-filling with CO2.
Option 6 is because the regulator under some regimes (not the balanced system) needs to be adjusted regularly. Kegging is about ease of use as much as its about beautiful, clear, draught beer so lets make the pressure change easy to do.
Option 7 is because filling containers with CO2 is easier outside the fridge than having to open the door and pull off a gas line. Sounds a bit lazy but it all helps make kegging a joy.
Option 9 is because in kegging the reproducibility of the pour is important. You dont want foam one time and flat the next. Since the amount of CO2 that beer absorbs is very dependant on temperature if you continually change the temp then you will never get consistent results.
Now for the harder to explain options. I have had excellent results with the balanced system so far but still have a wee bit to go to get to my perfect sweet spot. I am attempting to match exactly what comes over the bar at the pub.
What the hell am I on about? Mainly two separate issues.... carbonating and pouring.
The patient method of carbonation is where instead of using high pressure and other techniques to force carbonate quickly (anything from 20 minutes to 2 days) you simply put the keg at the desired end result pressure and wait a bit less than a week for the gas and beer to come to equilibrium. (Most of the time most brewers have the luxury of at least a week before they need the next keg.)
The advantage of the patient method is twofold. Firstly it is always reproducible. Many of the quicker methods involve a bit of judgement and so can come unstuck... just read the posts all over the Internet about this... too much froth.... too flat etc. Secondly it is easier. (I am as lazy as, or lazier, than the next man.)
Using the patient method fits beautifully with using the 'balanced keg' system. In the balanced keg system the carbonating pressure and the pouring pressure are identical... they are balanced. This means that you never have to adjust the regulator. It means that the only work you ever do is to turn the gas on or off as needed. It means that at any time your tap is ready to pour a beer. None of the other systems can say that.
The idea of a balanced system seems to have originated in America. A number of sites there explain it better than I can... have a look at
http://clbe.net/balancedkeg.htm or
http://kegman.net/balance.html or
http://www.stpats.com/Kegging.pdf or
http://www.northernbrewer.com/docs/pdf/corny-keg.pdf.
Irrespective of how we carbonate, in Australia we seem to mostly have one pressure that we keep the keg at for storage and a different, lower pressure for pouring beer. The beer would foam in most systems if you tried to pour at the storage pressure.
Basically the 'balanced' idea is that by increasing the resistance of the beer line you can slow the beer flow and control the pressure drop so that the beer doesnt foam if dispensed at the higher storage pressure. You do this in two ways... firstly use smaller than usual beer line (4mm internal diameter rather than 6mm) and secondly by having more of it.
I am still experimenting to hit my sweet spot but I have found that it will be somewhere around 4.1 metres of 4mm beer line and 100KPA of pressure at 4 degrees C. The Americans say that 100KPA is too high (maybe 90 95KPA is what they recommend) but I think that 100 is closer to the carbonation over the bar in Australian pubs.
If you have a balanced system then the T pieces in the gas line allow you to have spare kegs carbonating while you are drinking from the one(s) connected to the tap(s).
So in summary: Use the balanced system and you will simply fill your keg, hook it up to the gas line and then when you need it, connect on the beer line. Couldnt be simpler or easier and cant go wrong.
Hope at least some of this is useful to someone.