How Do I Connect My Gas Bottle?

So, let’s talk about regulators and gas. 

CO2 gas is what is used to carbonate beer (and any other beverages you want to have on tap). The gas also pushes the beer through the beer lines, out the tap and into your glass - cheers to that!

How do you connect you CO2 Gas Bottle to your kegerator system?

Kegerator fridge packages generally come with a two clock or two stage regulator. 

The pressure of the gas is controlled by the regulator, so you don’t need any separate pumps or anything like that.  It’s pretty simple. 

One side  of the regulator will give you high pressure and one side will give you low pressure. It's fully adjustable on the dial on the centre. 

The high pressure side  shows you how much gas you have in your gas bottle (or how full it is). It doesn’t work like a traditional fuel gauge, it is indicating the pressure so when that high pressure begins to decrease, it's time to start thinking about swapping or filling your gas bottle.

The low pressure side shows you how much gas you're pushing through your system (to carbonate and pour the beer). 

You should always have an O-Ring on the inside of the regulator (there's a spare one that comes with the unit in case you damage it). 

The regulator will fit on any Australian standard Co2 gas bottle - with a Type 30 thread. 

Connect the regulator to the gas bottle - you’ll  want to nip it up so that it's nice and tight but not too tight (because you don't want to compress the O-Ring). 

Then turn your gas bottle on via the valve on the bottle. 

Turn it on all the way and then ¼ of a return backwards, this takes excess pressure off the spindle assembly inside the bottle valve. 

So, your gas pressure should come on. The left face of your regulator should be your high pressure side and your right face of your regulator should be your low pressure side. 

If you start to screw your regulator in (clockwise) you will start to see that it will start to grab, and your gas will then start going into your kegs. There will be a delay of a few seconds due to the gas entering the keg, it needs to build pressure (make sure you keep an eye on it). 

You've also got a pressure relief valve. If you want to release the pressure in the keg system.

Note: Simply releasing pressure via the valve on the reg only releases pressure in the reg, not the kegs. To release pressure in the entire system you should release the pressure via the relief valve on the keg itself, remembering to disconnect the gas disconnect (grey) from the keg first so you don’t suck liquid back into your reg.

Turn your bottle off, then wind your dial on the regulator outwards (which turns the reg off). 

Then release the pressure of the regulator. 

From there, undo your gas bottle (If you didn't release that pressure, the pressure would still be holding on really really tightly and you won't be able to get the regulator off).