Cooling a tap tower...with ICE!

I got the three tap tower (single tower with two tap adapter added) working, but how to cool it?

Air cooling, glycol cooling, water cooling, convection cooling...?

While I decide (probably going it be air), I need good pours, so...I used the method I use for my portable rig.

ICE!

Just a little snack ziplock filled with crushed ice. I pop the cap off the tower and fit the baggie inside. PERFECT POURS.

Not pretty, but beats the heck out of a glass of foam.

One of my buddies had a kegerator when he rented a room from me years ago. That was my solution at the time. Worked well.

I reuse the little cold packs that come with my liq yeast...

jblizz said:

I reuse the little cold packs that come with my liq yeast...

Click to expand...

I've tried those, but unless you mold them correctly before they freeze, they won't fit inside the tower.

I ran the lines through some copper tubing that extends from within the fridge up into the tower. Seems to work OK.

weirdboy said:

I ran the lines through some copper tubing that extends from within the fridge up into the tower. Seems to work OK.

Click to expand...

This is what I do as well. 1" copper pipe containing each of the beer lines. The pipe extends about 4" into the fridge compartment and continues up to within 3" of the shanks at the top of the tower. These are then wrapped in pipe insulation that insulates the tower walls from the cold pipes. It works great! The tower is cool to the touch but not cold enough to form condensation (a good thing to prevent mold, etc), but the beer lines stay plenty cold. Even the first few ounces of beer for the day are cold and foam free.

If I didn't do it this way, I'd run a 1" piece of flexible tubing up into the tower and use a blower (computer fan in a project box or similar) in the fridge body to pump cold air up there, but I for me, the copper pipe option seems to be more efficient.

That being said, way to come up with a simple solution with the ice. I'd be a little worried about water leaking down into your tower if the bag is compromised. How long are you finding the bag lasts? I trust the tower is well insulated?

I bought a fan off ebay with 2 hoses that extend up into the towers (I have 2, 2tap towers on my keezer). It does well!!! I can make the tap towers sweat. It cost me36.00 and free shipping. I couldn't gather the parts and make it much cheaper than that...and I didn't have to screw with it.


Dual Tap Tower fan on Ebay