Kegerator draft tower cooler: is this crazy?

I just got a Kegerator and plan to build a tower cooler out of an old pc fan. But we're hosting a party for Monday Night Football this week and, with ten week old twins, I won't have time to do that before Monday. So I began to think about temporary solutions. I thought I could shove a cold pack down in the tower for the evening. Unfortunately the space is just too small for any of the cold packs we have. But then my wife said, "you know what would fit? An Otter Pop." Is this crazy? Would it work? I may try it tomorrow.

jkendrick said:

I just got a Kegerator and plan to build a tower cooler out of an old pc fan. But we're hosting a party for Monday Night Football this week and, with ten week old twins, I won't have time to do that before Monday. So I began to think about temporary solutions I thought I could shove a cold pack down in the tower for the evening. Unfortunately the space is just too small for any of the cold packs we have. But then my wife said, "you know what would fit? An Otter Pop. " is this crazy? Would it work? I may try it tomorrow.

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The tower cooler only helps to ensure the first pour is not too foamy (oversimplifying for simplicity's sake). For your party, you'll likely be pouring beers every few minutes right? I'd just leave it be. Your tower is insulted (I presume) so it'll be fine for a party pour scenario.

On a long term basis, I'm a big fan of my tower cooler. It's an easy project too, but you have to move the kegs out, and I like to let my kegs settle for 3 days if possible before I start pouring from them. (personal preference, lets the yeast settle and pours clear after the first pint).

I've been pouring the first beer into a pitcher since I got the Kegerator and letting the foam subside. After it subsides, usually under five minutes, the beer is noticeably flatter. The party is small, a Monday Night Football "club" of eight couples. Likely two couples won't attend so we're talking probably five or six beer drinkers. I anticipate there being enough time in between pours to cause foaming. I suppose I could just pour off the half dozen or so beers that might be affected, but I really think this Otter Pop idea might work as a temporary fix. Sacrificing one or two Otter Pops seems a small sacrifice. Plus my nephew will be psyched to have some of the leftover Otter Pops.

jkendrick said:

I've been pouring the first beer into a pitcher since I got the Kegerator and letting the foam subside. After it subsides, usually under five minutes, the beer is noticeably flatter. The party is small, a Monday Night Football "club" of eight couples. Likely two couples won't attend so we're talking probably five or six beer drinkers. I anticipate there being enough time in between pours to cause foaming. I suppose I could just pour off the half dozen or so beers that might be affected, but I really think this Otter Pop idea might work as a temporary fix. Sacrificing one or two Otter Pops seems a small sacrifice. Plus my nephew will be psyched to have some of the leftover Otter Pops.

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Have at it then. I don't know if it will work as well as you think, but it can't hurt! (so long as it doesn't leak into your kegerator and make a big mess!

Yeah I know. I just thought it was a funny idea. We'll see how effective it is. It certainly isn't anything more than a temporary fix.

Had to Google "otter pop" - most folks call them "freeze pops" here.

They couldn't hurt, but stuffing a tower column with the frozen pops seems rather dramatic for something that shouldn't be that big a problem in Boulder this time of year - unless you already had a marginally functional setup.

So, what temperature and pressure do you serve your beer, and how long are your beer lines?

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

Had to Google "otter pop" - most folks call them "freeze pops" here.

They couldn't hurt, but stuffing a tower column with the frozen pops seems rather dramatic for something that shouldn't be that big a problem in Boulder this time of year - unless you already had a marginally functional setup.

So, what temperature and pressure do you serve your beer, and how long are your beer lines?

Cheers!

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Temp is about 38 degrees; PSI is about 10; the beer line (if I understand correctly, I'm new to kegerators) is about 4 feet (what came with my store-bought kegerator). I'm not sure what you mean by "shouldn't be that big a problem in Boulder this time of year." Do you mean it should be cold enough in Colorado to not need to chill a tower? Well we're regularly reaching 70 degrees here post-Thanksgiving. Still, this is in a finished, climate-controlled basement, so I'm not sure what my location has to do with it. I'm certainly open to improving my set up though. So if I can improve on the parameters stated, please let me know.

day_trippr said:

Had to Google "otter pop" - most folks call them "freeze pops" here.

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And I had to google both of those since we call them freezies over here.

Neat idea!

jkendrick said:

Temp is about 38 degrees; PSI is about 10; the beer line (if I understand correctly, I'm new to kegerators) is about 4 feet (what came with my store-bought kegerator).[...]

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Compared to mounting shanks on a keezer collar, tower mounted faucets and the tubing to them are at a disadvantage wrt to performing during warm conditions.

Anyway, looking at those numbers, I'd say your four foot beer lines are so short that your system is on the edge of CO2 breakout to begin with. So any increase in temperature as the beer flows to the faucets is going to push past the critical point so you're always dealing with foam to some extent.

I would replace the beer lines with 10 foot runs. I bet you'd see a huge difference in the quality of your pours....

Cheers!

Huh, interesting. Where can one buy longer keg lines? Would Home Depot have something like that or does it need to be some sort of special, food grade tubing?

I don't think the big box stores carry what you want to use - real beer line that has a non-vinyl inside barrier lining. Any decent LHBS should carry that - or there's the intertoobs...

Cheers!

day_trippr said:

I would replace the beer lines with 10 foot runs. I bet you'd see a huge difference in the quality of your pours....

Cheers!

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So I bought 10 feet of beer line (I also bought supplies to build a draft tower cooler) but I did some further research before installing the longer beer line. According to this site:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/0...our-kegged-beer-co2-line-length-and-pressure/

The line I have should be long enough. I get a result that three feet should be sufficient with 10 psi, 3/16ID, 38 degrees and 2 feet of height. Am I wrong?

Thanks in advance!

I think pretty much every "beer line calculator" assumes 3/16" ID beer line has an internal resistance equivalent to 2.7-3 psi/foot. The problem is line resistance is dependent on volume and velocity - and I suspect wherever those resistance numbers came from they were based on much higher volume and/or velocity than seen in the typical home serving system.

Bottom line, having gone through everything you're going through a couple of years ago and having to replace my original 6 foot calculator-derived lines, I recommend starting with 1 foot of 3/16" ID barrier beer line per psi of serving pressure.

Give newly installed line plenty of time to get as cold as your fridge/freezer before trying a test pour. If your pours are excessively slow with no sign of CO2 break-out, you can try shortening the line by a foot at a time until you're happy. The trick is to stop cutting one foot before the break-out starts

Cheers!