My through the wall tap project...

I have looked a lot of places and have found pictures but no real guide on how best to do this... So if someone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

- I am going to run a 4 foot beer line from my fridge to a tap mounted on a wall(room behind the fridge) . I am not sure what is best to run the beer line in, PVC, wood box lined with insulation, dryer duct... etc. I am kinda at a loss here.

- How is best to mount the tap to the wall, I assume cut out a section of sheet rock, replace with wood and use that. I don't really want to but I assume if I don't condensation will build up on the sheetrock causing problems.

This will all be done this week(friday is the party ) I will have plenty of pictures throughout too - but I could use some pointers

Final product to look something like this(minus the actual bar, I have a different setup)

If I where you I'd build a nice wood box for it to dispense from and set it into the wall. It'll look nicer and you could have a drip tray on it... Looking forward to the build!

There is a thread on here where someone put a chest freezer in the adjacent room and ran the beer lines through some sort of insulated path to a wall mount. I cannot remember who, but I'll keep looking.

One thing I do know is that you'll want more than 4' of beer line to balance the system. (You can keep the majority of it coiled up in your kegerator so it doesn't have to run through the conduit). Start with at least 10'.

McKBrew said:

One thing I do know is that you'll want more than 4' of beer line to balance the system. (You can keep the majority of it coiled up in your kegerator so it doesn't have to run through the conduit). Start with at least 10'.

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Yes I have 15 feet alloted(won't need it all) I meant to say it is a 4 foot run from fridge to tap.

Anything think I could use this and make a box out of it, maybe 2" by 2" and tun my lines in there?

You can also get trip tray that has a tall backsplash. You can mount that right to sheetrock and drill holes in it. Either that or you can make a decorative board with routed edges and nice stain to mount the shanks into. On the rear, you do want to have a box and I'd recommend running a cold air loop with some flexible conduit. The beerlines would run in there and a fan would blow cold air in from your kegger.

I really wish I could find that thread for you. I think it will help you out. Anybody out there remember the one I'm talking about? Chest freezer on one side of the wall, taps come out into the kitchen. I think the guy writes the beer names on a chalkboard.

Just trying to trigger some memories here.

McKBrew said:

I really wish I could find that thread for you.

Just trying to trigger some memories here.

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I appreciate you looking - I tried so many search terms without much luck! I think I might go with the foam board from the fridge to the wall...

The username is Kal.

I am dumb
need more letters

Bobby_M said:

The username is Kal.

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I think this is what you're referring to.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/forced-use-1-4-not-3-16-15-beer-line-37060/index3.html

wildwest450 has a similiar setup going through a wall.
http://http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/drip-trays-pid-DP-321D-2.html

I believe that is the link. On my work computer right now and that link is blocked so I can't check it. Here is where he posted about it in a thread that I started.

Better yet, just go to his photo gallery
http://https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=6741&limit=recent

I'll be doing something similar (Though with a 10' or more run) and plan to add a pond pump and two coolant lines to the mix, I'll just pump water from the kegorator through the lines to keep it all cool. (All of it insulated of course).

I may run it all first and see if I need the refrigeration or not. (probably do... but I've seen others do it successfully).

Edit: Also plan to use the SS drip tray from this site http://www.barproducts.com/

Stainless Steel Drip Tray Stainless Steel Drip Tray $ 14.95
This heavy duty drip tray is constructed of stainless steel and is easy to clean. Perfect for under the beer taps or soda fountain. Measurements are: 19 1/2" X 4" X 1". Click photo for more info.

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cdburg said:

I think this is what you're referring to.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/forced-use-1-4-not-3-16-15-beer-line-37060/index3.html

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That was the one I was looking for. It drove me nuts that I couldn't find it, for some reason I thought he had a seperate build thread.

I used to have a setup like you want, only the fridge was 15 ft away on another wall. i used 2 2" pvc pipes with insulation and a fan to keep everything cold. i built a wooden box and stuck it on the bac side of the wall. i'll get more details when i get home on a pc instead of my phone.

Shockerengr said:

I used to have a setup like you want, only the fridge was 15 ft away on another wall. i used 2 2" pvc pipes with insulation and a fan to keep everything cold. i built a wooden box and stuck it on the bac side of the wall. i'll get more details when i get home on a pc instead of my phone.

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Great, let me know
For now I put together a foam board box, with 2" foam board. It is going to run from the fridge to the wall. I am having a problem getting the wall part to work, but I will get it, just a matter of time... Pic should be coming soon

Does anyone know of a way to use a copper line to keep my beer lines cold?

I havent read every post but..... how close can you get to the wall? I have my fridge snug up against the wall so the 'dead space' between the fridge and the shanks thru my wall is only about 6".

To mount I made a 'backboard' out of a 1x8x2' peice of oak, routered the edge and stained it. Drilled 1" holes to pass the shanks thru. To mount - it's really just pressured fitted between the hex-nuts for the shanks and the faucest themselves.

It's not professional but the labor was free!

mklawz said:

I havent read every post but..... how close can you get to the wall? I have my fridge snug up against the wall so the 'dead space' between the fridge and the shanks thru my wall is only about 6".

To mount I made a 'backboard' out of a 1x8x2' peice of oak, routered the edge and stained it. Drilled 1" holes to pass the shanks thru. To mount - it's really just pressured fitted between the hex-nuts for the shanks and the faucest themselves.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I want to do. I have about 4' of space between the fridge and the mounting place. Did you mount the wood on top of the sheetrock?

What do you mean by pressure fitted? I assume you mean one half of the shank is in the fridge and that holds up the wood too?

By pressure fit I mean the board is only held up there by tightening the nuts on the shank (on the back side of the wall) as tight as I could. Then on the front side I tightening the faucet on as tight as it will go. I dont know how else to describe it.

In other words, the board is not mounted to the wall in any way.

And no, I do not have the shanks going into the fridge. They are 4" shanks that after they go thru the board and the wall come to within a few inches of the fridge wall. There is only a few inches of exposed beer line dangling in the air. I've never had a problem with warm or nasty beer. I'll see if I can get a pic of that for you too....

oh wow, that is great. I thought you would have foamy beer - that is great. Thanks so much for the pictures. I am working on it now!

Never a foamy beer. My pours are perfect every time. Glad I could help. If you have any more questions or issues feel free to PM me.

Ok, some more details. I think i have some pictures, but i really don't know where they are.

Basic scenario, the house had a bar along a wall. Behind the wall was a storage room that had the washer/dryer, water heater and furnace. We wanted the taps on that wall, but there wasn't enough room for the fridge, so we had to put it on another wall ~15 away on the other side of the door. The wall where the taps went only had sheet rock on the one side (fridge room wasn't finished)

Here's how we did it:

on the wall with the taps we built a small box (roughly 8" cubed) with two 7/8" holes for the shanks. we held the boxes in place with the shanks. between the fridge and box we ran two 2" pvc pipes up and along the ceiling to the chest freezer. the beer lines ran through one of the pipes, and a fan attached to the other pipe. we made sure the box on the tap end was well sealed so there wouldn't be any air leaks to keep things somewhat efficient. the overall length for the beer lines was 25 ft. With 1/4" line things were fairly in balance.

condensation was a bit of a problem on the pipes in the summer when it was humid. adding insulation and a vapor barrier helped a lot, though the taps would sweat in the summer when it was real humid. (unavoidable if you are keeping the taps cold)

I also helped a friend set up remote taps 35 ft away using glycol lines. the glycol tank sat in the freezer part of the fridge with a small pump and kept things cold.

for your case, I'd go the air cooled route. 4ft should allow you to run 3/16" line without much trouble. a small pc fan should be plenty to move air.

Okay so I decided to do a little of all my ideas. I used tin venting material, similar ro dryer vent stuff, encased in a fiberboard housing. It worked out well because there are a lot of options for the tin, one of them fit perfect in my wall and another will work great against the fridge...

Some shots of the work in progress, now you have an idea of what I posted. Using vent material, works well.