Need advice on serving from kegs at a reception

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rviator325

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Tacoma, Wa
We're having our wedding reception this Saturday at a Firefighters Hall (converted from a large suburb house) and would like some suggestions and ideas on how best to serve beer from kegs. I don't have any homebrew ready and acceptable for my guests, so we ordered two kegs from the local beer store. Don't hate me for this, but one of the kegs is a BMC, in order to please most people. The other is New Belgium Fat Tire.

Anyways, the Hall usually has a kegerator setup for two kegs with a nice dual-tap tower. Unfortunately, they've been remodeling for the last month and even though the majority of the place is finished and ready, we were told yesterday the kegerator will not be ready by this Saturday; I don't know why, they called the wife. So I've got a few ideas in my head, and without actually bringing in my own kegerator, I'd like to hear what you guys think. SWMBO just asked for it not to be too tacky (i.e. she doesn't want to see people doing keg-stands).

Thanks!
 
I went to a wedding a couple of months ago where they keep the keg in a ice tub and behind the table they set up to serve beer and wine. It was a budget wedding so no bar tenders, but the groomsmen and ushers took turns serving wine and beer with a party tap. Not the classiest thing, but it did stop the normal college party crowd from forming around the keg.
 
Jockey Box, I like that idea. I hadn't heard of that before but I can see how it would come in handy. Of the option of SS tubing or a cold plate, the cold plate would seem more versatile (bottom of cooler during a camping trip?); and is a cold plate the same device some people use for chilling wort from boiling to pitching temperature?

Has anyone successfully walked into a store and purchased the SS tubing or cold plate without waiting days for an ebay order? Looking on the web, it appears a beer store in Seattle rents out Jockey Boxes, but for just a little bit more money then a rental, I wouldn't mine owning one.
 
Some of the best weddings I've been to had people doing keg stands. :tank:

Who know's what might happen after the parents and non-drinkers go home!

I called the distributor and all they have is a hand-pump tap to rent with the kegs. I've had bad experiences with those in the past and didn't really want to ask my guests to continually pump the keg. So I called around to other LHBS and found one that had 2-line cold plates in stock. So I made the trip over and bought all the hardware to make my own Jockey Box and rig up with my 20lb CO2 tank. The cost was high, but I will definitely be reusing everything. I also added the price up online and it was withing $10, so I'm happy.

I started the build last night and will finish tonight or tomorrow morning when we do the setup at the hall. Seems pretty cool and if it works as advertised, I'm taking this baby camping with me. I'll snap some photos and upload them this weekend.

Also, does anyone know for sure if I can use this with a pump and chill hot wort with it? It's technically a plate chiller (right?), but not advertised as a wort-plate chiller.

Thanks for the tip and hope it goes well. We also have a bunch of liquor, so our guests have options.
 

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