Perlick Tower Questions

So I got this nice tower off ebay and I have had it for about 5 months and decided that I need to get going on making a keezer. I ordered replacement perlick 525 taps and I would guess it would just be a direct replacement but I am not sure.

The biggest problem is I cannot figure out how I would replace the tubing...It looks like it might be a standard connection for the beer lines but I cannot find anything on it. Also the cooling lines are just cut but I figure I could just use a compresstion fitting after I make a clean cut.

So will the perlick 525 taps fit directly on the tower?

And how can I connect a new beer line to the tower? And how can I tell what size the tubbing is?

I am hoping that keg connection will have a nice Memorial day sale.

Thanks for looking ,

Jeff

If a regular tap fits, a perlick should fit.

For the hoses - cut the old off, get a brass compression adapter fitting that changes to a male threaded. Then you could buy a hose swivel nut from Northern Brewer that attaches the bev line.

I was thinking of the compression fitting on the coolent lines but I had not thought of that for the beer line. It looks like the hose is clamped on so I was hoping to get replacement inserts and just clamp them. If I cannot find anything like that I will just cut them and put a compression fitting on them.

Hey Jeff, I feel your pain. I picked up an 8 tap tower that looks just like yours. Is your's a Century Series? The 525's mount up fine and I believe they will seal up. I'm looking for the "O" rings in the back of the shank and before the tailpiece. Have you found a source or sized them for an MMC order?

Mine is heavy as all get out, so I'm thinking there must be a nice chilling plate in there. I'm just running water for coolant and using a corny for the chilling tank and a fountain pump to run it. I might try finding some tubing close to the right size and use a clamp on it.

I'm going to cut the SS beer lines and flare them a bit, then slide the 3/16th beer lines over it and put an oetiker clamp on it.

I'll take a couple pics of mine to compare. I've disassembled it completely to polish out the scratches.

I am not sure what series it is I don't see any marking on it. I would say it must have a chill plate in the top because mine is heavy as well. I disassembled mine to clean it up and I had planned on getting the insulated tube from micromatic. I have not looked into the "O" rings yet so let me know what you find out. I plan on mounting my tower in a cabinet and running a hose through a wall I to a freezer.

After looking at the cost of those trunks on micro matic I think I will make a DIY trunk.

I've used the Chi company for some things. Looks like you need CD1542 at $10 a foot.

http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1017

If you don't go with them and decide to build, these guys have bulk lines at a bit better price as well.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23279

I use the 57219 hose for beer line and they have various gas line options available as well. Still looks like you will be up in the $8 a foot range for 5 beer and two glycol lines, then you have to strap it and foam insulate it. I'm coming right out of my freezer so I shouldn't need to mess with the trunks.

I'll get the micrometer out and get the specs on those O rings and let you know what I find out.

Cheers!

What size beer lines should I use? I noticed that you are you using 3/16 but the trunk lines have 5/16 or 1/4...if I go the DIY route then I could use 3/16. I plan on going up to 15' in tubing from my freezer to the tower. I know that it plays into foaming, etc. I just do not know how. I would think that I should get the smallest tube possible to eliminate waste. Keg connection has 3/16 beer line for .49 a foot but I am not sure how that would compare to the Tygon® Beverage Tubing at us plastics?

It has to do with balancing your system, there is some good information on it here..

http://www.franklinbrew.org/brewinfo/balance.html

Basically you don't want the beer shooting out of the faucet like a fire hose or you end up with foam. Different diameter line gives you different resistance and therefore PSI drop. You would need to go with 1/4" line that gives about .7 PSI drop per foot. If you were drinking ales at 38 degrees and carbing up 2.6 volumes of CO2 around 12 PSI, then at the faucet you would have 12 -(15 X .7) = 1.5 PSI at the faucet which should be about right. Short answer, 1/4" should be good, you could always add a few feet if you needed to drop it more. There is no waste in any size tubing, there is only beer in transit to your glass.

Here's mine, I've got the right side of the tap plate polished. It looks pretty dented up in the pic, but not too bad in real life.

Looks Nice! What did you use to polish? I have not cleaned mine up yet.

I used a 4.5" grinder and some polishing pads. You can buy different grits of polishing compounds at Home Depot or Lowes. I started with #5 grit and then finished with #2.

Just dremel sliced one of those weird cap thingys off of the SS beer lines. Luckily it's got barbs under there! I tried 1/4" lines and 3/16" lines and they both will fit and clamp nicely we're set!

That sounds great Now I just have to get my kegging equipment and figure out how I am going to run everything. If its not too much of a pain can you take a picture?

No problem, here is the barb with a 3/16th piece on it. You can see it's really stretched, the 1/4" actually fits correctly on the barb. Also, I took a pic of my polishing set up.

Sweet!! I am glad it turned out to be something easy...now I have a lot of work ahead of me but I will not be able to start for a few weeks. I will take a lot of pictures.

Found the O rings as well. They are #11 O rings that you can actually buy at Ace hardware in the faucet repair section. They are 3/4 X 9/16 X 3/32 Ace stock number 35728B. I'm cleaning up the coolant lines and cogitating on the fittings to make those work. Good luck on yours, I'll be looking for pics.

Finally done with this, how you doing on yours?

Oh sweet that looks nice! I received all my kegging parts from keg connection and got everything I need to polish so I am ready as soon as I find some time. My father in law has been in the hospital so most of my free time has been taken. But soon enough I will get mine up and going. Hopefully by the end of July at this rate.

offej said:

Oh sweet that looks nice! I received all my kegging parts from keg connection and got everything I need to polish so I am ready as soon as I find some time. My father in law has been in the hospital so most of my free time has been taken. But soon enough I will get mine up and going. Hopefully by the end of July at this rate.

Click to expand...

Thanks, be sure to post some pics when you are done. Hope your FIL is better soon.

My single Perlick wants to be friends........

I just got one of these on eBay (but a 4 tap model) and also am looking to replace the tubing...

I would also like to take the shanks apart to clean then and replace the gaskets. Is that possible without taking the tower apart? (i.e. If I take the inner portion of the shank out, will the back side of it fall into the tower?)

SudsGuy said:

I just got one of these on eBay (but a 4 tap model) and also am looking to replace the tubing...

I would also like to take the shanks apart to clean then and replace the gaskets. Is that possible without taking the tower apart? (i.e. If I take the inner portion of the shank out, will the back side of it fall into the tower?)

Click to expand...

If it's like mine the back part of the shank is in some kind of block and embedded in foam, it will not fall out. Using a faucet, try to unscrew the shank from the back tail piece. It should come off and there will be an O ring back there. Replace the O ring and reassemble. Run beer line cleaner through it (mine came out black at first) and use the cleaner to wipe the SS lines. Mine came shiney clean with it and the cleaner will remove any beer stone from the lines. Good Luck!

You got to it before I did..mine is the same way encased in foam. I just plan on cleaning the stainless tubing and replacing the vinyl.

sorry to bring this back from the dead but I just got a 6 tap century perlick tower, do you have any further advice on using these things? I am replacing all the stock chrome taps with 525ss faucets, buying new o rings, and I will be using the glycol chilling block with some type of coolant- probably just water - and an aquarium pump.

I love that I found this post, the O-ring info is great as I already got some from mcmaster that don't fit properly.

runningweird said:

sorry to bring this back from the dead but I just got a 6 tap century perlick tower, do you have any further advice on using these things? I am replacing all the stock chrome taps with 525ss faucets, buying new o rings, and I will be using the glycol chilling block with some type of coolant- probably just water - and an aquarium pump.

I love that I found this post, the O-ring info is great as I already got some from mcmaster that don't fit properly.

Click to expand...

Nope, mine is still working great so I don't have much to add to the existing post. I've been using starsan in mine for the coolant. It turns a bit blue though, so it must be eating a bit of the copper. Next general cleaning I'll probably go back to water. The really hard part is keeping beer on all the taps. Currently mine has 4 empty taps. It seems they all seem to kick at once. Brewing a double batch today and with what's in the pipeline I should have them back up soon.

I am looking at an 8 tap century tower but had a question. I am installing it in a bev air dd-50. It currently has a 3 inch hole for the tower. I know I will need to drill new mounting screw holes but will the draft lines fit through the exsisting 3 inch hole?

Yes I have 3" hole and have 12- 3/16" lines run through mine with room enough to fit insulation.

beaksnbeer said:

Yes I have 3" hole and have 12- 3/16" lines run through mine with room enough to fit insulation.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. Do you have the chrome or stainless? How do you like the tower? I am looking at a used 8 tap on criagslist with (8) 425ss faucets for $500.00. Is that a fair price? I know I can get anAmerica Beverage tower new for $580.00.

Thanks for your help!

Had a six tap stainless tower upgraded to a 12 tap 425 perlick coffin. That's about right used 425's perlicks are going around 40-50 bucks or so.

beaksnbeer said:

Had a six tap stainless tower upgraded to a 12 tap 425 perlick coffin. That's about right used 425's perlicks are going around 40-50 bucks or so.

Click to expand...

Why do the used 425's go for more than the new 525's? Just curious.

Better built the nozzles are removable for cleaning check Perlick's web site has break downs for parts the handle shafts are fixed on some of the 525 they spin. The 425's are based on the ventamatic taps. Tried both wouldn't trade my 425's for twice the number in 525's.