remote tap setup

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

kissajew86

Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
Hello all - I currently have 4 kegs on picnic taps right now in the garage. i got tierd of going out to the garage to fill my beer ( i know i am so lazy)

So i bought a tap setup. I was wondering if i run the lines throught the refridgorator and through the wall how should i keep them cold so they dont foam up when i use them? the run will be approxamately 2-3 feet. so far i have thought of 2 options

1) i could run it though 3 in pvc pipe. the pipe would allow the cold air from the refridgeorator to spill into it. I am worried i may have to go up about 8"-12" so the cold air would not rise into the pipe. In this case i may have to raise the refridgrorator in order to make the run completely level

2) i would place a tub of aintifreeze in the freezer section and place a spare water pump i have from the fish tank into the tub. this could pump cold water along the lines into the copper cold plate that is built into the tap setup i bought.

which option would be better, or is there another option i have not thought of? I am concerned of taxing the refridgeorator past its limit, so i am trying to find the most effecent design....
 
well i did the water pump setup, i will se how it goes, i put a bunch of ice in it to get it cooled down initially and also wrapped the lines in fiberglass.....

if any one has any ideas please let me know

oh and the lines ended up being 4' in length, a little longer than i expected, i could shorten them by about 2' if i raise the refridgeorator....i do not know if that will make much diffrence tho....
 
please keep us posted. I'm very interested in how your project works because I might have a similar situation when my basement is finished
 
4' of line should be OK. Most people run 5-6' of line to "balance" their keg set-up. You may want to search about balancing if you haven't read anything about it already, its a pretty good read I think. Let us know how it comes out. what are you running for a serving pressure?
 
my lines are 7' total, 4 feet are outside of the keg. the serving pressure is 12 psi
 
kissajew86 said:
my lines are 7' total, 4 feet are outside of the keg. the serving pressure is 12 psi
Good luck. Remember that most places (commercial places, that is) have glycerin-cooled systems to keep their lines cool between the kegs and the taps. What you are doing is an open invitation to foaming, but you might get lucky.
 
bikebryan said:
Good luck. Remember that most places (commercial places, that is) have glycerin-cooled systems to keep their lines cool between the kegs and the taps. What you are doing is an open invitation to foaming, but you might get lucky.

the water setup is a cheap version of the Glycol setup. It dosent have anything to do with luck, as long as i can keep the water cool enough it will not foam. I put ice in the water and got the temp down to 33 degrees and there was no foaming. Without ice the water coolant is at 48 degreses and about half foam. If i can get the water to chill enough without adding ice this should be a successful setup.
 
i had thought of that, i wasnt sure how it would help, does it have a lower freezing point than antifreeze? Does it conduct heat better?
 
Brine does for sure. When I cool my wort I cool it in the sink with ice and plenty of salt. It seems to get mighty col, colder than ice water alone anyway.
R/Cam
 
Yeah it is scary that a little salt in the water makes it feel soo much colder.
I would steer away from antifreeze around the beer - just in the case it leaks a bit.
 
Back
Top