glycol runs-flexible copper lines, or vinyl lines?

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chainsawbrewing

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in my bar set up, i'll have about 5ft or so between the kegs and the faucets. i don't want to have to tear apart my whole rig because the beer lines are getting warm, so i want to do it right the first time.

i'm thinking i'll do the whole d.i.y. pond pump in a corny keg or bucket inside the keezer, and run a line up in between my beer lines then returning back into the corny, and wrapping it all up in aluminum foil, then pipe insulation, and then maybe all of that inside of pvc pipe.

i've seen trunk lines, where the glycol goes through what looks like vinyl hose that looks just like regular beer line, and i've also heard of people using some flexible copper line like what imerssion chillers are made of.

just wondering what the pros and cons are of each line.

thanks

brian
 
Since it's only a 5' run, I'd go copper on the chill line and then maybe vinyl/polyethylene on the return. Copper will do a much better job on the heat transfer. I don't think they use it in commercial situations due to cost and the difficulty of installing it without kinking or bending it.
 
Since it's only a 5' run, I'd go copper on the chill line and then maybe vinyl/polyethylene on the return. Copper will do a much better job on the heat transfer. I don't think they use it in commercial situations due to cost and the difficulty of installing it without kinking or bending it.

thanks man. so, i've never actually seen this kind of a set up "in action", but here's how i'm imagining it in my head.

i would imagine if i just ran a copper line up, maybe wrapped it half hazardly around the beer lines, and then up by the shanks/faucets, bent the copper line to a 90* angle, and then hose clamped a vinyl line to that (for the return) and then rand the return line back down away from the shanks/faucets, back into the keezer emptying into the corny with the glycol and pump in it?


also, do you think the return side of the line should also be inside of the same insulated piping that the glycol feed line and beer lines are in, or should it be outside of that in it's own seperate insulated line?
 
My plan for a 10' run is two 2" PVC pipes. I will just use a fan to circulate the refrigerator air. I don't want to give up space for a cornie to keep lines cool.
 
My plan for a 10' run is two 2" PVC pipes. I will just use a fan to circulate the refrigerator air. I don't want to give up space for a cornie to keep lines cool.


true enough, i guess it depends on each individual application. if i were to run pvc like that, which i had originally planned also, to make it what in my mind would be efficient enough, i would have to 90* elbow the pvc inside of the keezer, and piont it down and install a decent sized blower, which would take up a cornys space anyways. i'd rather have 5 ice cold, every pull, everytime taps of beer, and the 6th corny space taken up with a glycol set up instead of 6 cornys, where every first pull is warm and foamy.

also i'm thinking that the cost of the blower, the pvc piping, fabrication, etc. would be more money than a more "simpler", and i believe most likely more efficient/cooler glycol/aquarium pump set up.

but hey, i've never done this before, so hopefully some others will chime in with direct experience/advice.
 
My system is air cooled. I've got about 4 ft of beer line outside the fridge. I used 2 in. flexible tubing to carry the beer lines and air I used two small sections of PVC pipe to go through the wall of the fridge and to give me a hard surface to clamp the duct onto. All of the external tubing is surrounded in at least 2 in. of styrofoam. I just use a tiny fan that takes up minimal space. As long as the duct is well insulated and the distance is not too long, you don't need a huge fan. There are more photos of my build in my gallery

beerlines.jpg
 
That's my setup... it sounds exactly like what the OP wants to do.
I couldn't keep my lines/shanks cold enough with only cooling the glycol (RV anti-freeze actually) in the keezer so I pump it through a coil in a bar fridge freezer. That worked. The pond pump's been pumping away for almost 2 years now with zero issues.


ShankCooler2.jpg


Beer_tap_condensation.jpg


Kal
 
Kal - Awesome setup by the way. When I get to the point of building something similar, I will definitely reference your setup. I also really like the research into the off-taste beer lines. Great info.

:mug:
 
OP, Just curious how your project turned out and if you have any pictures? I have a similar situation in that I have my keexer about 5' from my tower but it also runs through a wall. My issue that I'm having is getting into the tower itself, the tower is pretty well insulated and there is only about 1.5" of space going in the bottom of the tower. Just curious what your solution was.
 
Note that you don't need glycol if you're only chilling it down to beer temps. Water is cheaper, safer and won't freeze. Whether it would provide the cooling you need is a whole other story.
 
OP, Just curious how your project turned out and if you have any pictures? I have a similar situation in that I have my keexer about 5' from my tower but it also runs through a wall. My issue that I'm having is getting into the tower itself, the tower is pretty well insulated and there is only about 1.5" of space going in the bottom of the tower. Just curious what your solution was.

if you check out my thread here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-bar-build-tracking-my-progress-here-121928/

you'll see some photos.
yes, it's all done, and it turned out great. i have a 7.2cf magic chef freezer, and i only wanted/needed 5 taps, but the keezer holds 6 with a collar, so i'm using the sixth keg as a resivor for the glycol. the lid is off of it, and it has a pond pump in the bottom, and is full of a 50/50 glycol water mixture, and it's pumping the glycol out of a 1/2" vinyl tube hose up, through the wall, and then i have a 90* copper elbow on it, and then another short piece of 1/2" vinyl tubing that kind of goes over the shanks of the back of the faucets, and then into another 90* copper elbow, and then another long run of 1/2" vinyl tubing back into the keezer, and into the keg of glycol/water. it constantly runs, and circulates the mixture up, thru the wall, around the shanks, and then returns back. then i wrapped my five beer lines around these two 1/2" glycol lines, and black taped them together, then waterproof duct taped them all together tightly with several layers of tape, then took pipe insulation and wrapped that around all the taped up lines, and then black taped all around the insulation, then another couple layers of the duct tape around all of that. it works very well. occasionally, the taps will actually sweat a little bit, and i have zero foaming issues, and cold beer all the time.
 
That's my setup...

Kal, I found your research into the best type of lines to use extremely helpful. I've been debating what to do with the beverage lines since I got my first keg. I doubt I'll have enough money, as a student, to go for the best option (#10), but I'll certainly be heading to the Home Depot for some barrier poly tubing shortly after receiving my new soon-to-be kegerator tomorrow.
 
i got it from home depot. i forget the actual model, but it doesn't matter really, because what model you get depends on your own set up. i had to get one of the more expensive, powerful ones, because my run is pretty much straight up/vertical, and i wanted to have enough power to make the high angled vertical run.
 
thinking 1/4 inch soft copper for total coolant run and i have 8 foot of height and 12 foot total length of coarse total length will be x 2
 
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