Jockey Box

Alright, this forum is costing me some serious change. Going to the panhandles and need to keep a keg going for 2 wks. Had a post about best options. After going back and forth, bought a kegarator for my rental house that I live in during the summer. I made one for my primary residence. Anyway, was planning on taking it with me to the panhandles but its just too big and thus gets me back to a jockey box.

I think a jockey box would be great for 1-2 days but for 2 wks, how will I control the carbonation. The keg will be inside but the pressure on the c02 has to be set high (from what I understand) to get it through the coil etc. This will likely overcarbonate the beer. Would I vent it periodically and set at low pressure until going to dispense, then crank up for the evening and lower back during the night/early am. Ideas before I spend more $. Thanks
ron

I am merely theorizing here based on what I know of jockey boxes and your needs. I would most definitely turn the gas way down when not dispensing. So turn it down after your day ends. You will inevitably need a ton of ice for both the box and whatever you're using to keep the keg cold. I always thought the keg still needed to be in ice and the coils submerged in an ice bath. Yes, the pressure has to be turned way up. If you're using say 3/16" ID coils and you have quite a bit of run, you'll want more pressure to dispense without foam. Seems backwards, but it is true.

Where is your source for ice? Do you have one?

Your CO2 levels in your beer depend on the C02 pressure applied and the temperature of your beer. The warmer your beer is, higher C02 pressure is required to carbonate it to a specific level. At room temperature you'll need ~30PSI to carbonate an average beer. At 40F, you'll only need ~10-12PSI.

Since your kegs are sitting outside the jockey box, and will be warm, you shouldn't have any problems with over-carbonation.

I have a jockey box and I've never needed anything higher than normal serving pressure (~10PSI) to serve my beer. I'm not sure why you would need anything higher.

b-boy said:

Your CO2 levels in your beer depend on the C02 pressure applied and the temperature of your beer. The warmer your beer is, them more C02 is required to carbonate it to a specific level. At room temperature you'll need ~30PSI to carbonate an average beer. At 40F, you'll only need ~10-12PSI.

Since your kegs are sitting outside the jockey boy, and will be warm, you shouldn't have any problems with over-carbonation.

I have a jockey box and I've never needed anything higher than normal serving pressure (~10PSI) to serve my beer. I'm not sure why you would need anything higher.

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THIS!

I use dual cold plates in my jockey box. I run around 15psi to serve. It serves slower but works fine. The week of my wedding we were pouring beering from it all week. Just kept adding ice. Worked great.

I think you have a good plan!

b-boy said:

I have a jockey box and I've never needed anything higher than normal serving pressure (~10PSI) to serve my beer. I'm not sure why you would need anything higher.

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I believe the assumption of needing higher pressure to get the beer though the lines comes from assuming you would be using the same ID of poly tubing.

it seems to be well adopted here that psi is lost per foot of 3/16th ID poly line. This is why 10 feet of 3/16th are required if you want to run 10-12 psi, aka normal serving pressure, and end up with a steady and non-foam monster. If you were to run 25-50 feet of the same 3/16th poly you would probably need as many psi on the keg.

Additionally, when consiering fluid flow through pipes and tubes you must consider friction factor. Basically standard cooper and stainless tube(measured by ID)/pipe(measured by OD) have a rougher surface texture, and in turn a larger friction factor. Basically this just means there are greater pressure losses per foot, and again would require higher than 10-12 psi for the same 10 feet of poly.

HOWEVER, most jockey boxes i have seen use 1/4" or greater for the cooling coil and serving lines. Larger IDs have smaller pressure losses, which is why most of the solutions to "help my beer is a foam monster" threads are stop using the 5' 1/4" the LHBS sold you and use 10' 3/16th from HD or Lowes. It just so happens that at 10-12 psi serving pressure, you need ~25 feet of 1/4" tube, which matches nicely with most jockey box coil lengths.

Thanks everyone. Was planning on going with 75 ft stainless which maybe overkill but if I use for outdoor events in Fl, might be worth it.

Better to overbuild. Buy once, cry once.

Enjoy your new jockeybox.

Cheers!

So if I build a simple coil jockey box for serving but not storing. What are the focal points. 50' coil? 100' coil? Does the keg need to be chilled? Do I need to keep it on ice? I don't want foamy beer so what's the standard line size. I want to use 5 gal Corneys so the keg is definitely on the outside.

I've seen many setups on this forum I like and a lot of them are crazy cool. But I need a solid point to start from. I don't want multiple buys as I want to get it right the first time.

Youtube is kinda useless on this topic except for the Yeti video. That was a 120' coil.

Any step in the right direction is going to be great.