Jockey box considerations

Having moved my keezer more often than is good for either of us, I'm thinking a jockey box is in order for the 2-3 times a year I want to run 4+ taps at an event. I've done some reading and costing and now I'm soliciting the general wisdom of brewkind: buy, build or rent? coil or cold-plate? anything else I should be considering?

So far it looks buying coils for a DIY project isn't cost-effective, but that building with a cold plate could be a bit cheaper than buying with coils if I can find a deal on a used one. Either way though, once I include all the external hardware (distributor, all lines/disconnects) I'm looking at north of $500, and closer to $700 if I go stainless. Does that seem right?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=71719
This is my plan for future community events

ScrapRoomBrewer said:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=71719
This is my plan for future community events

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Very nice. But it looks like it only ended up with 3 taps, and taking it to events would still require more room than I've got in my car.

I spent about $500 on a club jockey box with 5 taps. And the Cold Plate and CO2 Tank were donated.

There is some pretty god money invested in the many small parts.

I saved some money by not using wall shanks for the liquid lines coming in. I simply drilled holes through the end of the cooler where the lid meets. You can lay the lines over the side of the cooler and then close the lid on them. Less hassle and less money, and fewer connections.

I made my own jockey box for just over $250 using a cold plate, so to me $500-$700 seems incredibly expensive.

To be fair I didn't buy new faucets, I just remove the ones from my keezer for events where I use my jockey box. Also I don't think ball lock QD's are on the list because I had several spares already. I got a 7 circuit cold plate and currently have 4 taps (3 are double-pass, one is single-pass [generally for stouts or beers that aren't carbed as high or that needn't be as cold]), but obviously you can expand this to 7 taps if you just single pass all of the lines.

I bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WQAP5OI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

For $299 shipped, it just wasn't worth the hassle of putting my own together.

Spartan1979 said:

I bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WQAP5OI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

For $299 shipped, it just wasn't worth the hassle of putting my own together.

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I have 2 problems with that style, both which are reasons that drove me to use a cold plate:

- It's way bigger than it needs to be (needs more room to store and transport, as well as more ice to fill).

- You're limited to only 2 taps. For such a large ice chest that seems like a waste of space.


It was actually really easy to build the jockey box. I'll try to find some pictures. Measured and drilled four 7/8" holes in the front, and four (1/4" I believe) holes in the back, and clamp some beer line to a bunch of flares. That's it.

Here's some pics. I only installed 2 taps at first as the first event (Mardi Gras!) I only was serving 2 kegs. Afterwards I drilled out the other 2 holes.

Thanks MagicMatt - that's really useful.

Our numbers are actually not that different - I'm just including stainless faucets at $40 each and QDs at $15 a set.

My spreadsheet splits the jockey box and keg sides since most commercial kits stop at the former, and lists both cold plate and coils because I'd set it up to flip between their costs - changing B3 from 1 to 0 changes B4 from 0 to B5.

btbnl said:

Thanks MagicMatt - that's really useful.

Our numbers are actually not that different - I'm just including stainless faucets at $40 each and QDs at $15 a set.

My spreadsheet splits the jockey box and keg sides since most commercial kits stop at the former, and lists both cold plate and coils because I'd set it up to flip between their costs - changing B3 from 1 to 0 changes B4 from 0 to B5.

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I think your prices are still a bit high for some of that equipment. For instance, you have QD's at $15/ea - they're only ~$3.80/ea at ritebrew.com. That saves you almost $45 right there.

Also, I don't think you need a gas manifold (and certainly not 4 of them). I just used stainless T's and inline shutoff valves. That'll save you another $30 or so. And the shanks at ritebrew are about $7 less than you quoted, so that's another $28 saved.

One additional way you can save about $80 more is to get the chrome plated Perlick faucets instead of SS. With a jockey box, it's usually only used for hours (or at max a couple of days) at a time, and then stored away for a while between uses. There's nothing wrong with chrome IMHO in this case, as there won't be enough usage to make the jump to SS worth it. I've always told myself that if I ever buy dedicated faucets for mine, I would get chrome for sure. Just a thought.

If you can't tell already, RiteBrew generally has the lowest prices on equipment. And they have super fast shipping too. No, I'm not affiliated in any way - just supporting a great company who's always done right by me.

I'll certainly take a look at the RiteBrew prices, though as I've listed them the parts include all fittings - swivel nuts for the QDs (which are per pair), tail-pieces and nuts for the shanks, etc - so I don't think the difference will be as big as it might appear. I also generally rounded up so as not to be surprised downstream!

I have a 4-tapper made out of an old wooden Corona cooler. No coils or cold plate, just the excess beer line to get them to 12' and a 20# bag of ice. At a festival or event, you're pouring enough that as long as your kegs are cold, you won't have enough temp loss in the line to be noticeable. Even if you have a down time in the pour, as long as the tubing inside the cooler box is iced, you won't lose any temp. So it's basically the cost of the cooler (which was given to me), 4 tap set-ups, 50' of beer line, and 4 liquid-side ball lock fittings. Cheap and totally functional.

prrriiide said:

I have a 4-tapper made out of an old wooden Corona cooler. No coils or cold plate, just the excess beer line to get them to 12' and a 20# bag of ice.

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How are you keeping your kegs cold? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a jockey box altogether? The point of the JB is so that you don't have to keep your kegs cold - they can be at ambient temps and the JB is what makes the beer cold on the way to the glass. Check out the last picture I posted - the kegs are just sitting there under the table.

If your kegs are kept cold, why would you need a JB at all? Why not just serve from the keg normally?

prrriiide said:

At a festival or event, you're pouring enough that as long as your kegs are cold, you won't have enough temp loss in the line to be noticeable.

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That's my point though - you're pouring so fast that the beer doesn't have time to sit in the lines and get cold. The SS of a coil or coldplate helps facilitate that. I double pass most of my lines, so that's about 24ft of ice cold SS tubing that the beer flows through, and has no trouble getting 70°F kegs down to 38°F at a constant flow rate. 24ft of thick walled beer tube would hardly lower the temp by 15°F.

MagicMatt said:

How are you keeping your kegs cold? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a jockey box altogether? The point of the JB is so that you don't have to keep your kegs cold - they can be at ambient temps and the JB is what makes the beer cold on the way to the glass. Check out the last picture I posted - the kegs are just sitting there under the table.

If your kegs are kept cold, why would you need a JB at all? Why not just serve from the keg normally?




That's my point though - you're pouring so fast that the beer doesn't have time to sit in the lines and get cold. The SS of a coil or coldplate helps facilitate that. I double pass most of my lines, so that's about 24ft of ice cold SS tubing that the beer flows through, and has no trouble getting 70°F kegs down to 38°F at a constant flow rate. 24ft of thick walled beer tube would hardly lower the temp by 15°F.

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Brilliant idea to run it through twice. I never thought of that. I was looking for a way to do a 3 tap and if I get the 7 circuit that you have ($65 on ebay) then I can run 3 through twice and have that additional one for a style not to be served as cold. Thanks for the pictures and the explanation.

One question... I have a 2 circuit cold plate that I can run 1 tap out of... Any idea of the smallest cooler I could get by with? Obviously it has to fit the cold plate but wonder if I could get by with something pretty small.

Cheers!
Cam

Price is right for a quality box. Cold plate vs coil vs long coil all depends on storage temp. If kegs are 32-45°F, cold plate is great. 45-55°, 60' coil or double pass in cold plates. Keg above 55°, 120 foot coils only. Cooler type is purely an aesthetic decision, so long as it is a quality brand. Hell, make your own cooler.

DanB_cdnbev said:

Price is right for a quality box. Cold plate vs coil vs long coil all depends on storage temp. If kegs are 32-45°F, cold plate is great. 45-55°, 60' coil or double pass in cold plates. Keg above 55°, 120 foot coils only. Cooler type is purely an aesthetic decision, so long as it is a quality brand. Hell, make your own cooler.

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Hi, and welcome to HBT!

I'd have to ask where you got your info/numbers from though? My experiences do not match what you posted.

As I stated, my kegs sit at ambient temps when I am serving and even if I pull them straight from my keezer, will equalibriate with the air temp within a couple of hours. I've had them at >80°F and still serving just fine with a cold plate, getting down below 40°F. Even my stout got down to 46°F on a single pass at those ambient temps.

I've also has kegs sitting out all day in 70°F weather and single passed all of them, never having a problem reaching <40°F.

So in my experience, you don't need a 120' coil if the temp is above 55°F like you claim.

MagicMatt said:

Hi, and welcome to HBT!

I'd have to ask where you got your info/numbers from though? My experiences do not match what you posted.

As I stated, my kegs sit at ambient temps when I am serving and even if I pull them straight from my keezer, will equalibriate with the air temp within a couple of hours. I've had them at >80°F and still serving just fine with a cold plate, getting down below 40°F. Even my stout got down to 46°F on a single pass at those ambient temps.

I've also has kegs sitting out all day in 70°F weather and single passed all of them, never having a problem reaching <40°F.

So in my experience, you don't need a 120' coil if the temp is above 55°F like you claim.

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Could that be an actual single pass vs. multiple singe passes, like if you were pouring non stop at a beerfest?

I'm not quite clear on the question, but in my above comment, there were 4 kegs sitting at >80°F, 3 of them being double passed through the cold plate (using 2 circuits) and 1 being single passed (the stout). The beers were setup outside 3 hours before the fest opened, so they were ambient temps by the time we started pouring. Once we started, we rarely stopped.

The other instance I mentioned where the temp was 70°F, the kegs were single passed and each line was pulled from pretty regularly throughout 5-6 hours before they kicked.

I have a two tap JB w/ a 50' cool is SS for each. Fill it w/ ice and serve.
I do start w/ well chilled kegs directly from my lager chest freezer. On avg they are at 34°F.