Keezer: Easy swapping beer/soda water in tap tower

[LittleBlood]

I've lurked on the boards for ages and read up hours and hours on HBT. Rarely to I come across something that isn't already answered in an existing post.... but this issue came up that I haven't seen mentioned before:

So I'm in the midst of a Keezer build. I'm putting a dual tap tower on the lid like a bunch of builds I've seen in ther "Show us your Kegerator" thread. So far all is well. What I'm trying to do is have 1 of the taps always be beer and the other tap be able to "easily" switch between beer and soda water (SWMBO's request) depending on the occasion.

I've got picnic taps setup for soda water (like 20'-25' of line) and since the standard tap tower kit comes with a short line (5' to 8' which is great for beer), I'm looking for a way to switch between beer and soda without having to dismantle my tower every time.

Here are the 2 options I came up with so far:

a) Put a Tee in the beer line that connects the tap faucet to a short (8') beer line with ball valve quick disconnect on one side of the Tee and the long (20') soda water line on the other. Obviously in this setup only one quick disconnect will be connected to a keg at any given time, but both will always be there (attached in the Tee). Is this reasonable? Could there be any problems with this regarding pressure or flowing into the "dead" line of hose?

b)Some sort of in-line hose quick disconnect so depending on which liquid I have I can hook up the appropriate hose associated with it. Does such a connection exist? can it handle the 25-30psi of the soda water?

Bottom line, I want to provide the option of soda water, but if its a party or something I plan on having 2 beers (or a cider and a beer) for the tap tower. Additionally the current keezer is as big as we can go, so no I can't just add a third keg and have a dedicated soda water line like so many of you are probably thinking Open to any suggestions.

 

[JuanMoore]

Both methods have some issues, but I would opt for B. With design A you'd need to put check valves or shut off valves at each end of the T to minimize cross contamination between the lines, but you'd never be able to fully prevent it. Both designs have the issue that any connection is going to create turbulence in the line, which will knock CO2 out of solution and cause foaming. This effect can be minimized by making the connections as far from the faucet as possible, and making the connections as smooth as possible.

Design B would make for a much smoother connection (no 90 degree turns), and if the QD is placed 8-10' from the faucet with only a short tail going to the beer keg, it would minimize the foaming issue. If your corny QD's are the MFL style, you could simply put a 1/4" MFL coupling in the line. You could also use a john guest style quick connect coupling.

 

[TomSD]

If you use bayonets you don't need a longer hose...

 

[LittleBlood]

If you use bayonets you don't need a longer hose...

I remember reading about this a while ago. So there's no concerns about plastic contamination of some sort? Thankfully I would only be using it when soda water is flowing, but "off-flavors" would also be more prominent in soda water...

Thanks for the tip

 

[LittleBlood]

Both methods have some issues, but I would opt for B. With design A you'd need to put check valves or shut off valves at each end of the T to minimize cross contamination between the lines, but you'd never be able to fully prevent it. Both designs have the issue that any connection is going to create turbulence in the line, which will knock CO2 out of solution and cause foaming. This effect can be minimized by making the connections as far from the faucet as possible, and making the connections as smooth as possible.

Design B would make for a much smoother connection (no 90 degree turns), and if the QD is placed 8-10' from the faucet with only a short tail going to the beer keg, it would minimize the foaming issue. If your corny QD's are the MFL style, you could simply put a 1/4" MFL coupling in the line. You could also use a john guest style quick connect coupling.

Hmm, yeah I can see how these setups could definitely cause turbulence. Forgive my ignorance: what is a "john guest" style quick connect coupling?

 

[JuanMoore]

I remember reading about this a while ago. So there's no concerns about plastic contamination of some sort? Thankfully I would only be using it when soda water is flowing, but "off-flavors" would also be more prominent in soda water...

Thanks for the tip

I don't even use standard vinyl beer lines because I think they contaminate my beer, but I'd have no trouble putting delrin mixers like those in my beer. Delrin is a very inert plastic.

what is a "john guest" style quick connect coupling?

Push to connect, usually made of plastic, sometimes called "speed-fit". A similar type of fitting being made these days is called a "shark bite" fitting, but is likely harder to find in the smaller size you'll need. Some also have the additional "twist lock" feature to help protect it from getting accidentally separated.

http://www.amazon.com/Speedfit-PP0408WP-4-Inch-Union-Connector/dp/B005S4MTXO/ref=sr_1_10?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1333444646&sr=1-10

 

[spokaniac]

I would think you could use a 3 way valve. you would have to flush the line from the valve to the tower each time you switched, but you could have whatever line length you wanted for the beer or the soda line.