Long Draw Salt Water Chilled Beer Tower

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runningweird said:
[...]My only problem is the drip tray, I don't have the metal working skills to cut it down to size without fear of screwing it up majorly so it sits on top and goes past the edges of the cabinet by about 1 inch on each side. [...]
Click to expand...

How are your woodworking skills? You could trim out the top to "grow" it enough to encompass the tray ends...

Cheers!
 
awesome, I'm glad I left my glycol copper chilling lines in my towers when I did my install. I was going to forgo them because I didn't think I needed them because I was doing a tower on keezer setup. but now in the future should I have to run a trunk line I can keep it chilled this way.

:rockin:

-=Jason=-
 
I looked at pulling them out when I got my tower, but the amount of work to dig out the foam and cut the lines out was way beyond my laziness ethic.

The chilling lines are so nice, no overfoamed beer, unless I mess up and overcarb....
 
runningweird said:
I looked at pulling them out when I got my tower, but the amount of work to dig out the foam and cut the lines out was way beyond my laziness ethic.

The chilling lines are so nice, no overfoamed beer, unless I mess up and overcarb....
Click to expand...

I had to gut my towers. the foam smelled of old wet boat and once I got into the demolition I found there was a lot of liquid in that foam.

Your trunk line is a job well done

-=Jason=-
Sent from my HTC Incredible using Home Brew Talk
 
Excellent setup! I just started brewing a couple months ago and am still in the early stages of research for my kegging setup. This tap rig with the chilled lines is awesome. Thanks for the idea. :)
 
joftinac said:
Excellent setup! I just started brewing a couple months ago and am still in the early stages of research for my kegging setup. This tap rig with the chilled lines is awesome. Thanks for the idea. :)
Click to expand...

This forum is full of good ideas. Hope to see your build soon!
 
runningweird said:
iwHe4.jpg





My only problem is the drip tray, I don't have the metal working skills to cut it down to size without fear of screwing it up majorly so it sits on top and goes past the edges of the cabinet by about 1 inch on each side.
Click to expand...


You could always build a wooden frame to go around the drip tray and secure the frame to the table top. That should keep it from moving if it is accidentally knocked around a bit by the kids.
 
ftlstrings said:
Are your beers flat for the first pour?
Click to expand...

no, never. why would they be?

the faucets hold their seal well, the chiller keeps the lines cold, and there is always positive pressure.

given a few months of time without pulling a beer the co2 might come out of solution and fill the top of the lines but I haven't seen it happen. then again I haven't gone longer than a week without pulling a draft.
 
Hrrm. My first pours out of my ten foot lines often seem to have lost much of their pressure after a week or two. Don't really know how, given gas law constants, but tell that to my first few ounces of draught beer!
 
runningweird said:
iwHe4.jpg



My only problem is the drip tray, I don't have the metal working skills to cut it down to size without fear of screwing it up majorly so it sits on top and goes past the edges of the cabinet by about 1 inch on each side.
Click to expand...

This is awesome, I love this.
Have you considered making a shelf that is larger and would fit inside the vertical wood parts of the unit and on top of your cabinet? You could cut out for the tower so you would not have to take it apart. You could also get some stick on formica or tile to make clean up easier.
I give this project two thumbs up!
 
milldoggy said:
RunningWeird,
I will be moving to a new house in a few months and I need to do the same thing. How is it working? Still keeping everything cold? What is the evaporation rate? Have you thought about sealing the salt water bucket to reduce the evaporation?
Click to expand...

The system works well, in the winter the freezer works too well and I had to dial the freezer compartment way down because I had some frozen beer lines.

The evaporation rate is minimal(I probably add a half gallon every other month or so) - I have placed a lid on my bucket which really helps.

If I had to do it again I would be tempted to use glycol but the salt water is still working just great.

getting the trunk line made properly is key to doing this successfully I think, please post pictures when you make the system I would love to see it!
 
I thought about buying the trunk line 11.95 a ft though. Will post pictures when I do it. Few months away, just starting to research my options.
 
I'd just put some crown molding around the top of the cabinet, maybe add a piece of nice (treated) plywood to make a bigger top. way easier to build out than cut down the size of the tray.
 
So is the salt water bucket inside of the keezer as an easy way to keep it cool or are you adding ice to it? I ask because the picture looks like it is just a bucket with saltwater and ice in it.

Why wouldn't you just add a bucket/keg filled with plain old water in the keezer and recirc that? The keezer will keep it cold and you don't have to worry about ice, glycol, salt water or any bs like that. FYI, glycol actually has a lower heat transfer capacity than plain water, the benifit is a lower freezing point. I don't think you really need the lower temps to do what you need. However I could be wrong as I haven't actually done the calculations or thought about it too hard.
 
Ever consider using a keg instead of a bucket? Seems it would fit the uniform space and would be a sealed system with no evaporation.
 
The salt water bucket is in the freezer compartment of the upright fridge, I had considered putting it in the lower refrigerator compartment but I can just barely fit 6 kegs in there as it is , and since my tap tower has 6 taps it seems a waste to have one tap empty all the time.
 
That does male sense. I'm planning.something similar to your rig. I've got the space for a spare keg so ill probably go that route. I was thinking of using a 2.5 or 3 gallon corny so it will sit on the compressor hump of my chest freezer.

I dig the post and its a much cheaper alternative to trunk lines at a million bucks a foot.
 
bump so I can subscribe to this awesome thread. Great job. Hope it is stilling working for you.
 
it is still working, though it now resides outside and I have switched from salt water to rv antifreeze/glycol. works great so far and no complaints
 
Just letting you know that I created an account after an infinite amount of time lurking just to say thank you for this. I'm opening a small taproom and nanobrewery and have been trying to figure out how to avoid paying 8k to have 8-10 taps available. This is how we're going to do it.
 
psarsama said:
Just letting you know that I created an account after an infinite amount of time lurking just to say thank you for this. I'm opening a small taproom and nanobrewery and have been trying to figure out how to avoid paying 8k to have 8-10 taps available. This is how we're going to do it.
Click to expand...

awesome, I switched to rv antifreeze, its working great.
 
it has propylene glycol in it, I think there are some other additives that make it not 100% food safe, but the stuff will never touch food so it isn't an issue. I thought about using mineral oil instead, but was convinced on this site to go with RV antifreeze. I would have used food safe propylene glycol but I couldn't abide the high cost for my little six tap system.


yes, that pail looks to fit the bill
 
Are you still using the same pump with the glycol, or did you have to upgrade to a new pump?

I have a 12' vertical I need to account for. Do you have an opinion whether your pump would go the distance?

Thanks for all the effort in keeping us all updated. This thread has been invaluable to my build.
 
runningweird said:
The pump i have will do that height, i had to prime it first, and yes it is the same pump i started with.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply. So I asked this question believing you'd included a link to your specific pump earlier in the thread. If it's there, I cannot find it. [shrug]

I'm looking at approx. 100 gph pumps, as this is in your reported price range (~$30 pump at Lowe's). Is that right?

Also I've read in other threads that a constant flow vs a variable flow can have positive/negative effects. Just curious whether you've experimented with that, or if you're still leaving it on all the time.
 
Nevermind; I found the pump info in your original thread.

I had no idea until now that the other thread was yours - a precursor to this one. Hysterical.

Thanks again for all the info/insight.
 
bbshopplf said:
Thanks for the quick reply. So I asked this question believing you'd included a link to your specific pump earlier in the thread. If it's there, I cannot find it. [shrug]

I'm looking at approx. 100 gph pumps, as this is in your reported price range (~$30 pump at Lowe's). Is that right?

Also I've read in other threads that a constant flow vs a variable flow can have positive/negative effects. Just curious whether you've experimented with that, or if you're still leaving it on all the time.
Click to expand...

I have no idea about variable flow, in the winter it could be nice since that is when I tend to get frozen taps. I just leave it on all the time, the pump has run 24/7 for all this time and hasn't had an issue. I guess I could put it on a timer, which I think I have from my grain germination project, and it would only run a few hours a day, but then the glycol mix might slush.....presenting other issues.

Beckett 1/64 HP Submersible Shut-Off Fountain Pump, linked to on the last page
 
Hi, I´m new in this homebrew world and I think it is the best hobby of all. I´m going to use the same system you created (I think is the best idea). Just wanted to know, how do you controll the fridge temp in both compartments and in the freezer which temperatur you set and which you actually get on the glycol? As far as I know, must fridges uses same motor for both, passing by air from one to another.
 
are you guys using 1/2 in INNER diamater hose for the chill line? trying to order up all the parts i need to do this.
 
When we redid our kitchen two summers ago I did this set up and it's been pretty awesome. I tried salt but didn't like that (don't recall why), then tried an antifreeze solution and that got gunky/slimy, so for the past year I've run a high concentrated solution of rubbing alcohol and water and haven't had slime.

The one thing I'd do differently if I had to do it again is that I cheaped out on the cooling lines: I used vinyl tubing rather than a nice diameter copper tubing. The vinyl tubing really doesn't allow for sufficient heat exchange and thus my first pour comes out like this: about an ounce or two of beer followed by a high pressure "burp" of about 4 ounces of foam (that sometimes splashes the minimal beer out of the glass), followed by cool beer. I don't understand why I get that high pressure burp of foam. Any ideas???

kitchen%20taps.JPG


kitchen taps.JPG
 
What temp is your cooling solution? What temp is the kegerator? Sound like a difference in temp is causing gas to escape. I use the semi rigid tubing that is part of my prefab trunk line, think it us vinyl. My beer lines are accuflex. Neither have thick walls. My run is 25 ft and my beer temp matches my cooling water temp for the first pour. 25 ft of 1/4 hold around 12 Oz's. If you use the standard thick walled vinyl, I bet you might have temp transfer issues
 
milldoggy said:
What temp is your cooling solution? What temp is the kegerator? Sound like a difference in temp is causing gas to escape. I use the semi rigid tubing that is part of my prefab trunk line, think it us vinyl. My beer lines are accuflex. Neither have thick walls. My run is 25 ft and my beer temp matches my cooling water temp for the first pour. 25 ft of 1/4 hold around 12 Oz's. If you use the standard thick walled vinyl, I bet you might have temp transfer issues
Click to expand...

Good question! I'll have to check for a differential. I set up the chiller pump to go on and off with one of those cheap STC-1000 units.

michael
 

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